News
Main News > Press
HCEF Launches College Scholarship Program
29-Jul-03
Contact: Michael J. James, PhD
(202) 457-0650 or (301) 951-9400
mjames@accunet.org or mjames@hcef.org
The Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation (HCEF)*
News Release
HCEF Launches College Scholarship Program
The Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation (HCEF) in cooperation with the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU) announces the establishment of a College Scholarship Program for Holy Land Christians.
According to a recent World Bank report, the Palestinian people including Holy Land Christians are suffering under a military occupation that has produced 53% unemployment and 60% of the population living at poverty levels (roughly $1.32 per person per day). Indigenous Christians of the Holy Land, many of whom trace their ancestry to the first followers of Jesus, at one time numbered 18 % of the population in the Holy Land. Currently, Christians represent less than 2% of the population. It is feared that without a just peace and resources for social development, Christianity will vanish in the very land of its birth within a generation.
In announcing the Scholarship program, Sir Rateb Rabie, HCEF President, commented that, "Hope, social stability, and justice for the future of the Holy Land depends to a significant degree on the education and training of young people to reach their highest potential in order to contribute their talents to ensuring a society that values the dignity of every human person." Dr. Michael James, Associate Executive Director for the ACCU and Chair of the HCEF Education Committee, will coordinate the College Scholarship effort. Dr. James acknowledged that "the right to an education for Palestinians has been obstructed under military occupation by both force and economic deprivation. Although the cost to educate one Palestinian student is far less than the average cost for an education in the United States, most of the families in the Holy Land do not have the resources to provide their children with a college education. This scholarship effort aims to provide the maximum number of Palestinian Christians with the opportunity for higher education at a Palestinian college or university including Bethlehem University, the only Christian university in the Holy Land."
Direct tuition scholarships will first be awarded to eligible applicants in the fall semester of the 2004-2005 academic year. Financial contributions and scholarship applications are being facilitated by the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation. Please send your financial support for this scholarship program to HCEF.
(30)
*The Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation is a tax-exempt, non-profit 501(c)3 organization, committed to improving the lives of Christians in the Holy Land through building bonds of solidarity with between Christians in the United States and Christians in the Holy Land. We have two goals: inform Americans about the Christians in the Holy Land and provide humanitarian assistance for the needy in the land where Jesus Christ was born, preached, died and rose again. HCEF, 6935 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 214, Bethesda, MD 20815 (301) 951-9400, Toll Free (866) 871-4233 (HCEF), www.hcef.org Email: news@hcef.org
|
