My Fairy GodParents is sharing an education funding opportunity built for exactly the students our work centers: the Breaking Barriers Scholarship, offered through Aventiv Technologies in partnership with The LAGRANT Foundation.
The scholarship exists to remove a very specific barrier. Students who have experienced the incarceration of a parent or close family member often carry additional caregiving, financial, and emotional responsibilities into their college years, and those responsibilities rarely appear anywhere on a financial aid form. Breaking Barriers is designed to help close that gap.
How MFGP Learned About It
We first heard about the opportunity through Anyé Young, who has worked with Aventiv Technologies since interning with the company in early 2024 and now serves as a Stakeholder Engagement Specialist. Anyé's own story — growing up with an incarcerated parent and writing Teen Guide to Living With Incarcerated Parents — is the reason she recognized immediately who this scholarship was for.
MFGP then received a direct request from Kim Hunter asking our organization to “Please distribute to students …” That request is why this post exists. We take distribution seriously, because scholarships only work when the right students actually hear about them in time.
Who Should See This
If you are a caregiver, educator, school counselor, youth program leader, faith leader, reentry case manager, or mentor, you likely already know a student who should apply. Please forward this post to them directly rather than assuming they will come across it.
“Please distribute to students. Two sentences in an email can change the direction of a young person's year.
⌒ ∘ ∘ ∘
Students who are the first in their family to attend college, students balancing school with family caregiving, and students who have never been asked about the incarceration in their family are often the least likely to apply on their own. A personal nudge matters more than a public announcement.
What to Do Next
We have published a full spotlight page for this scholarship on our website with eligibility criteria, deadline information, and application guidance, along with practical notes on preparing a strong application.
Visit the Breaking Barriers Scholarship page on MyFairyGodParents.org for those details, then share it with at least one student, family, or program that should know about it.
MFGP is grateful to Aventiv Technologies and The LAGRANT Foundation for creating an opportunity that names this barrier out loud, and to Anyé for making sure it reached the families we serve.