HCC announces Qatar Harvey Fund Scholarship Program
Jan 9, 2019
The Houston Community College Foundation today announced a new scholarship program for students who were unable to continue their studies at HCC due to financial constraints resulting from Hurricane Harvey. It is anticipated that more than 100 students who withdrew from HCC after the hurricane will receive scholarships, beginning in the Spring 2019 semester.
Funding for the scholarships was provided by the State of Qatar through a $300,000 grant from its Qatar Harvey Fund, a $30 million fund established last year for the long-term recovery of southeast Texas. The funding will be made available to the HCC Foundation via a partnership between the Qatar Harvey Fund and the Rebuild Texas Fund.
The Rebuild Texas Fund is a collaborative project of the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and the OneStar Foundation, created to support the rebuilding of Texas communities hit hard by Hurricane Harvey. The Qatar Harvey Fund grant for HCC student scholarships is part of $5 million in overall funding that the Qatar Harvey Fund has committed to the Rebuild Texas Fund for long-term recovery assistance in southeast Texas.
“We are grateful to the Qatar Harvey Fund and the Rebuild Texas Fund for their dedication and passion to help rebuild and revitalize our community, including our HCC family impacted by Hurricane Harvey,” said HCC Chancellor Cesar Maldonado. “We now can provide financial assistance to students who had to put their HCC education on hold, or step away from classes altogether, as a result of Harvey.
“A storm as devastating as Harvey disrupts lives in so many ways,” said His Excellency Meshal bin Hamad Al-Thani, Qatar’s Ambassador to the U.S. “The Qatar Harvey Fund Scholarship Program will support HCC students impacted by the storm as they continue their studies. Qatar has long invested in education, which provides both a direct benefit to students who pursue it, as well as a multiplier effect for their families and communities. We are very pleased to partner with the Houston Community College Foundation on this program.”
“We are excited to partner with the Houston Community College Foundation on this scholarship program to continue our collective mission of helping communities rebuild after Hurricane Harvey,” said Neeraj Aggarwal, program director of Rebuild Texas Fund. “We know that rebuilding requires strong, creative partners from business, government, non-profit and philanthropy working together, and are excited to see how HCC’s project positively impacts the community.”