Every student deserves a fair shot. Fortunately, opportunities exist to help people with disabilities pursue the education and training they need to succeed in their chosen career path.
Since 2017, Wells Fargo has partnered with Scholarship America to award 253 renewable scholarships to students with disabilities. Recently renamed “The Stacey Milbern Scholarship” after the pioneering activist, the scholarships open doors to new opportunities and foster greater accessibility for all. Wells Fargo reports that the program has awarded over $1.7 million in scholarships since its inception.
Stacey Milbern was a Korean American activist who helped create the disability justice movement and advocated for fair treatment of all disabled people. Born with congenital muscular dystrophy, a genetic degenerative disease, Milbern eventually became reliant on a scooter, a tracheostomy tube and a ventilator. Despite living with challenges, she found the strength to dedicate herself to disability justice from a young age.
While she was still a student, she worked to have disability history added to the school curriculum and raised awareness of disability rights through her blog and other outreach efforts. In adulthood, she founded the Disability Justice Culture Club, helped organize protests, and worked to meet the needs of disabled and unhoused people during the early days of the pandemic.
READ MORE: Resume tips for job seekers with disabilities
She also brought her unique perspective to corporate America, serving as Wells Fargo’s accommodations management consultant, and was an impact producer for the Netflix documentary “Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution,” which centers on the lives and voices of disabled Americans. In 2025, Stacey’s legacy will be celebrated by the U.S. Mint along with Ida B. Wells, Dr. Vera Rubin, and other honorees as part of the American Women Quarters Program.
“Milbern passed away in 2020, but her achievements are honored in many ways, including in the Wells Fargo Stacey Milbern Scholarship. Wells Fargo was honored to receive an Irving Innovation Award from Scholarship America for its decision to rename our scholarship after her, and it serves as a testament to her legacy in advancing accessibility to education for students with disabilities,” says Andrew Holbrook, chief accessibility officer for Diverse Segments, Representation and Inclusion at Wells Fargo.
This year, the program will award renewable scholarships of up to $2,500 for full-time students and renewable scholarships of up to $1,250 for part-time students who plan to enroll at an accredited two- or four-year college or university in the United States for the upcoming academic year. For more information about the scholarship and to register to be notified when it is available in February 2025, visit scholarshipamerica.org. For more information about paying for college, visit collegesteps.wf.com.
“At a time when a college degree in the United States has never been more expensive, it is essential to create more pathways to success for students of all backgrounds,” says Holbrook.
(StatePoint)
PHOTO SOURCE: (c) michaelpuche / iStock via Getty Images Plus
Other articles by HVP News Reporters