July 2025 Newsletter – Issue 178

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

BY: MICHAEL JETER

We Can We Will We Must Unite

Empowering Our Union Family Through Education: SEIU Local 722 Scholarship Opportunities

At SEIU Local 722, we strongly believe that education is a powerful tool for advancement and success—not just for our members, but for their families as well. That’s why we are proud to offer two annual scholarship opportunities designed to support the academic goals of our union family: the Alton Akinsogun Scholarship and the Marchel Smiley Scholarship.

The Alton Akinsogun Scholarship is available exclusively to our dues-paying members in good standing. Whether you’re continuing your education, pursuing a certification, or working toward a new degree, this scholarship is a great way to receive support for your educational journey.

The Marchel Smiley Scholarship, on the other hand, is open to the children of our members—up to age 23. This scholarship aims to ease the financial burden of higher education for young adults and to encourage the pursuit of academic excellence across generations.

Each year, the application window opens on May 1st and closes on July 1st. We want to thank everyone who took the time to apply this year. We’re excited to share that we received applications from four (4) SEIU Local 722 members and ten (10) young adults. This is a competitive process, but remember “yes”, there is always a possibility that you or your child could be awarded one of these scholarships.

Our scholarship committee works diligently to review each application with care and fairness. We aim to notify all applicants of their status no later than September 1st, and we are committed to maintaining this timeline again this year. We extend our heartfelt best wishes to all applicants—good luck!

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