Western Union Foundation Funds Education for Underserved Youth
September 28 2021 - 6:00AM
Business Wire
Latest Grants to Support 55,000
Disadvantaged Youth Around the World
Introduces ‘Hikmet Ersek
Scholarship’
The Western Union Foundation today announced its latest USD 3.7
million Opportunity Beyond Borders investment in skills training,
resources, and a new scholarship fund, helping prepare nearly
55,000 disadvantaged and displaced youth to compete in the global
economy. This is the latest investment in the Foundation’s
Opportunity Beyond Borders three-year, USD 15 million commitment to
give migrant young adults the resources to gain sustainable
employment, as well as provide relief and preparedness for
crises.
Education is the key pathway to economic mobility. Yet for many
young people, particularly displaced and disadvantaged youth, it is
often out of reach. The Foundation’s latest investment seeks to
address the unique challenges these populations face in accessing
and completing higher education.
“Disadvantaged and displaced populations have always faced more
barriers to education than other student populations, and the
pandemic has created even more obstacles,” said the Foundation’s
Executive Director, Elizabeth Roscoe. “It is now more critical than
ever that youth find access to the quality education that equips
them for meaningful careers and a chance at a better life.”
Investing in the Next Generation of Leaders
Also as part of the latest Opportunity Beyond Borders
investment, Western Union Foundation continues to advance its
mission of putting higher education within reach of disadvantaged
youth with a two-year, USD 1 million commitment to provide
financial assistance to 85 aspiring WU Scholars around the globe
who face obstacles in pursuing higher education.
To commemorate Western Union CEO Hikmet Ersek’s support of
migrants and refugees, the Foundation will introduce a CEO
Scholarship, with a well-deserving scholar honored as the 2022
Ersek Scholar.
In addition to the scholarship program, the Foundation and its
partners will provide underserved youth skills training and
resources designed to open doors to educational and economic
advancement.
In partnership with Watson Institute, the Western
Union Foundation Accelerator and Fellowship will equip
promising, forcibly displaced and marginalized young leaders and
entrepreneurs with the skills and experience to increase access to
economic opportunity.
In Uganda, Jordan, Colombia, and the United States, MIT
ReAct will provide remote learning and skills training
certification for talented refugees and displaced learners in
underserved communities, improving future employability.
In Canada, Techfugees will facilitate access to remote
work opportunities and professional resettlement of forcibly
displaced persons based in Lebanon with tech backgrounds.
To learn more about the impact the Western Union Foundation has
made to people and partners over the past year, check out the
stories of impact on their newly launched website.
About the Western Union
Foundation
The Western Union Foundation believes that education is the
surest pathway to economic opportunity. After 20 years of impact,
we continue to deliver on our mission with Opportunity Beyond
Borders, focused on empowering forcibly displaced and marginalized
youth with the training and education needed to succeed in today’s
technology-driven global economy. The Foundation also provides
funding for humanitarian efforts for communities in crisis and
disaster, one key reason for forced migration. Including
second-quarter 2021 investments, to date, we have funded more than
$145 million for projects and scholarships. The Western Union
Foundation is a separate, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charitable
corporation and receives support from The Western Union Company,
its employees, agents, and business partners. Contributions to the
Foundation are tax-deductible for U.S. income tax purposes. To
learn more, visit www.westernunionfoundation.org or follow us on
Twitter @TheWUFoundation.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210928005235/en/
For further information please contact: Western Union Global
Communications; Claire Treacy, Claire.Treacy@westernunion.com
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