Winner: The LAGRANT Foundation
The LAGRANT Foundation (TLF) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to increase the number of ethnic minorities in the fields of advertising, marketing and public relations by providing scholarships, internships, mentorships and career and professional development workshops to African American, Asian American/Pacific Islander, Native American/Alaska Native and Hispanic/Latino undergraduate and graduate students. Since its inception in 1998, TLF has provided a total of $1.83 million in scholarships to 286 students.
TLF has also hosted more than 150 career & professional development workshops for over 2,000 ethnic minority students and has helped secure more than 200 internships and entry-level jobs in the communications field.
In celebration of its 17th Anniversary Scholarship & Donor Recognition Reception in Chicago on June 8, 2015, TLF’s goal was to award a total of $150,000 in scholarships to 40 ethnic minority students from across the country, which was achieved.
TLF received more than 300 scholarship applications from students across the country. The applications were scored by industry professionals and the recipients were selected by the final judges. The scholarships helped recipients with resources they need to achieve success. 22 undergraduate students received a $2,500 scholarship each, and 19 graduate students received a $5,000 scholarship each; all are ethnically diverse and pursuing careers in advertising, marketing or public relations.
In the past year, TLF has helped place 44 ethnic minority candidates in internships and full-time positions within communications. TLF has helped place candidates at Arthur W. Page Society, The Axis Agency, Burson-Marsteller, Cargill, Cerrel Associates, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Conill, Cone Communications, Golin, GM, Grey Advertising, H+K Strategies, Herbalife Family Foundation, Ketchum, MSLGROUP, Nike, Omnicom Media Group, Orci, Sabre, Starbucks, Verizon, W20 Group, WE Communications, Weber Shandwick and Wunderman.