This endowment is made possible through a generous donation from local attorney and philanthropist, Bill Lemann, who helped us to create the Robert L. Harbison Scholarship Endowment with a catalytic investment of $726,000. This scholarship fund provides 10 $3,000 scholarships to graduates of SBCUSD high schools every year in perpetuity. As with all Making Hope Happen Foundation scholarships, recipients are guided by paid mentors for two years, which is a best practice, especially for first generation college and university students. Since 2019, 40 Harbison full or partial scholarships have been awarded that have allowed students to attend UCs, CSUs, and private colleges all over CA and beyond. 

Mr. Lemann did not stop with the nearly quarter of a million dollar donation in 2019. In December of 2021, he provided another $50,000 with a challenge to all of us to grow the endowment to at least $1million. Per Bill’s request,  new awards from the Robert L. Harbison Scholarship Endowment have been paused until the fund has reached the goal. What do you say? Will you make the Robert L. Harbison Scholarship available to SBCUSD students again by helping us reach $1million in the fund’s corpus? Bill Lemann makes big things happen. If we do this together, it will be huge.