The LAFD Scholarship Fund (the “LAFDSF”) was established in 2007 by The Jean Perkins Foundation, a private non-profit institution that includes among its charitable interests aiding individuals that protect and serve the community as first responders. To that end, the LAFD Scholarship Fund annually selects Merit Scholars from among applicants that are dependent children of active, fallen or permanently disabled LAFD sworn employees and are high school seniors who will be enrolled as full-time students in the upcoming academic year. The Merit Scholar awards are cash grants of up to $40,000 ($10,000 per year while the student continues to be enrolled and making normal progress toward a college degree). Runners-up receive one-time grants of $7,500.
Merit Scholar Competition
There are approximately 3,500 LAFD employees. Each year, children of these employees who are high school seniors are eligible to apply for the LAFDSF Merit Scholar Competition. Since 2007, the LAFDSF receives completed Merit Scholar Applications from approximately 40 qualified applicants each year. When the Applications and the required accompanying documentation has been submitted, the Selection Committee (the civilian members of the LAFDSF Board) reviews the material and ranks the candidates. Based on these reviews, a smaller list of Applicants is selected for personal interviews. After the interviews, the current year Merit Scholars award winners are notified. Individuals who are interviewed but do not receive Merit Scholar Awards are designated as Runners-up and receive one-time grants. All these scholarships &are awarded on the basis of merit. The single most important factor in assessing relative merit is academic achievement, but the Selection Committee also considers other relevant criteria, including personal character and extracurricular accomplishments. The Selection Committee does not consider the financial need of the Applicants, or whether they have qualified for other grants or scholarships. The Los Angeles Fire Department has no role in the selection of Merit Scholars.
Funding and Grant History
Since inception, the LAFDSF has raised over $ 2.9 million and has awarded 81 Merit Scholarships and 116 Runners-up Awards representing total grants of over $2.3 million. (See the attached list of past Merit Scholars and the schools that they have attended.) The dollars committed to this activity are, however, only a small part of the program. The most significant accomplishment of the fund has been the ability to assist exceptional students to attend colleges that might otherwise be beyond their reach financially. Almost all of the families of the Applicants are solidly middle class with two, three or more children and heavily burdened by the rising costs of higher education, yet many are unable to qualify financially for scholarships predicated on financial need. In this way, the LAFDSF fills a substantial void. A Merit Scholar Award, while not large enough to pay for even one full term of a highly rated college, is often large enough to make a substantial difference in the quality of the college a Merit Scholar chooses to attend or perhaps eliminates the need for a part time job allowing the student to enroll in an additional or more intensive course of study, take up an extra-curricular activity or just study harder.
Level All
In 2024, the LAFDSF started offering free access to the Level All website to all high school and college aged children of LAFD employees. The Level All mission is “to provide every parent and high school student in the US with the personalized, in-depth support and guidance needed to realize their life-long dreams.” In fulfillment of that mission, Level All has created an online platform that delivers a continuously updated content library of over 12,000 in-depth, snackable, unbiased articles and videos covering the most critical issues facing American high school families today. Level All content covers such topics as High School Success, Career Pathways, Apprenticeships, College Alternatives, Finances Literacy, Community College Pathways, College Planning, Life Skills and Leadership Development. Since the LAFDSF’s founding in 2007, we have wanted to find ways to help the children of LAFD employees beyond the very talented and academically achieving group of Merit Scholar Award winners. Level All is a non- profit organization which has made its considerable resources available to the LAFDSF at no cost. We invite all children of the LAFD community to explore what this incredible resource can do to enhance their future. To learn more about Level All, visit their website www.levelall.com. Then contact lafd.scholarship@lacity.org to sign up.
Administrative Expense Structure
The LAFDSF has a very minimal expense structure. The Board of Directors and Officers are not compensated. The LAFDSF has no full-time employees. It operates with part time employees paid on an hourly basis, who are responsible for promoting the program among the firefighters, coordinating with potential applicants, preparing Applicant files for the Selection Committee and handling routine correspondence and documentation with Applicants and grant selectees. Currently, we have no expenses allocated to fund solicitation or marketing.