Disabled American Veterans Jesse Brown Scholarship

Attention students who volunteer at VA Medical Centers or students looking for volunteer and scholarship opportunities, here’s a great scholarship to apply for. The Disabled American Veterans (DAV) has established the Jesse Brown Memorial Youth Scholarship Program in memory of the late Secretary of Veterans Affairs. The scholarship is awarded to students who are actively involved in volunteering in the Department of Veterans Affairs Voluntary Service (VAVS) programs. Students can nominate themselves, or be nominated by the Voluntary Service Program Manager at the VA medical center or the DAV Department Commander.

Eligible students must be 21 years old or younger, and must have volunteered at least 100 hours during the past calendar year. If a student submits a self-nomination form he/she must also submit a 750 word essay on “What volunteering has meant to me.”

There are several scholarships that the DAV awards under this program. First prize is a $20,000 scholarship. Second prize is a $15,000 scholarship. Third prize is a $10,000 scholarship. There are two $7,500 fourth place prizes, and three $5,000 fifth place prizes. Students do not have to use the whole amount in one year; the student must utilize the entire scholarship before they reach 25 years of age, or within six years of receiving the scholarship, whichever is later.

Self-nomination forms can be found at http://www.dav.org/volunteers/documents/SelfNominationForm.pdf, and individuals who want to nominate a student can get their form at http://www.dav.org/volunteers/documents/NominationForm.pdf.

The nomination forms are for 2011 but the forms should be updated in December. You can check this site for current information as the DAV releases it: http://www.dav.org/volunteers/Scholarship.aspx.

All completed forms and supporting documents should be sent to Disabled American Veterans, National Headquarters, Voluntary Services Department, P.O. Box 14301, Cincinnati, OH 45250-0301.

There are plenty of volunteer scholarships available. I will try to post more information on others. Remember that these scholarships can be used towards criminal justice degrees too.