Bloch family helps UMKC give millions in scholarships to Kansas City area students
University of Missouri-Kansas City on Tuesday announced another batch of scholarships worth millions.
The newest initiative will offer $20 million in scholarships to benefit about 800 students over the next nine years. It was established by UMKC with the Marion and Henry Bloch Family Foundation, the H&R Block Foundation and the University of Missouri System.
“This wonderful gift will change the lives of hundreds of individuals, who in turn will go on to produce lifelong benefits to this community,” Chancellor Mauli Agrawal said in a statement Tuesday. “This is one more example of how one family, and one company, can literally change the course of an entire community for the better.”
This is the second such initiative in three months. In November the university announced a partnership with the KC Scholars program to offer $20 million in scholarships to about 400 low- and moderate-income students.
Under the Bloch-supported program, the two foundations will contribute $10 million, to be matched by $10 million from UMKC and two UM System programs: the Promise and Opportunity Scholarships program and the Next Generation Merit Program.
In September UM System President Mun Choi said the system was putting $260 million into investments over the next five years with $100 million to be used for need-based and academic excellence scholarships to make college more affordable.
The new scholarships at UMKC are part of that system-wide effort and are called the Bloch Family Scholarships. The program expands an existing scholarship to more recipients and adds two new ones. All three are set to launch in the fall.
▪ The Henry W. Bloch/UMKC Promise and Opportunity Scholars program adds 200 more students to the existing Henry W. Bloch Scholars program, which currently has 47 students. The expanded $6.4 million program will target promising students from urban neighborhoods who might not otherwise qualify for traditional scholarships because of “past academic performance or life circumstances,” university officials said.
▪ The Marion H. Bloch/UMKC Next Generation Merit Scholars program will support high-performing, underserved students in urban areas of greater Kansas City. The $4 million program is expected to reach more than 100 students.
▪ The Bloch Launchpad Scholars program is designed to attract highly qualified undergraduate students to the Bloch School of Management. It will allow those students to integrate academics with internships, volunteer opportunities, mentoring programs and other career-related experiences. The number of participants will vary year to year, but university officials anticipate 500 students overall will be served through the $9.6 million program.
“We are proud to support these opportunities, because we know what an investment like this means to the future of Kansas City,” Thomas M. Bloch, who chairs both the Marion and Henry Bloch Family Foundation and the H&R Block Foundation, said in a statement released by UMKC.
Brian Ramirez, a UMKC student and Henry W. Bloch scholar, said he is inspired by the “generosity of the Bloch Family,” which made his education possible. “My career will be focused on giving back to this community. That is the example that the Bloch family has set.”
