GMMDA Offers Scholarships To Minority Youth

The General Motors Minority Dealers Association (GMMDA) is offering scholarships to minority students across the country through a scholarship program created by members of the GMMDA.

SOUTHFIELD, MICHIGAN -- Wednesday, November 20, 2002 -- The General Motors Minority Dealers Association (GMMDA) is offering scholarships to minority students across the country through a scholarship program created by members of the GMMDA.

Under the scholarship program, 15 minority students who are currently enrolled in a college or university will be awarded individual scholarships in the amount of $2,500 to help cover the cost of their educational expenses. The scholarships will be awarded on January 31, 2003 at the 14th Annual GMMDA Scholarship and Awards Banquet to be held at the Hyatt Regency, Embarcadero Center in San Francisco.

According to Scholarship Committee Chairperson John Reggans, III, the GMMDA restructured the program last year to give minority dealers the opportunity to use the scholarship program to embrace their individual communities. Now we have a more personal involvement in the program," said Reggans, III. Seeing the faces of the young people we helped last year and receiving their letters of gratitude was priceless."

The GMMDA is looking to increase the number of scholarships awarded this year. We believe education can make all the difference in the lives of minority youth," said GMMDA President Gregory Jackson. We are happy to continue to offer the scholarships this year and we are looking for new ways to make the program even more effective."

A Summer Internship program beginning in 2003 will be one expansion of the existing scholarship program. The program will offer a select number of minority students across the country a ten-week internship within different facets of the GMMDA dealer network and the automobile industry. The internship program will be funded in part by General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC) and other GMMDA vendors and supporters.

Scholarship applications are currently available at participating GMMDA dealerships. The GMMDA website, www.gmmda.org lists minority dealers by state" and by make", and features a downloadable form of the application. Applicants will be evaluated on the strength of their academic performance, leadership and participation in school and community activities, work experience, career and educational aspirations, and on the strength of their personal statement. Completed applications must be postmarked no later than December 2, 2002.

The GMMDA is a non-profit organization that represents the interest of over 385 minority owned General Motors dealerships across the country. The mission of the GMMDA is to promote, protect and encourage the viability and profitability of all existing General Motors minority dealers and to encourage, through cooperative efforts with General Motors, the installation of new minority dealers in viable and profitable opportunities.

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