Kids' Chance of CA Announces Scholarship Awards for the 2023/2024 School Year

Thursday, August 3, 2023 | 700 | 0

Sacramento, CA – Kids' Chance of California (KCOCA), a non-profit education scholarship provider to the children of California workers who have been fatally or seriously injured on the job, announces that it is still on track to reach $2M in scholarship awards by 2025, if not sooner.

Over the past several years, the Board of Directors at Kids' Chance of California has worked tirelessly to meet student needs through the shifting changes to our economy due to the pandemic. We are pleased to announce that for the 2023-2024 school year, KCOCA will award 37 scholarships, up from 34 last year, totaling $400,002 to students throughout California. This includes 19 new applicants and 18 re-applicants.

Under Kristen Chavez's leadership as President, the dollars awarded this year represent our biggest financial year yet and our 2nd largest student count ever. Chavez said, "We've had a tremendous few years of giving and fundraising in California, so the board decided to increase this year's budget from $240,000 to $400,000 by re-allocating excess funds in our reserves beyond the required two years of operating expenses. We have done this before, but not to this degree. We want to thank our corporate sponsors and donors for their support and for making this possible."

The board works hard to engage with donors and sponsors in many new and innovative ways to raise funds to keep the organization on track to meet its awards goal for 2025. This includes seeking "Charity of Choice" assignments for sponsored golf tournaments, walk/run wellness events, and industry conferences. Avenues for fundraising include a new Topgolf event, annual restaurant day, holiday popcorn and brownie sales, and trivia night with a portion of proceeds from these events going to KCOCA.

Over the past year, KCOCA facilitated outreach to over 6,000 high school counselors throughout California to bring awareness of this scholarship opportunity to children of injured workers. This resulted in 19 new students being awarded scholarships for the 2023-2024 school year. We are pleased to report that 18 awardees this year are re-applicants from last year continuing their education with the help of KCOCA.

Chavez also noted that the loyalty of KCOCA's giving partners, and the involvement of individual industry professionals volunteering their time and resources to raise funds, keep KCOCA on track toward our giving goal of $2 Million by 2025 or sooner. Our challenge to all workers' compensation professionals is to get involved in KCOCA's fundraising and student outreach efforts in the next year. She said, "With your help, we WILL succeed in reaching our goal. Let's raise more money for more kids!"

If you, or someone you know, is interested in applying for a Kids' Chance of California scholarship or wants to volunteer on one of our committees, visit www.kidschanceca.org or contact us at info@kidschanceca.org. Scholarship opportunities are available to new and existing students each year.

Please donate today to Kids' Chance of California by visiting www.kidschanceca.org/donate.

Source: KCOCA

Media Contact:

Amy Hanson
Immediate Past President and Public Relations Chair