Desmarie Jackson never thought she’d be accepted to UC Berkeley; she didn’t have the smarts or the money, she thought. Turns out she was wrong on both counts.
Desmarie, 17, was accepted as a freshman, beginning this fall. And thanks to the African American Initiative Scholarship, she can afford school, too.
She and 27 of her African American peers are the first recipients of the scholarships, made possible by an anonymous $1 million donation. Through the scholarships, administered by the San Francisco Foundation, each student will receive $8,000 annually. “It built the bridge that made going to Berkeley possible,” Desmarie said.
Once fully funded at $20 million, the endowed scholarship fund will provide admitted African American undergraduate students an annual financial incentive.
“These scholarships will allow the UC Berkeley community to continue to work towards and achieve our goals around equity, inclusion and diversity by increasing opportunities for more students from the black community to choose Berkeley,” said Takiyah Jackson, director of the African American Student Development Office and Fannie Lou Hamer Black Resource Center.
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