Eastern Connecticut State University is partnering with the Hispanic Alliance of Southeastern Connecticut to offer scholarships to students from Hispanic-Latino backgrounds – students like David Galvez — who are in need of financial support. 

“It’s a blessing, because at this moment I definitely needed that amount so that I could keep going to school next year,” Galvez told CT Examiner. “It came to me at the right time.”

The alliance plans to offer scholarships of up to $2,500 each, which the university will match. University President Elsa Núñez said at a press conference on Monday that the $5,000 would cover tuition and fees. 

The alliance received a grant from the City of New London for $27,000 from the city’s coronavirus relief funds to go toward the scholarships. 

“Sometimes when new immigrant families and new Latina families arrive in the United States [and] they need to climb a ladder, there needs to be community providing that ladder,” Claudio Melendez-Cooper, executive director of the Hispanic Alliance, said.

Galvez says first-generation students like himself often don’t have someone to help them navigate the college application process. “I understand what it’s like to go through that. So the best I can do is help out those who I know what it’s like to be in their shoes,” he said about working with high school students.

Publisher’s Notes: This story is an aggregate from Hispanic Alliance Announces Scholarships, Partners with Eastern Connecticut State.

Cover Photo: MDS Architects