Ford Fund returns to our country with the Ford Driving Dreams program to grant scholarships and laptops to young people so that they can have the opportunity to dream big, providing them with tools that boost them in their school career from the donation of academic scholarships to technology, benefiting up to the date to more than 200,000 students from Latin America, including Mexico, the United States, Puerto Rico, and Europe.
According to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), in Mexico, of the 2.9 million young people in the country who completed high school, only 34.4% attend university, which is why, in 2018, Ford Motor Company Fund, arm global philanthropic of the brand, together with the Ford Civic Committee and its Distributors joined forces and implemented the Ford program Driving Dreams in the country to benefit Ford Schools students with the purpose of awarding financial scholarships for a period of three years to secondary education motivating and inspiring the students of these schools to continue with their studies and improve their vision of the future, encouraging them to meet their goals and achieve a university education that allows them to become the leaders of future generations.
“At Ford Fund, access to education is one of the most important components of our strategy. The Ford Civic Committee and our dealers have a long-term commitment to schools throughout Mexico, and we are proud to bring additional programs such as Ford Driving Dreams and other resources to support local students, “said Joe Avila, Manager, United States, and Latin America, Ford Motor Company Fund.
With an accumulated investment of more than $ 13.5 million pesos, the Ford Civic Committee and its Distributors together with the Ford Motor Company Fund, have awarded scholarships in 2018 and 2019 through the essay contest What drives Your Dream? with which, 200 Ford students in the State of Mexico, Chiapas and Oaxaca have continued their secondary education until today.
These scholarships have been awarded to the winners with the help of Fondo Unido México, an organization in charge of providing continuity and ensuring the correct use of the economic amount awarded to each student.
With the aim of knowing how the effects of the pandemic in our country have affected scholarship students and their families, through Fondo Unido México, studies and consultations have been carried out that allow a more in-depth investigation of the needs, perception and experiences of Relevant issues that scholarship recipients face are the media or digital tools they have for their virtual academic performance as well as their emotional health, with the result that 69% of families do not have their own computer or do Use of a cell phone that is often shared with a family member, which becomes a limitation for learning, added to the stress derived from lack of work, from the uncertainty due to the pandemic, among other emotions.
Today the objective of the Ford Driving Dreams program takes a turn and focuses its efforts on bringing students closer to a quality distance education, that is why, this year with an investment of $ 150,000 dollars, 200 Chromebooks will be acquired which will be donated to the students benefited from the scholarships to continue their distance studies without interruption, as well as the giving of emotional health workshops for them and their families, providing them with the necessary tools to assertively cope with the ravages of the pandemic. Said devices will be delivered to the agencies of the Ford agencies sponsoring the Ford schools.
“Education contributes to the development of society and educating our girls and boys in Mexico today with a view to a better future is to promote their dreams to accelerate their path to success.” Enrique González Pons, president of CCFD.
Source: jornada.com.mx
