SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CloudNOW, the executive consortium for the leading women in cloud and converging technologies, today announced the launch of its first STEM Scholarship Fund for female students pursuing university-level technical degrees at the Shanti Bhavan school in India.
Shanti Bhavan, a residential school based in Southern India, caters exclusively to the needs of India's most disenfranchised children. The subject of the recent Netflix documentary “Daughters of Destiny,” Shanti Bhavan is the only educational program of its kind. Its graduates have a 100% university acceptance rate, work at Fortune 500 companies and contribute 20-50% of their salaries to their families and communities.
The fund is made possible by grants from corporate partners Intel, Apcera, and CB Technologies, and is intended to help the next generation of leaders overcome socioeconomic inequality and raise their communities out of poverty.
Three women from the Shanti Bhavan program currently studying at Christ University in Bangalore will be awarded full scholarships covering tuition and living expenses for a year. The students will be selected by Shanti Bhavan based on merit, leadership potential and need.
“Shanti Bhavan is a testament to the transformative power of education,” said Jocelyn DeGance Graham, Founder of CloudNOW. “These students escape generational poverty and bring their families—and even entire communities—with them as they rise. We look forward to helping them find top technical roles with our international corporate partners that also respect and satisfy each of these students’ mission of raising 100 people from their communities out of poverty in their lifetimes.”
“We are thrilled to receive the support of these world-class organizations and hope it will attract the support of others,” said Ajit George, Director of Operations at Shanti Bhavan. “This new scholarship fund will allow us to further the important work we’re doing, empowering more and more children to break the cycle of generational poverty through education, leadership and compassion.”
“We are very proud to be part of the team supporting the Shanti Bhavan School to bring more diversity to the tech industry and to help children realize their dreams,” said Raejeanne Skillern, Vice President of Intel’s Data Center Group and General Manager of Cloud Service Provider (CSP) Platform Group. “For 40 years, Intel has been creating technologies to advance the way people live, work and learn—through programs like this we can also change the future of computing for girls and women.”
About CloudNOW
CloudNOW is a non-profit consortium of the leading women in cloud computing, providing a forum for networking, knowledge sharing, mentoring and economic growth. To learn more, visit us at cloud-now.org.
About Shanti Bhavan Children’s Project
Shanti Bhavan, a non-religious 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1997 by Dr. Abraham George, is a unique educational model exclusively for children born into India’s lowest social and economic class. It provides its students with free high-quality education from Pre-K through 12th grade and continues to support its graduates as they pursue degrees at top-tier colleges throughout India. Shanti Bhavan alumni go from impoverished communities to successful careers in multinational companies helping to raise hundreds of others out of poverty. For more information, visit www.shantibhavanchildren.org.