National Puerto Rican Day Parade Scholarship Awards Program
The National Puerto Rican Day Parade, (NPRDP), is currently accepting applications for its 2014 Scholarship Awards Program. The scholarship awards will be presented at the NPRDP’s Educational Leadership Banquet on Wednesday, May 21, 2014.
The National Puerto Rican Day Parade was established to create national awareness of Puerto Rican contributions. NPRDP’s mission is to empower the Puerto Rican community through promoting culture, education, scholarships, and civic engagement. NPRDP has a responsibility to inspire our youth and instill a strong sense of self worth and pride in our community. To this end a Scholarship Awards Program was established. The new NPRDP Board announced that advancing educational achievement is a priority, with 10% of all net proceeds from the parade going to a scholarship fund. The goal for 2014 is to award up to $20,000 in scholarships, up from $10,000 in previous years. NPRDP will award ten (10) $2,000 scholarships to exceptional Puerto Rican youth who are making a difference in their community.
To be eligible candidates must
§ Be of Puerto Rican descent
§ Be enrolled in an accredited college or university
§ Have a minimum Grade Point Average (G.P.A.) of 3.0 or better.
§ Undergo a face to face interview with the Selection Committee
§ Be between the ages of 17 and 25.
A completed application package must include an application form, essay, a biographical sketch, volunteer community service statement, two letters of recommendation of which one letter of recommendation must be from the site where the student performs his/her volunteer work, academic transcripts and head shot photo. All items must be submitted in one package. Letters of recommendation should be requested from professors, counselors, mentors, clergy, community leaders, etc. The letters should highlight the applicant’s volunteer community service, how long has the person known the candidate, and the specific contributions the applicant has made to the community.
Application package must be received or post-marked by Monday, April 21, 2014. Application packages postmarked after the postmark date will be disqualified. Applicants who will be invited for an interview will be notified by email. Interview date will take place the week of April 28th. Recipients of the National Puerto Rican Day Parade Scholarship will be disqualified should any of the following conditions occur: (1) recipient provides false information on application; (2) recipient is not enrolled in an accredited college or university and (3) recipient is not of Puerto Rican descent.
Applications can be downloaded from our website or requested via email. Thank you for your assistance in publicizing this information and identifying a student from your college that meet our criteria to receive one of these scholarships. Please mail applications to Teresa A. Santiago, NPRDP C/O Pacheco & Lugo, Attorneys at Law, 340 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11201 or scan and email to [email protected]. Please contact Teresa A. Santiago at (914) 263-6599/ [email protected], if you have any questions or need additional information.
