Boston Adult Literacy Fund Scholarships
The Boston Adult literacy Fund awards scholarships to adults who have completed their Adult Basic Education (ABE) or English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) studies at a Greater Boston community-based literacy program and are continuing on to higher education or vocational training. In the current economy, advanced training is necessary to obtain family-supporting jobs with benefits and career ladders.

BALF Scholars are selected on the basis of their:

• educational achievements
• service to their communities
• perseverance in the face of hardship

Despite their determination and willingness to work hard, Boston Adult Literacy Fund Scholars shoulder tremendous responsibilities. Most of them are heads of families and have deep financial and care-giving responsibilities.

The BALF Scholarship lifts some of their financial burden, but our resources are limited. We often receive twice as many deserving applications as we can fund. Opportunities exist for creating an endowed scholarship to be named by the donor. Click here to find out more.

Since 1990, we have awarded 195 scholarships. Many of our Scholars have become BALF supporters who are active participants in the adult literacy community. Over 95% of BALF Scholars have their degree or are actively pursuing a degree: of the 121 Scholars surveyed, 64 were working on their first degree. Of the 54 who had completed their original course of studies, 6 now had their BA, and 17 were working on a second degree.

In 2002, we initiated our first scholarships for BALF Scholars in their second year of college. Over time, we plan to establish a four-year competitive scholarship program to help BALF Scholars pursue higher education.