Senator Portantino Successfully Secures Funding for the California Scholars Program for HBCU Students at Hastings College of Law
For Immediate Release: June 30, 2021
Contact: Lerna Shirinian, (818) 409-0400
Senator Portantino Successfully Secures Funding for the California Scholars Program for HBCU Students at Hastings College of Law
Sacramento, California – Senator Anthony J. Portantino (D – La Cañada Flintridge) announced today that his budget request for $4.5 million for UC Hastings College of Law scholarships for California students who graduate from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) was approved. The appropriation is a reauthorization of Senator Portantino’s funding request from three years ago, which led to 18 talented HBCU students earning full ride scholarships to the prestigious California law school.
“I was pleased to learn that my budget request for the California Scholars Program was approved,” commented Senator Portantino. “This program has been remarkably successful in educating the leaders of tomorrow, as well as promoting and creating diversity. I am excited that the budget staff and Senate Leadership agreed to continue its funding. The 25th District has many students and family members with academic legacies from HBCUs, which inspired me to pursue this opportunity.”
$4.5 million in one-time funding was approved in the 2021-2022 State Budget to replenish the California Scholars Program, a successful initiative aimed at creating more diversity within the UC Hastings student body. The $4.5 million will ensure that the appropriation made in 2018 to fund the California Scholars Program will not be exhausted by the end of the 2022-23 recruitment cycle.
“Expanding access to education is at the core of who we are and what we care about,” said UC Hastings Law Chancellor and Dean David Faigman. “We are proud of our current California Scholars and delighted that more students will have the opportunity to participate in this unique program.”
The California Scholarship Program is an outreach and diversity program created by the University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco to support a pipeline to recruit, enroll, and financially support California residents who graduate from HBCUs and the American University of Armenia (AUA). It a covers tuition and living expenses for awardees from participating schools. UC Hastings also guarantees its California Scholars on-campus student housing in a subsidized residence hall for all three years of their legal education. The initiative, funded through the State of California Budget, was introduced by Senator Portantino in 2018. The California Scholars Program has been successful in both attracting students from HBCU schools to return to the State of California and attracting top students to UC Hastings Law. Vice President Kamala Harris is a HBCU and UC Hastings College of Law graduate.
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