1. Purpose - The George Blankenship Memorial Scholarship Fund is established for the purpose of granting educational scholarships to:
College/University Students who meet the following criteria
(a) Undergraduate four-year accredited college/university students who are also members or regular attendees of Journey of Hope,
(b) Students who demonstrate financial need (as calculated using the Federal Application for Student Aid),
(c) Students who have established a minimum academic status of 2.5 on a 4.0 grade scale and will be duly enrolled according to requirements of a 4 year college or university program, seeking a Bachelor Level Degree.
2. Application - The application for the scholarships will be open to any person who is a member or attendee of Journey of Hope for at least 6 months prior to the scholarship application deadline.
Application deadline is March 31 for the academic year beginning in the fall term of that year.
3. Scholarship Application Requirements - Each applicant will be considered based upon submission of a completed application, official school transcripts, three personal references, one of whom must be an academic instructor/advisor, two other references that must be adult, non-family members, and a concise essay addressing the topic “What I plan to do with my Education.”
4. Amount and Frequency of Scholarships - The amount to be used for Annual Scholarship Awards shall be 5% of the rolling average market value determined by the December 31st account balance for each of the three previous years for the Blankenship Memorial Scholarship Fund, as defined in George Blankenship Declaration of Trust.
5. Award of Scholarships - The Scholarship Committee shall meet as needed and determine awards no later than June 1st of each year.
6. Distribution of Scholarship - Scholarships shall be distributed directly to the college or university indicated by the enrollee recipient. Scholarship recipients are responsible to communicate with the George Blankenship Endowed Scholarship Committee any material changes in the educational plan represented in the application, especially any change in enrollment plans or the educational institution attended.
7. Renewal of Scholarships - Recipients may re-apply for any year of anticipated enrollment in a four-year college or university undergraduate program. Scholarships are granted for enrollment in one academic year only. Applications for scholarship are for the upcoming academic year only. The scholarship may be renewed for these approval years as long as criteria established by the committee are met.
8. Scholarship Award Procedures - The George Blankenship Endowed Scholarship Fund proceeds for each scholarship year shall be awarded in equal amounts to all recipients. The total amount determined available for the scholarship year will be equally divided among the total number of selected recipients. If no applicant qualifies or no applications are received in any given scholarship year, no distribution from the George Blankenship Endowed Scholarship Fund will occur in that year.
9. The criteria will be reviewed periodically by the Scholarship Committee and revised as needed.
10. If, in the opinion of the Scholarship Committee of Journey of Hope, future circumstances for which this endowment was established become illegal, impractical, or no longer able to be carried out to meet the intentions of the grantor, said Committee may designate an alternative use for the endowment payout, including the use of the corpus, in the spirit of the original purpose of the endowment.
11. Criteria for scholarship and applications will be available and published by the committee by January 15.