WELLS FARGO REAFFIRMS LONGSTANDING PARTNERSHIP, WITH $2.75M DONATION TO HISPANIC SCHOLARSHIP FUND

Gardena, California, June 24, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- JUNE 24, 2019, LOS ANGELES –The Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF), the nation’s largest nonprofit organization supporting Hispanic American higher education, today announced that Wells Fargo & Company has reaffirmed its longtime commitment to HSF’s mission, through a renewed gift of $2.75 million. Of this gift, $1 million will fund scholarships, and $1.75 million will fund support services and enabling technology. This donation reinforces Wells Fargo’s commitment to build stronger communities by helping improve financial stability through education.

 Since 2003, Wells Fargo has committed over $20 million to the organization, an amount that includes support of over 2,900 Scholars with more than $8 million in scholarship awards, and $15 million for support services for tens of thousands of students, parents, HSF Scholars, and Alumni, across the nation.

 "Our renewed donation reaffirms our unwavering commitment to the important work HSF does to help Hispanic students—and all students who come from low-income households—pursue a higher education,” said Walter Dolhare, Managing Director and Co-President, Wells Fargo Securities, LLC  and Member of HSF Board of Directors. “Our long-standing partnership with HSF has shown that together, we can continue to support families and help students prepare, plan, and pay for higher education, which, in turn, will go a long way towards unleashing the unlimited potential of outstanding minority students of limited means, to make tremendous contributions to our nation, going forward, if they are just given the opportunity and access to resources.”

HSF Scholarships are merit-based financial awards, designed to aid outstanding students of Hispanic heritage who wish to pursue a college degree; award amounts range from $500 to $5,000, based on financial need. A majority of HSF Scholars come from low-income households and would not be able to go to college without some form of financial aid.

HSF also seeks to go beyond scholarship disbursement by offering supplementary resources and programming designed to aid middle and high school students, their families, and HSF Scholars, as they pursue their higher education goals and career ambitions. Through its Support Services platform, HSF offers:

• Student and Family Programs, designed to help thousands of middle school and high school students, and their families, prepare, plan, and pay for college;
• Scholar Support Services, which offer mentoring, leadership development, career services, knowledge building, and personal wellness training to HSF Scholars; and
• HSF 3.0, the proprietary technology platform that underlies all HSF programming and scholarships, streamlines Scholar communication with HSF, and provides bilingual information and resources on higher education through the organization’s HSF.net portal

The primary goal of HSF’s Support Services is to ensure Hispanic students, and their families, have the knowledge, resources, and support they need to achieve success in higher education. They are designed to ensure that young leaders are engaged as early as their senior year of high school (through HSF’s Youth Leadership Institute conferences), succeed throughout college, and through Scholar Conferences and Career Services, are able to make a successful transition to a career of choice and become mentors to the generations to follow.

Wells Fargo’s latest contribution will also support the Young Leaders Summit (YLS) and College Prep Saturday programs, which are led by HSF, in partnership with the Youth Leadership Consortium, a partnership of philanthropic organizations that share the mission of providing all students and their parents—regardless of race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic background—the knowledge and resources required to complete a higher education.

YLS is a four-day program designed to serve a cohort of rising high school seniors from low-income, historically under-represented socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic backgrounds, who earn their seats at the program through a competitive application process, engaging thousands of outstanding students invited to apply. College Prep Saturday is a free, half-day program designed to help middle school and high school students, and their families from the same demographic, prepare, plan, and pay for college. The program features sessions designed to address the needs of students who are interested in pursuing a higher education, and it is offered in multiple languages, as needed, to better serve attendees.

The renewed gift will also support HSF’s two annual fundraising galas—the 2019 Alumni Hall of Fame and the 2020 Leaders in Education Awards—and Scholar Celebration receptions in six cities, nationwide, which acknowledge the newest class of HSF Scholars and their families.

“We are honored to receive this renewed and very generous donation from Wells Fargo,” said Fidel A. Vargas, President & CEO, Hispanic Scholarship Fund. “Wells Fargo has stood with us, side-by-side, contributing significant dollars, as well as on-the-ground volunteers, to assist more students than ever. They’ve helped us build and enhance our technology platform and supported us across the board, in serving students, families, HSF Scholars, Alumni, and communities, from coast to coast. As we’ve expanded our mission to address students from all backgrounds who come from low-income households, Wells Fargo has been with us every step of the way. We are so fortunate that Wells Fargo shares our vision of a future where students can achieve their full potential, regardless of ethnic or socioeconomic background.”

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About the Hispanic Scholarship Fund
Founded in 1975, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) empowers Latino students and their parents with knowledge and resources needed to successfully complete a higher education, and provides scholarships and support services to as many exceptional Hispanic American students as possible. As the nation’s largest nonprofit organization supporting Hispanic American higher education, HSF has awarded over $588 million in scholarships, to date. For more information about the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, please visit HSF.net.

About Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.9 trillion in assets. Wells Fargo’s vision is to satisfy our customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, investment and mortgage products and services, as well as consumer and commercial finance, through 7,700 locations, more than 13,000 ATMs, the internet (wellsfargo.com) and mobile banking, and has offices in 32 countries and territories to support customers who conduct business in the global economy. With approximately 262,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 26 on Fortune’s 2018 rankings of America’s largest corporations. News, insights and perspectives from Wells Fargo are also available at Wells Fargo Stories.

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Julie Hite
Hispanic Scholarship Fund 
310-734-5161
[email protected]