About

Our Story​ continued...

In the early 1990s, Maria Luz “Lucy” Tizol learned about a young man who needed to take a summer course in order to graduate from high school. He could not afford the class. Lucy saw an opportunity to help and reached out to Lynn’s Latino community. She organized a fundraiser at Eco Borincano, a Puerto Rican social club in Lynn, and raised enough money for the student to take the course and graduate.

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That small act of community support became the beginning of something much bigger.

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Although Lucy was a seamstress and had never attended college herself, she understood the power of education and recognized a growing need among Lynn’s Hispanic and Latino families. She brought together other community members who shared her vision, and in 1991, they formally established the Lynn Hispanic Scholarship Fund with a mission to help Lynn’s Hispanic and Latino high school graduates pursue higher education.​

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More Than 30 Years of Opening Doors​

Since then, LHSF has awarded more than 300 scholarships to Lynn high school graduates, many of whom come from lower-income households and will be the first in their families to attend college.

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Each year, a volunteer selection committee made up of members of the Lynn community awards approximately 15 scholarships, ranging from $2,000 to $5,000, to help students pursue their educational goals. To date, LHSF has invested nearly $300,000 directly in Lynn students and their futures.

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But a scholarship is about more than paying tuition.

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LHSF provides flexible, trust-based scholarships that allow students to use their award where it can make the greatest difference in their educational journey, whether that means tuition and books, technology, transportation, housing, childcare, or another expense standing between them and their goals.

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​Removing Financial Barriers to Higher Education

At LHSF, we believe students know what they need to succeed. Our role is to listen, trust, and provide meaningful financial support that helps remove the barriers that can stand between a student and higher education.

 

We remove financial barriers to higher education.

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What began with Lucy helping one Lynn student cross one financial hurdle has grown into a community-powered effort to help hundreds of students take their next step and to remind every student that their community believes in what is possible for them.