Proof Foundation offers Scholarship to Detroit High School Seniors
DETROIT — To continue rapper DeShaun “Proof” Holton’s spirit of giving back, the Proof Foundation is offering its first scholarship for high school seniors in Detroit. The foundation has made available one $1,000 scholarship for the 2011/2012 academic school year. Proof, a member of the Shady Records/Interscope Records group D-12 and an accomplished rapper in his own right, was a mentor and frequent speaker at local schools encouraging students to continue their education. Members of the Hip Hop community affectionately referred to him as the “Hip Hop Mayor of Detroit.” On April 11, 2006, Proof’s life was tragically cut short by an act of senseless violence.
High school seniors that are residents of the City of Detroit, have a GPA of 3.0 or higher, and will matriculate at a US accredited two-year community college or four-year college or university full-time during the 2011/2012 academic school year are eligible to apply for this scholarship. Each scholarship applicant is asked to write an essay on how they would work to stop violence, if they were Mayor of Detroit or Chief of Police. The essay will be evaluated on originality, content, thought provoking ideas, innovation, and concepts previously unpublished, punctuation, spelling, citations, references.
Proof’s mother, Sherallene “Pepper” Holton-White created the Proof Foundation, a Michigan nonprofit corporation, in July 2007 to honor and preserve his legacy in three ways: (1) promoting the importance of education to low-income children and children from single parent households by offering them scholarships to finance their education at schools Proof attended in Detroit as well as other educational institutions, colleges and universities, (2) encouraging artistic and creative development of inner city youth interested in pursuing careers in music by sponsoring educational and cultural activities, workshops and field trips and (3) educating aspiring artists about the business aspects of the entertainment industry through panel discussions, programs and seminars.
The scholarship rules and application are available on the Proof Foundation website: http://prooffoundation.org. Completed application packets must be postmarked on or before the deadline date of February 28, 2011. The scholarship winner will be announced on April 11, 2011 after the annual candlelight vigil in memory of Proof.
Please mail application packets to: Proof Foundation, ATTN: Scholarship Committee, 22967 Woodward Ave., #209, Ferndale, MI 48220.
For more information, please email prooffoundation@gmail.com or call (248) 721-9881.