History

In 1996, Timothy Schwertfeger, CEO of the John Nuveen Company, and his wife, Gail Waller, established an organization that would provide a yearly $1,000 scholarship to one student from every public, private and parochial high school in Chicago. The Chicago Scholars Foundation was the fruit of two years spent researching and consulting with teachers, students, and civic leaders on how best to invest in promising local students. Before long, the Foundation caught the attention of Manny Sanchez and Gery Chico, whose Chicagoland Scholarship Fund helped young Hispanic students realize their dreams of college education, and in 2002 the two organizations merged to become Scholarship Chicago.

Meanwhile, on Chicago’s North Shore, an innovative scholarship program called College Bound was working in a parallel direction but focusing primarily on workshops, personal mentoring, and paid internship opportunities. Founded in 1996 by childhood friends Gary Caplan and Lee Gordon, College Bound had already merged with Sam Mendenhall’s Give Back Foundation, which chiefly served African-American youth. These leaders were now seeking to expand their organization to increase their impact and efficiency, and so were we. The two groups merged in 2005, resulting in the most recent incarnation of Scholarship Chicago.

Throughout our collective history, we have invested over $2.5 million in financial aid and programming for Chicago youth. Maintaining the original visions of each organization, Chicago Scholars continues to celebrate successes in every Chicago high school while offering intensive support to more and more college-bound scholars.