The CAPE Scholarship is more than just a scholarship. It’s a comprehensive program aimed at giving people from disadvantaged backgrounds the opportunity to build a better life for themselves, their families, and their communities. CAPE was established to address two interrelated problems:
The high costs of professional post-secondary programs prevents many talented and deserving individuals from pursing their dreams. This is because government and university financial aid programs have not kept pace with huge increases in the cost of these exclusive programs. As a result, medical and law schools, for example, are dominated by students from affluent backgrounds.
With people from disadvantaged backgrounds grossly underrepresented in many professions, it’s not surprising that low-income and minority communities lack sufficient professional services. Legal aid is scarce across the country, there are major health gaps between rich and poor, and minorities struggle for access to culturally- and linguistically-sensitive healthcare. When it comes to education, children from low-income backgrounds have higher drop-out rates and lower standardized test scores. These inequalities perpetuate the cycle of poverty and make it even harder for disadvantaged communities to overcome the challenges they face.
All qualified people, regardless of background, deserve the opportunity to acquire skills that will lead to a well-paying job and a bright future for themselves and their families. And everyone, rich and poor, deserves access to the vital services provided by professionals. The CAPE Scholarship is about working toward this goal.
The CAPE Scholarship offers a solution that opens the door to professional education and promotes access to professional services at the same time, by providing generous scholarships in exchange for meaningful public service. It is the first program of its kind in Canada.
The CAPE Scholarship has three key components: (1) scholarships that promote access professional programs and freedom of career choice; (2) professionally-relevant public service projects that bring professional services to communities that need them most; and (3) mentorship that encourages scholars during their studies and helps them transition into the workforce.
1. Scholarships – Empowering People
The CAPE Scholarship provides non-repayable, renewable scholarships. Our goal is to provide scholarships that are large enough to allow a student to pursue a professional education without recourse to private debt, like bank loans and credit cards. For a typical professional program, the value of the CAPE Scholarship will be $10,000 per year for the duration of the program.
The CAPE Scholarship is valuable enough to overcome the financial obstacles that people from disadvantaged backgrounds face in pursuing a professional education.
But what qualifies as a professional program and why focus on these programs? We define a professional program loosely as a field of study that has the following characteristics:
The reason we focus on these programs is that they’re the most expensive and the least accessible to students from disadvantaged backgrounds. They teach skills that are desperately needed in Canada’s low-income and minority communities. And they can lead to well-paying and stable jobs, which helps scholars and their families break the cycle of poverty.
2. Public Service – Empowering Communities
The CAPE Scholarship is not a free-ride. In exchange for these generous awards, scholars must be engaged in a professionally-relevant public service initiative for the duration of their studies.
These projects will be partnerships between CAPE Scholars and established non-profit organizations serving communities that lack professional services. For example, a law student might work at a community legal aid clinic focusing on poverty law issues. Or a medical student might volunteer at a community health centre serving minority patients. An education student might spend time at an after-school program helping disadvantaged children complete their homework or fill out college or university applications.
The benefits of this simple deal between CAPE and its scholars are enormous. CAPE scholars get practical experience in their field of study, which is sought-after by employers. Disadvantaged communities get access to the professional services that they desperately need. And CAPE Scholars are introduced to the virtues of public service and learn how they can use their professional degree to improve their communities. It truly is a win-win proposition that gives people and communities the tools to overcome the challenges they face.
3. Mentorship – Providing Support and Opportunity
We realize that a generous scholarship and rewarding public service projects aren’t always enough. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds sometimes lack role models to encourage them to persevere through the rigors of a professional program. And they often need contacts and support to make a successful transition into the workforce.
The CAPE Scholarship will provide this crucial moral support by using social media to connect scholars with the volunteers and donors who make their education and public service possible.
CAPE Scholars will be expected to blog about their progress in the classroom and in the community regularly on the CAPE website. Supporters of the CAPE Scholarship, who tend to be professionals themselves, will be able to interact directly with scholars by posting comments on the blog, offering encouragement and advice. We will also facilitate other forms of dialogue between scholars and supporters on an ongoing basis.
Our vision is to transform our supporters into a community that will nurture the success of CAPE Scholars both during and beyond their studies. This will give CAPE Scholars access to a vast professional network from day one, opening the door to employment and public service opportunities, as well as lasting friendships. Just as important, our supporters will also benefit by seeing the fruits of their labour and having the chance to meet talented and dedicated young professionals.
That’s how the CAPE Scholarship will empower people and communities through scholarships and service. It’s a simple idea, but one that will change lives for the better. We need your help to make it happen.