College Scholarship Foundation Given $100,000 by Edison

Southern California Edison has awarded $100,000 to the East Los Angeles Community Union Education Foundation, which provides college scholarships, advises students in their first year and plans to develop a mentor program to increase the number of Latino college students.

The foundation was established in 1991, but it had been awarding college scholarships since 1983. In 10 years, scholarships totaling $850,000 have been awarded, mostly to Eastside students, said Veronica Soliz, executive director of the foundation.

“We had been giving out scholarships, but we were finding that there was still a problem with dropouts, so they decided to establish the foundation,” she said.

The foundation awarded 80 scholarships from $500 to $10,000 this year.