Guardian Scholars

Foundation Grant Funds Guardian Scholars Program

The Guardian Scholars program recognizes the achievements and ambitions of earning a college degree by students who have left the foster care system, were wards of the court, or come from similar backgrounds. The program celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.

A recent $180,000 grant from The California Wellness Foundation will help fund services for a minimum of 35 Guardian Scholars for the next three years.

“The Guardian Scholars Program is a good fit with The California Wellness Foundation,” observes David Littlefield, the foundation’s communications officer. “It provides safe housing, counseling, academic assistance and other supportive services for emancipated youth enrolled at CSUF, and helps these youth further their college educations.”

The California Wellness Foundation is an independent, private foundation with a mission to improve the health of the people of California by making grants for health promotion, wellness education and disease prevention. It is one of the state’s largest foundations, awarding $64 million in grants last year.

Littlefield says that the foundation identified transition-age youth and those exiting from the foster care system as an underserved population and organizations serving these youth as eligible to apply for grants.

“The Guardian Scholars Program prepares these youth to live as healthy, responsible citizens contributing to their communities,” Littlefield says.