The Corie Williams Scholarship Fund

Seventeen-year old Corie Williams was riding a bus home through South Central Los Angeles when she was killed in gang crossfire. In the days that followed, Corie's mother, Loretta Thomas Davis, established a scholarship fund to help other students have better futures.

Through a horrible coincidence — Bill Cosby's son Ennis was murdered the same day as Corie — Corie's case was thrust into the spotlight. Her mother appeared on Oprah and The Today Show. A good student who had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time, Corie became a symbol of the senseless destruction of inner-city violence.

The Corie Williams Scholarship Fund makes grants to graduating high school seniors to enable them to attend college. Many of these students are the first in their families to continue their education past high school; many are from single-parent homes; many have lived in poverty. The goal of the scholarship committee is to reach students that are balanced on the brink of changing their lives.

Now entering its fifth year, the Fund has awarded scholarships to 25 students from South Central Los Angeles.

"We must all work togteher, love one another and keep hope alive," said Corie Williams. "If we don't have hope, who will?"

See the poster designed by Peter Max.

Contributions to the California Community Foundation represent irrevocable gifts subject to the legal and fiduciary control of the foundation's Board of Directors.

Click here to contribute to this fund now.