BENEFITS FOR YOU
Member Career Grants
CSEA Career Grants Help Members Achieve Education Dreams
Classified employees like you educate, guide, and nurture California’s students. But the time commitment and financial burden of continuing your own learning can make it difficult to prioritize those things for yourself.
CSEA is here to help, and each year over $135,000 is awarded in scholarships and grants to members pursuing degrees, including $1,000 member career grants to help ease the burden of higher education.
The difference that a higher education degree can make for your career and earning potential can be life changing and CSEA wants to ensure you have help on that journey.
Allyssa Ybarra of Chapter 535 started working when she was 16 and didn’t realize the value that higher education holds. When she was laid off as a result of the 2008 recession, she had no idea what her options would be.
Allyssa Ybarra hopes to continue her education to teach at Riverside City College.
“My educational goals are to inspire and teach people just like me who came from a low-income, welfare family to seek education to better their lives and learn the impact an education provides.”
- Allyssa Ybarra, Ybarra of Chapter 535
She decided to attend Riverside City College to earn her associate degree, which led to her becoming a full-time instructional department specialist with the college. Now, after receiving assistance from CSEA for her bachelor’s degree, she plans to pursue a master’s degree to teach at Riverside City.
“My educational goals are to inspire and teach people just like me who came from a low-income, welfare family to seek education to better their lives and learn the impact an education provides,” she said.
Kenya Morales, a paraeducator in the San Bernardino City Unified School District and San Bernardino 183 member, received assistance for the Speech Language Pathology Master’s Preparatory Certificate Program at California State University, San Bernardino she will complete this spring.
“My professional goal is to become a speech and language pathologist and work in a school district like San Bernardino City Unified School District.”
- Kenya Morales, San Bernardino Chapter 183
Kenya Morales received assistance from CSEA to continue her education and is one step closer to her goal of becoming a speech language pathologist.
That’s just one step of her education mission though. A single mother to her nine-year old daughter, Kenya already knows her next goal.
“I am in the process of applying to the masters program in communication science and disorders at Loma Linda University, University of Redlands, and California Baptist University,” she said. “My professional goal is to become a speech and language pathologist and work in a school district like San Bernardino City Unified School District.”
The scholarship Lisa Mayfield received from CSEA allowed to her to pursue her associate degree while supporting her son and stepfather.
“Having the opportunity to go to school and earn my degree while working at the same time has been a life changer.”
- Lisa Mayfield, San Jacinto Chapter 189
Supporting others and supporting students at work can be one of the biggest challenges when finding time and resources to pursue your education.
Lisa Mayfield supports her son and stepfather but wanted to further her career by obtaining her associate degree.
“Having the opportunity to go to school and earn my degree while working at the same time has been a life changer,” she said. “I would not have been able to manage it were it not for the support and generosity of CSEA’s scholarship. It has given me a sense of pride and self-esteem to have achieved the status of being the first in my family to have an associate degree in Technical Science- IT! I am planning on building my success and getting a bachelor's degree.”
Applications for CSEA’s member career grants open June 1 and must be returned complete with requested information no later than October 31. Applicants are awarded exclusively by the Scholarship Committee based on a combination of criteria, including:
· Financial need
· Career goals and objectives
· Leadership, character, and community service
· Participation in CSEA activities For more information, links to the application and the required Chapter Participation Form, visit www.csea.com/education. Members may also want to apply for the Union Plus Scholarship, with awards ranging from $500 to $4,000, and for a Member Reimbursement Subsidy Grant of up to $250.
