Women’s Council Funds Scholarships for Future Women Leaders

Scholarships to support future women leaders of California will grow thanks to $50,000 raised through the CalChamber Women’s Leadership Council.

The funding for the Minerva Scholarship program was announced on March 3 at the Women’s Leadership Forum & Reception in Sacramento.

“These scholarships invest directly in the next generation of women leaders for the state of California,” said Women’s Leadership Council Chair Raji K. Brar, COO of Countryside Corporation, in announcing that the sponsors and supporters of the forum and reception have raised money for the scholarships.

The Minerva Scholarship was created by Women in California Leadership, a nonprofit foundation launched in 2015 to empower women and enhance the lives of women and girls. As noted on its website, the foundation is committed to providing scholarships to select women of promise to help them achieve their educational objectives.

The program presents up to 126 one-time $3,000 scholarships, plus one $10,000 scholarship to full-time undergraduate and graduate students at accredited colleges. Selection of recipients is based on the applicants’ intellectual energy, scholastic achievement, community involvement and work history

Past recipients have come from communities throughout the state and have used the scholarships to help fund attendance at community colleges, the California State University, University of California, in-state and out-of-state colleges, and law school.

A sampling of the colleges and universities attended by scholarship recipients includes Brown, Yale, Spelman, Stanford, Cornell, Columbia, University of Southern California, Oklahoma State, Carnegie Mellon, Colorado State, UC Berkeley, UCLA Law, CSU Northridge, University of Massachusetts Global, Pennsylvania State University, Scripps College, and Howard University.

The application process for the 2026–2027 academic year begins April 13. Scholarship winners will be announced on July 15.