About the Scholarship Fund:  There are eleven $1,000 scholarship awards available in 2013, as well as six scholarship awards of $2,500.  The goal of the scholarship fund is to support and recognize working adults who are going to school while juggling jobs, families, and other responsibilities. 

These scholarships will be given to employees who are engaged in taking the next step in their education, who are pursuing an associate's or bachelor's degree or industry certification, and who are considered promising contributors to the companies or organizations for whom they work.  Scholarship applications must be submitted by employers, who can ‘nominate' eligible employees.

MDF strongly believes in the importance of building the skills of our incumbent workforce.   We must maximize the value of non-traditional students of all kinds to bolster our workforce, and specifically reach out to the over 223,000 people in Maine who started college but did not complete a degree.

But, we need to do more than encourage non-traditional students and working adults to 'take their next step.'  We need to provide tools to help them succeed.  The Next Step Scholarship Fund is one way that we can do more.   These scholarships will be awarded in partnership with the employers who are members of the Maine Employers' Initiative, and with our partners in the SHRM chapters around the state.