THE ELF Scholarship
The Edna Lewis Foundation issues grants of $5,000 to qualified candidates who identify as Black and are at least 21 years old within the categories of Agriculture & Farming, Culinary Arts, and Food Writing.
Applications are currently closed. Please check back for updates on the next awards cycle.
About
What It's FoR
Edna Lewis Foundation Scholarships follow a grant model in which the recipient is given wide latitude in the use of scholarship funds to achieve a goal to advance in their chosen food-related career. Qualified expenses include general living expenses, housing and childcare during culinary stages, apprenticeships, or internships; tuition, or fees for workshops or symposia; and travel expenses related to these pursuits. Scholarships are not awarded to those seeking seed money or operating capital for business or entrepreneurial ventures.
Share Your vision
The Edna Lewis Foundation encourages scholarship applicants to share how the scholarship can help make your goal a reality. The written essay part of the application is an opportunity to explain to the Foundation’s Awards Committee how a scholarship will help elevate their career, reduce financial barriers, or how else the applicant might use the funds to achieve career goals.
personalized mentorship
Each scholarship recipient will work closely with a mentor, either identified by the award recipient or selected by the Foundation Awards Committee from a slate of accomplished professionals in the recipient’s career area. For the duration of the Covid-19 pandemic, mentorships may not be hands-on and may be subject to social distancing guidelines for the safety of both the scholarship recipient and mentor.
application criteria
Applicants must identify as Black and be at least 21 years of age at the time scholarship is awarded. The date of the scholarship award is determined in part by the scholarship applicant’s timeline for their grant, and the Board of Trustees’ determination of when funds will be disbursed. The earliest possible date of scholarship disbursement will be September 1, 2022, and the latest possible date for disbursement will be January 30, 2023.
How To apPLY
Step 1
Download the Edna Lewis Foundation Scholarship Application. Complete all fields of the application.
Step 2
Write a 1,000 – 1,500 word essay. Tell the Scholarship Awards Committee about yourself, your career up to this point, and what your career goals are, and how this scholarship will help you achieve them. Tell us specifically what you want to use scholarship funds to transform your career and set you on a path to success in your chosen path. Tell us what financial challenges you are facing in meeting your goals and be specific about how Edna Lewis Foundation Scholarship funds will help you overcome those challenges. Discuss what type of mentorship, which will be provided along with scholarship funds, you need to get you on the right track and stay on the right track.
Finally, and most importantly, tell us how Edna Lewis inspires you to be a better professional working in
our food system.
Step 3
Send the application, a copy of your Curriculum Vitae or resume, and your essay as attachments to an email to scholarships@ednalewisfoundation.org. in the body of the email, write a short introductory letter introducing yourself, and telling us which scholarship you are applying for, and a few words about what you know about the life and work of Edna Lewis.
2022-2023 Scholarship Year scholarships must be completed by July 8th, 2023.