Carlos Santana’s Milagro Foundation Launches Santana Scholars Program, Benefitting First-Generation College Students

San Rafael, CA, November 17, 2020: In partnership, the Santana Scholars Program will provide grant funds from Carlos Santana’s Milagro Foundation and comprehensive support from 10,000 Degrees to a cohort of Bay Area students from low-income backgrounds, who will be the first in their family to attend college. The renewable Santana Scholars project will be awarded on a yearly basis to SF Bay Area college-bound students who attended high school in the northern Bay Area, where the Milagro Foundation and 10,000 Degrees are based.

The Milagro Foundation grant will fund Santana Scholars, starting with five students who are from low-income backgrounds, and are first in their family to attend college. All five attended North Bay high schools, but are attending colleges from as close by as College of Marin in Greenbrae, CA, to as far as Endicott College in Beverly, MA. Santana Scholars will also receive 10,000 Degrees full suite of wrap-around support, including college and financial aid counseling and management, help to leverage other financial aid, and mentorship from near-peer Fellows.

The Milagro Foundation founder Carlos Santana said, “Whether at home or in school, you are being given a menu to learn who you are already … wisdom, brilliance, elegance, decent with impeccable integrity, in other words, you are the bright shining future.”

Kim Mazzuca, President and CEO of 10,000 Degrees said, “It is an honor to have this opportunity to partner with Carlos and everyone at the Milagro Foundation–they are people who care deeply about the world and who have dedicated their lives to giving opportunities to others. We are inspired by their mission and together, we know, we can have an even greater impact–inspiring more students from low-income backgrounds to achieve their educational dreams and to go on to positively impact their communities. Thanks to them, our world is a better place.”

10,000 Degrees and the Milagro Foundation share a mission to make an impact on the lives of children who have been traditionally underserved through education. 10,000 Degrees mission is to support students from low-income backgrounds to and through college, while Milagro’s mission is to support underrepresented and vulnerable children and youth in the areas of arts, education, and health.

A college degree is the most effective way to break the cycle of poverty for generations to come. Currently, in the United States, only 13% of students from low-income backgrounds earn a bachelor’s degree by their mid-twenties. 10,000 Degrees seeks to change that. 80% of their 4-year college students graduate compared to 31% of their peers nationally, and their community college students transfer at three times the national average.

Since 1998, Carlos Santana’s Milagro Foundation has supported low income, underserved and underrepresented children in 36 states and 18 countries by granting over $8 million to nonprofit agencies working with children and youth. 10,000 Degrees also awards over $4 million in scholarships annually, and leverages over $18 million in free financial aid. 10,000 Degrees students graduate from college with 85% less loan debt than the average college graduate.

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