Travis Scott is donating $5 million for community based initiatives in Texas including addressing safety at large scale events.
Other efforts included will be $1 million in pledged scholarships for students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities . With Scott’s support, the Waymon Webster Scholarship Fund will grant $10,000 scholarships to seniors who have reached academic excellence but who are facing the last-minute challenge of financial adversity in their second semester senior year – and risk not graduating.
According to the Foundation, this is the second year Scott has supported HBCUs, but this year’s contributions have increased tenfold. Past recipients include students at Howard University, Morehouse College, Texas Southern University, Grambling State University, and Prairie View A&M University – Scott’s grandfather’s alma mater where he also served as an educator. The scholarship is named after Waymon to honor his lifetime of dedication to academic excellence.
“My grandfather was an educator who made a difference in thousands of young lives throughout his life. He is a major influence on me and countless others, whose dreams he believed in, whose hopes he invested in, and whose futures he made big,” said Scott in a release. “It’s in his spirit that we are creating projects and programs that will look to the future of our communities and create hope and excellence in as many lives as possible.
The second pillar of HEAL addresses mental health by pledging “seven figures” to fund digital counseling and telephone hotlines. Scott will provide free programs with licensed professional counsellors and social workers. The effort will be led by Houston-based behavioral health expert“Mental health has traditionally been a taboo subject.
In conjunction with Travis Scott’s Cactus Jack Foundation, is a seven-figure expansion of the CACT.US Youth Design Center at TXRX Labs in Houston, a nonprofit makerspace for young artists, designers, tech innovators. The space includes free studio space, work space, tool spaces, job and apprenticeship training, youth education and events.