‘Count Me In’ scholarship aims to remove barriers to outdoor summer programs

The Count Me In scholarship, provided by the Prince William Parks Foundation, aims to provide families at or below the poverty line with financial assistance for summer programs in the Parks & Recreation Department.

According to the scholarship website, the scholarship is an award of $200 allocated for each age-appropriate child in the household. Sarah Smith, recreation senior manager in the Prince William County Parks & Recreation Department, said a range of ages is typically awarded.

“It’s a wide variety,” Smith said. “[Applicants] go from preschool age all the way [up to 18]. I would say our oldest applicant is around 15.”

Ruth Anderson, chair of the Prince William Parks Foundation, said this scholarship was born out of the foundation’s revitalization efforts in late 2019 and early 2020.

“And what was happening at that time? Yeah, the pandemic,” Anderson said. “We set up all the infrastructure for the foundation, and then we made our very first program … because at that time, kids weren’t getting out to school and a perfect place for them was parks.”

Anderson also said other park foundations had similar scholarships available, so this was an opportunity to meet a need and follow in the footsteps of peer organizations.

“The scholarship program actually became successful very rapidly because people were very willing to give to that effort,” Anderson said.

According to federal poverty guidelines, the scholarship was created for children at or below 130% of the poverty level. For a household of four people, the poverty guideline is an annual income of $31,200, which increases by $5,380 per additional person. Each qualifying child per household can receive a scholarship.

According to the foundation website, much of the money for the scholarships comes from cash and in-kind donations, grants, and other types of donations. Anderson said a large donor to the scholarship is The Hylton Foundation, a Dale City nonprofit.

According to documents provided by Anderson, the Hylton Foundation donated $10,000 in 2023 and $6,690 from the Parks Foundation’s fundraising efforts. In total, $16,690 was awarded to students in the county for various programs.

Smith said that in the 2023 scholarship year, more than 125 programs had registrations from 139 award recipients. The most popular programs are camps, swim lessons, and arts and crafts programs.

The scholarship application is open until February 2 and can be submitted via mail or online. Specific application materials can be found on the scholarship website.

Caitlyn Meisner is a freelance reporter for Potomac Local News.