Louie L. Wainwright Scholarship

Louie L. Wainwright Scholarship Summary

The Louie L. Wainwright Scholarship exists to provide an individual who is an FDC employee or contractor, who provides services for FDC on FDC premises, e.g., health services, IT, etc, and who is attending an accredited public or private college or university, in a degree or certification-seeking program focused on criminal justice, or corrections-related as determined by the board, and who intends to establish or further his or her career in the Florida Department of Corrections (FDC).

Each year, the Corrections Foundation shall provide $1,000 Louie L. Wainwright Scholarships to one individual in each Institutional and Community Corrections region and Central Office, for a total of nine, and who meet the eligibility and criteria set forth below.

The application period shall run from January 1^st to March 31^st of each year. Properly completed applications will be sent to the full board for review and selections with final determinations made by June 30^th of each year.

Who is Louie L. Wainwright

Louie Wainwright was the acknowledged Dean of American Correctional Administrators and served as Secretary for the Florida Department of Corrections for 25 years.

He received the American Correctional Association's highest tribute, the E.R. Cass Award for outstanding service. His efforts in support of accreditation in Florida and nationwide earned him the 1986 Accreditation Achievement Award from the Commission of Accreditation for Corrections.

Mr. Wainwright was appointed to the Corrections Foundation Board in 2001 and re-appointed as President for consecutive terms until his passing on December 23, 2021.

Eligibility

To be eligible, an applicant must:

• be eligible for Corrections Foundation membership:
  • FDC employees, including OPS, Career Service, SES, and SMS,
  • contractors performing services for FDC on FDC premises, e.g., health services, IT,
  • an individual does NOT have to be a member of the Corrections Foundation and membership will not be a criterion in selecting a recipient
• be enrolled full or part-time in a public or private college or university in the State University System, Florida College System and/or college; or an institution accredited by the US Department of Education. You can check to see which organization accredits your school on the United States Department of Education's website.
• be seeking a certification, degree, advanced degree, or advanced certification in the criminal justice or corrections-related field, as determined by the board of directors.
• submit a scholarship application online between January 1^st and March 31^st of each year. Eligible scholarship applications shall be reviewed and a single recipient awarded by June 30^th of each year.

Criteria

Below are the criteria for applicant eligibility:

Applicants must submit the following:

• Contact information, including name, email address, mailing address, and phone number.
• Official or unofficial transcript of current grades reflecting a GPA of 2.5 or greater. If not enrolled, please provide proof of acceptance into a qualifying school.
• Proof of enrollment in a program at a qualifying school as outlined in the Eligibility section above, e.g., letter of acceptance or schedule of classes in an upcoming semester.
• List of volunteer or other extracurricular activities or organizations the individual is involved with.
• An essay with a minimum of 1,000 words on the subject of “Why I’m Interested in a Career in Corrections.” Please note essays with less than 1,000 words will cause the application to be rejected.

Questions

For questions, regarding the scholarship, email info@correctionsfoundation.org.

Application Form