Application Period
2024 Scholarship Application Submission Period is
January 5 – March 23, 2024
All applications must be received by the High Desert Community Foundation no later than 5pm, March 23, 2024.
Please Note: In consideration of the COVID-19 restrictions, submission of Official and/or Certified Transcripts are acceptable.
2024 Scholarship Program
Welcome to Year Nine of the Dreamers, Visionaries & Leaders (“DVL”) Legacy Scholarships Program. We are delighted to once again, present awards to outstanding students who are residents of the High Desert. The DVL Scholarship Project has awarded over $25,000.00 (Twenty Five Thousand Dollars) in scholarships since 2014!
Thanks to the generosity of our Donors, the scholarships have grown in number from the original three to five scholarship categories of five hundred dollars each awarded directly to the student to use as she or he may need to begin or to continue a college education.
The DVL Legacy Scholarships are Namesakes and are awarded in memory of six individuals and past and present DVL Honorees who made major contributions to the High Desert Region during their lifetimes. They are:
- Gerard Brown (1921-1998), Pioneer oral surgeon & community leader
- Bishop Nathaniel Ruffin (1934-2009), Faith based community leader & elected official
- Leona Griner (1932-2012), Artist & naturalist
- Anna Sugi (1960-2010), Founder of Today’s Woman Foundation & business woman
- Garner C. Morris (1933-2020), Fondly known as “Mr. Victorville” for his passionate leadership as a community advocate.
- DVL Honorees Award–Multiple previous DVL Awardees for outstanding contributions in entrepreneurialism, visual or performing arts, education, law, military service, community activism.
- *Lauri Amber Diggs *Indicates Newly Added Legacy
History of the Project
The scholarship project is an outgrowth of the parent project, Dreamers, Visionaries and Leaders, (an Affiliate Fund of the High Desert Community Foundation) which each year recognizes those who have contributed in some way to the livability of this region. In 2014, its sixth year of honoring local adult and young citizens whose contributions have enriched this region, Founder and Executive Director Regina Bell chose to expand the success of the DVL project by adding a scholarship component.
Our Recipients
The DVL Scholarship Project awarded over three thousand dollars in scholarships in its first year, and it accepts applications and awards the scholarships regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, disability or social or economic class or religious affiliation.
The DVL Project was delighted to learn that the students selected for the DVL Legacy Scholarships were recipients also of several other highly selective scholarships for their achievements in high school and their contributions to their communities.