December 4, 2009
CHICAGO (Dec. 4)—The Chicago Federation of Labor (CFL) announced it once again will offer five academic-based scholarships and five random-drawing scholarships next year to students who have a parent in a CFL-affiliated local or are themselves a member of such a local.
It will be the 27th year that the CFL has offered the scholarships, named for the late William A. Lee, who served as CFL president from 1954 to 1984.. Each scholarship is worth $2,000.
UTU Illinois Legislative Director Bob Guy urged children of eligible UTU members to compete for the union-sponsored college money.
“All the studies show that the best way to improve your lifetime earning power is to get a college education,” Guy said. “For most high-school graduates seeking to attend college, the chief obstacle is cost. The Lee Scholarships offer union families a tool to ratchet the cost of a college education down by $2,000.”
A CFL spokesman said students may apply either for the academic-based scholarship, which is based on a student’s grade-point average, plus other criteria; or for the randomly awarded scholarship, which is based on a drawing. Applying in both categories is not permitted. All applications must be signed by one of the two top officers of the local to which the student or his parent belongs.
Applications are available on line at www.chicagolabor.org. The application form lists all rules and criteria governing the awards process. Completed applications must be returned to the Chicago Federation of Labor, William A. Lee Memorial Scholarship Committee, 130 E. Randolph St., Suite 2600, Chicago IL 60601. All applications must be postmarked no later than March 1, 2010.
“I strongly urge students from UTU families to compete for a Lee Scholarship,” Guy said. “It’s a special benefit of union membership that reaches down to the next generation, and it represents yet another benefit to those UTU locals that have taken that extra step to re-affiliate with the CFL.”
Guy said five UTU locals are now affiliated with the CFL: Nos. 577, 1258, 1290, 1534 and 1973.
