Scholarships team engages with Burmese Chin community to help fulfill education dreams

Scholarship Officers Janeen Butler and Morgan Meyer went to Indiana Chin Baptist Church near Southport for College Admissions Night. There, they spoke with teens and parents about scholarships and other post-secondary education resources available through the Central Indiana Philanthropic Collaborative, which includes the Central Indiana Community Foundation, Indianapolis Foundation, Hamilton County Community Foundation, and Women’s Fund of Central Indiana.

“Each year, the Central Indiana Philanthropic Collaborative stewards more than $2 million through 500 individual awards,” said Senior Scholarship Officer Janeen Butler. “That gets spread across several post-secondary pathways—everything from a four-year university track to two-year trade and vocational options and beyond.”

The Scholarships Team had a lot of ground to cover, especially considering that a significant portion of the audience listened through an interpreter. That’s because the Indiana Chin Baptist Church serves the Indy southside’s flourishing Burmese Chin population.

In just the last several decades, thousands of refugees and immigrants from Myanmar have made a home in the city’s south suburbs, often with community churches serving as an anchor. This migration accelerated after the 2021 military coup in Myanmar. Today, Indianapolis is home to the largest Burmese American population of any U.S. city.

That includes local Chin organizations like the Burmese Community of North America (BCNA), a partner of the collaborative and the group responsible for the Chin community’s College Admissions Night event.

The Collaborative is committed to ensuring every Central Indiana population can reach its full potential—no matter their place, race or identity. For many, their full potential will include some form of post-secondary education. The associated cost, however, usually requires some kind of financial assistance. It can be an especially daunting prospect for refugee families starting over with very little in a new country.

That’s why Hoosiers like John Thawnghmung, a leader within BCNA and a CICF partner, are so important. Having immigrated from Chin State, Burma at the age of ten before completing an engineering degree at the University of Michigan, John understands the profound impact higher education can have for other Burmese Americans in his community.

“The Central Indiana Philanthropic Collaborative’s scholarships are one treasure that the Burmese/Chin community have not fully utilized,” John said at the event. “This event allows us to support high school students and their parents in person, to assist in navigating college admissions and share all the available resources.”

During their presentation, Janeen and Morgan discussed diverse scholarship opportunities from the collaborative and the easy application process (translated into Burmese, Spanish and English on the CICF website). They highlighted specific awards pertaining to the Chin community as well as the direct impact Indy Chin leaders have had in the past as scholarship reviewers for the collaborative.

The two were also sure to mention the size of scholarship awards, ranging from $4,000 at the low end up to the full cost of a four-year degree.

All those options can be overwhelming. By the end of the night, it had been decided to extend the event into a second evening. Speakers have been invited to return later in the year to host an application workshop and a full Q&A with community members.

In the days since, John has even shared application materials with members of the Congolese refugee community. Who knows? The Indiana Chin Baptist Church may need to break out some extra chairs for the next event.

Janeen and Morgan are ready. With over sixty different scholarships yielding hundreds of awards each year, the Scholarships Team is here to help every student from every background find their way to the education—and future—they want.