Empowering high school students of color and providing them with the opportunity to use their voices/share their ideas to create real change in their community rarely happens.

For the second straight year, the Papitto Opportunity Connection (POC), a non-profit, private foundation working with Rhode Island’s communities of color, is offering RI high school students of color the opportunity to share their ideas to create a better community through the second annual Transform RI Scholarship.

Young people of color often express they feel seen, but never heard. They don’t have the opportunity to share their hopes, dreams and ideas for a better community. That’s why, a year ago POC created the Transform Rhode Island Scholarship (TRIS). The scholarship application asks RI’s high school students of color to answer one simple question:

“If you were given a million dollars to better the lives of Rhode Island’s communities of color through education, job skills training, business, housing, healthcare, or criminal justice, how would you do it?”

POC has committed to investing $1 million in making the winning idea a reality and the winning student not only receives a $25,000 scholarship, but also has a seat at the table and is part of implementing the idea.

“Young people are energized, and they want to be heard, but oftentimes we don’t give them a voice. The Transform Rhode Island Scholarship provides a tremendous opportunity for Rhode Island’s young people of color to voice their ideas and create real change in their community,” said John A. Tarantino, POC Managing Trustee. “This scholarship will impact lives, both for the students who receive financial awards from TRIS, and for their communities.”

The 2022 Inaugural TRIS winner was Mariam Kaba, the daughter of West African immigrants who attends the Career and Technical Center at Woonsocket High School. For her transformative idea, she focused on improving RI’s Black, Indigenous and People of Color communities. Kaba’s winning idea was to develop a program that offers career exploration, financial literacy, and mental health wellness opportunities for young people of color and restores communities through dedicated activities. Kaba received a $25,000 scholarship and today is working with POC and Leadership RI to make her idea come to life.

“LRI is proud to work alongside Mariam and the design team in leading her vision for Woonsocket from an idea into reality,” said Michelle Carr, executive director, Leadership RI. “Mariam’s concept of restoring the village is serving as a compass for our organization as our network of community leaders, including 76 current members, mobilize around her vision and passion for Woonsocket.”

Now in its second year, POC has once again committed to investing $1 million in making the winning idea a reality and will award ten TRIS finalists’ one-time scholarships worth between $5,000-$25,000 which can be used for education, housing, transportation, or health care.

Students can share their ideas by submitting an essay (no more than 1,000 words), 3-minute video or multimedia presentation. The idea is much more important than the student’s writing ability or video skills. The deadline to enter is March 31, 2023. To submit an idea or learn more, visit pocfoundation.com/transformri/.