Each year, Open Your Heart partners with the Minneapolis College to provide students who are currently unhoused or have experienced homelessness in the past two years with funding toward education or living expenses. Students have the autonomy to use the funds as they see fit.
Open Your Heart Scholarships were awarded to 30 Minneapolis College students in the greatest need. These students have struggled with food and housing insecurity, which are often symptoms of much bigger challenges that must overcome to earn a livable wage, support themselves and their families.
The Open Your Heart Scholarship helped boost student persistence. Seventy-one percent of students persisted from fall to spring semesters and had an overall GPA of 3.09.
Scholarship recipients are 59% liberal arts majors with plans to go on to earn their 4-year degree while 41% are in one of our Trade and Technical career paths including: Pre-Nursing, Addiction Counseling, Aircraft Maintenance, Heating, Venting, Air Conditioning Program, and Software Development. The student studying Aircraft Maintenance will graduate this spring to help fill a huge workforce need in the Twin Cities.
Due to some student attrition (much lower than students not receiving scholarships), the College was able to award scholarships to an additional nine students for spring and summer terms.