Opportunity
Nisei Student Relocation Commemorative Fund
The Nisei Student Relocation Commemorative Fund gives college scholarships to Southeast Asian American high school seniors in a different US area each year.[1] Cambodian American students are among those it serves.[2] Japanese Americans of the second generation (Nisei) in New England started the fund in 1980.[1][3]
Sponsorship
The fund is a nonprofit run by a board of directors.[1] Its founders honored the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council, a Quaker-led body that helped Nisei students leave the incarceration camps of the Second World War for colleges.[1][4] The fund puts the number of students the Council helped at nearly 5,000,[5] the Densho Encyclopedia at about 4,000,[4] and a scholarship listing at 4,600.[6]
The founders chose to help young refugees from Southeast Asia as a way of repaying the help they had once received, an idea they call ongaeshi.[3] The first grant, in 1982, was $2,000 to the American Friends Service Committee, and the first student awards followed in 1983 in Berkeley, California.[3][4] By 2011 the fund called itself the only scholarship program run by Japanese Americans that made awards to Southeast Asian American seniors.[7]
Each year the board picks a city or region, and a Local Awards Committee there recruits and screens applicants and names the winners.[1][7] The fund has served more than 30 cities and regions.[8] Recent rounds went to Long Beach, California (2009 and 2026), eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island (2017), Rhode Island (2021), Milwaukee, Wisconsin (2024) and the Sacramento area (2025).[4][1] Some past recipients later joined the board.[4]
Award and support
The fund reports more than 1,200 scholarships worth $1.4 million in all since 1980.[8] Its own pages give awards of $250 to $2,500,[8] while the Densho Encyclopedia gives $250 to $2,000.[4] Winners receive their awards at a ceremony in the chosen city.[4]
A scholarship listing reported up to $70,000 on offer for the 2026 Long Beach round.[6] In Washington State in 2011 the fund offered $50,000, mostly in awards of $2,000.[7]
Eligibility
Applicants are students in their last year of high school who have Southeast Asian roots and live in the chosen area.[1][8] The 2024 Wisconsin round named Cambodian, Hmong, Lao and Vietnamese students.[2]
For the 2026 Long Beach round, a listing gave these terms:[6]
- the applicant, or at least one parent or grandparent, was born in Cambodia, Laos or Vietnam
- the applicant attends high school in Long Beach or a nearby city
- the applicant finishes high school or a General Educational Development certificate in 2026, at any age
- the applicant enrolls in fall 2026 at a four-year college, a community college or an accredited vocational or technical school
Application
Dates and forms change with each year's area.[1] The 2026 round for Long Beach was closed as of October 7, 2026.[1] For the 2024 Wisconsin round, students registered through an online form by March 25, 2024.[2]
Committees weigh a personal statement, grades, school and community activities, goals, financial need and the promise of success after high school.[6] A 2026 listing asked for one letter of recommendation,[6] while another listing names two letters along with an essay and a transcript.[9]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Nisei Student Relocation Commemorative Fund, Home (undated)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Nisei Student Relocation Commemorative Fund, Nisei Scholarship WI2024 (2024)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Nisei Student Relocation Commemorative Fund, About (undated)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Densho Encyclopedia, Nisei Student Relocation Commemorative Fund (2026)
- ↑ Nisei Student Relocation Commemorative Fund, Commemorate the Past, Educate for the Future (2025)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 StudentScholarships.org, NSRC Fund Scholarship (2026)
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Bellevue Reporter, Scholarships offered Southeast Asia high school students (2011)
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Nisei Student Relocation Commemorative Fund, Scholarships (undated)
- ↑ Scholarships360, Nisei Student Relocation Commemorative Fund (undated)