The American Foundation for the Blind Now Accepting Applications for its 2017 Scholarship Program
The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) administers three post-secondary education scholarships for up to 7 deserving students who are legally blind. The available scholarships for 2017 are detailed below.
The Rudolph Dillman Memorial Scholarship: Four scholarships of $2,500
Requirements:
- Full-time undergraduate or graduate student
- Studying rehabilitation or education of persons who are blind and/or visually impaired
The Paul and Ellen Ruckes Scholarship: Two scholarships of $2,000
Requirements:
- Full time undergraduate or graduate student
- Studying engineering or computer, physical, or life sciences
The R.L. Gillette, Gladys C. Anderson, and Karen D. Carsel Memorial Scholarship: One scholarship of $3,500
Requirements:
- Female
- Undergraduate student
- Studying music
The Delta Gamma Florence Margaret Harvey Memorial Scholarship: One scholarship of $1,000
Requirements:
- Undergraduate or graduate student
- Studying rehabilitation or education of persons who are blind and/or visually impaired
Visit the AFB scholarships website for further information and to fill out the application
Please direct questions and comments to: American Foundation for the Blind Information Center, 800-232-5463, info@afb.net
New Business Idea You're Trying to Get Off the Ground? Enter the New Venture Competition!
Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Forsythe Center for Employment and Entrepreneurship (FCE), is launching its second annual New Venture Business Competition, with cash awards totaling $30,000.
Did you know Hadley offers courses that can help build a business? It's not too late to take a module or two. Through its FCE program, you can learn such practical business building skills as how to write a marketing plan or do market research.
Anyone who has taken an FCE module is eligible to submit their business plan for a chance to win. Last year we awarded over $27,000 to three businesses that are continuing to grow. We look forward to once again helping entrepreneurs turn great ideas into great business ventures.
The deadline for entry is 11:59 pm CST on March 15, 2017. Awards will be given out on June 8, 2017.
Participation and submission rules can be found at hadley.edu/nvc. To enroll in the FCE, please visit Hadley.edu/FCE or call Student Services at 800-526-9909.
Holman Prize for Blind Ambition to Award $25,000
What would you do with $25,000? This year the LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired is asking blind people worldwide that very question. It's not just an exercise, but a new set of awards designed to fund the international projects of legally blind individuals: The Holman Prize for Blind Ambition.
"The Holman Prize is not meant to save the world or congratulate someone for leaving the house," says LightHouse CEO Bryan Bashin, "This prize will spark unanticipated accomplishments. You will see blind people doing things that surprise and perhaps even confuse you."
The Holman Prize website, now accepting applications from blind individuals around the world, already reflects a diversity of faces and ideas: blind podcasters from Brooklyn, blind skateboarders from the Midwest, and blind technologists, educators and scholars passionate about taking on their own projects anywhere from Canada to Kyrgyzstan. In March, the LightHouse's hand-picked Holman Committee will select a group of semifinalists to go through a formal application process, ultimately resulting in a few large awards to be given this summer. Applicants must be 18 or older and able to produce proof of legal blindness upon request.
For the LightHouse, putting "blind ambition" on display across social media is as much a goal as the projects themselves. Contestants are encouraged to promote their videos widely to their friends, family and followers, with the promise that the most popular pitch on social media will be guaranteed consideration in the Holman Prize's final round.
