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From the beginning, the Hispanic Development Fund has focused on a critical need that emanated directly from the community: developing a scholarship program to empower Hispanic students to attend and graduate from college. It was also considered important from the very beginning to make this a community-wide effort, relying on other Latino nonprofit organizations to assist with the review of applications and pooling of resources. Additionally, the scholarship effort stressed to all students the importance of giving back to the Latino community and engaging as community leaders. In 1984, HDF awarded its first scholarships by giving $100 each to 100 students through a separately named Hispanic Scholarship Fund. In 2020, in partnership with local and regional higher education institutions, HDF awarded $689,000 in scholarships to 325 students.
The 2021 HDF Scholarship Application is now open.
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• Students will first need to visit the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation's website. Once there, click on the “Sign Up” button in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. If you're a returning scholar, click "Sign In".
• Prior to the HDF Scholarship Application, you will need to fulfill the GKCCF general application. By doing so, you are also eligible for other scholarships offered by the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation. Last year alone, HDF Scholars also received over $60,000 in additional scholarships.
• Once the GKCCF General Application is complete, the HDF Scholarship application will become available to you as long as you meet the eligibility requirements (see below).
• We've created instructional videos below to better assist you through the application process.
• Deadline to apply is March 1, 2021 (11:59 pm)
Essay Question: Understanding that the COVID-19 Pandemic has disproportionally affected our Hispanic community, what personal and/or academic challenges have you or your family faced over the past year? If there’s something you could do to help our community heal, what would you do?
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Questions? Contact us at scholarships@hdfkc.org
To qualify for an HDF Scholarship, students must be of Hispanic/Latino Heritage along with the following requirements.
Graduating/have graduated from a Greater Kansas City metropolitan area high school or obtain a general equivalency diploma (GED) from a local organization. (The Greater Kansas City metropolitan area is generally defined as Cass, Clay, Jackson, Platte, Johnson and Wyandotte counties.)
Attend/have attended a Greater Kansas City metropolitan area high school for the last three years prior to graduation.
Accepted or enrolled in a fully accredited college or university and working toward an associate, bachelor, or graduate degree. (Applicants attending vocational or trade schools are ineligible.)
Enroll or be enrolled as a full-time student. (A minimum 12 credit hours for undergraduate and 9 credit hours for graduate.)
Scholarship applications are evaluated based on the following criteria:
Proven academic merit as reflected in GPA and answer to essay question.
Demonstrated need for financial assistance as exhibited by family's gross income, size of family, and other financial need.
Demonstrated community involvement as reflected in the application.
Matching Institutions
Our post-secondary partners help foster our mission by matching the scholarships that we award, leveraging more than 90 percent of our scholarship funds annually.
The Hispanic Development Fund recognizes that many individuals and organizations in our Kansas City Metro area want to support Hispanic students in pursuing a post-secondary education. Many of these individuals and organizations have chosen to contribute their funds to the HDF Scholarship Program in order to provide a scholarship in honor of an individual, organization or company.
Ad Astra Scholarship
Alfredo and Amalia Murguia Family Scholarship
Colombian Cultural Association Scholarship
Country Club Bank Scholarship
Dr. Florez Health Professional Scholarship
Ecuadorian Society of Kansas City
Flor Maria Rigsby Memorial Scholarship
Mr. and Mrs. Aniseto & Felipa Herrera
Family Scholarship
Mr. Brian Herrera Education Scholarship
Mr. and Mrs. John & Rita Herrera Family Scholarship
Hispanic Bar Association of Greater
Kansas City Scholarship
Jesse G. and Rebecca R. Rodriguez Memorial Scholarship
Mac and Velia Salazar Family Scholarship
John and Adela Ochoa Memorial Scholarship
Lorenzo and Juanita Orozco Memorial Scholarship
Maria Fierro Memorial Scholarship
The Pell Project Scholarship
Union Cultural Mexicana Social Club Scholarship
University of Central Missouri Cesar E. Chavez