51 rising college students across the New York City region will each receive a $5,000 scholarship to support their educational expenses as part of MCU’s ongoing commitment to building brighter futures for all New Yorkers.
The MCU Foundation, the charitable arm of Municipal Credit Union, announced at their annual scholarship dinner that 51 high school seniors and recent graduates have been selected to receive its 2025 scholarship award. Funded by $250,000 from the Foundation and additional support from MCU leadership, each student was provided $5,000 to help cover future educational costs.
With education as a core pillar of the MCU Foundation’s focus on empowering New Yorkers to build lasting financial stability, the scholarships reflect the importance of supporting the next generation of New Yorkers at the very start of their professional journeys with both financial and moral support. Recipients were chosen for their academic achievement, extracurricular involvement and responses to an essay reflecting on the credit union philosophy of “people helping people,” drawing from their own experience as young New Yorkers and credit union members.
“Education is a foundational piece on the pathway to building generational wealth and financial security,” said George Chacon, President of the MCU Foundation. “We’re extremely proud of our recent graduates’ accomplishments to date and eager to see how they’ll contribute to their communities, both here at home in New York City and around the world.”
In addition to the $250,000 in scholarships awarded by the MCU Foundation, MCU Chief Executive Officer Kyle Markland personally contributed $5,000 to continue the tradition started last year of awarding the CEO Visionary Scholarship. This went to Brianna Frimpong, an incoming student at George Washington University. MCU Board Chair Tom Canty also made a personal donation of $5,000 to fund the Frances Kelly Canty Nursing Scholarship, which was awarded to Melisa Chambers, who is studying nursing at CUNY York College.
“At MCU, our goal has always been to help hard-working New Yorkers build a stronger financial future – no matter where they are in their economic journey,” said Kyle Markland, Chief Executive Officer of the Municipal Credit Union. “That’s why we started the MCU Foundation. We know the cost of education can be overwhelming to tackle alone, so we’re committed to finding ways to show up for the future leaders of our communities.”
The scholarships were coordinated through the New York Credit Union Association, which both offers its own awards and helps administer scholarships on behalf of member credit unions, including MCU. The full list of recipients, which includes students on their way to schools including Cornell University, Duke University, Spelman College, Yale University, and other prestigious institutions, is available here.
The scholarships were awarded to students from all five boroughs of New York City, including thirteen from Queens/Elmont, twelve from Brooklyn, six from the Bronx, four from Manhattan and four from Staten Island. Additional recipients are located throughout Nassau, Westchester, Suffolk and Rockland Counties as well as three recipients in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.