Mission

The mission of the PFLAG/HATCH Youth Scholarship Foundation is to provide educational scholarships to Houston area GLBT youth.

History 

The PFLAG/HATCH Youth Scholarship Foundation is a combination of two scholarship programs previously offered by community organizations in Houston.  In 1998, two non-profit organizations, PFLAG-Houston and Houston Area Teen Coalition of Homosexuals (H.A.T.C.H.), separately raised funds for scholarships but combined their efforts to jointly qualify youth applicants for scholarship awards.  The project proved to be so successful that the two organizations decided in 1999 to incorporate a new, stand-alone foundation named the PFLAG/HATCH Youth Scholarship Foundation and used this new entity to unify their scholarship programs. 

Today, PHYSF is a tax-exempt entity separate from each of PFLAG-Houston and H.A.T.C.H., but each of these original sponsors have pledged to continue their contributions, both in terms of financial support and volunteer hours, even as PHYSF has established its own, independent identity in the GLBT community.

PHYSF is one of the most successful GLBT scholarship-granting foundations in the U.S. dedicated to the purpose of raising scholarship funds for disenfranchised GLBT youth.  Having granted more than 160 scholarships valued at nearly $800,000 through the 2006-07 academic year, PHYSF’s contribution to Houston's GLBT youth is fundamental to the continued development and re-affirmation of their self concept. 

A major obstacle in our efforts to grant scholarships to GLBT students is identifying these students and making them aware of our program.  PHYSF, P-FLAG and HATCH are currently working together through their respective outreach programs to increase awareness of PHYSF's scholarship program in Houston-area high schools, colleges and universities. 

Having granted more than 200 scholarships valued at nearly one million dollars through the 2009-10 academic year, physf's contribution to Houston's GLBT youth is fundamental to the continued development and re-affirmation of their self concept.

From inception through the 2009-10 academic year:

• 233 scholarship applicants
• 201 scholarships awarded
• $924,300.00 total scholarship dollars awarded
• Scholarship recipients self-identify as:
  • 60% male
  • 39% female
  • 1% transgendered
  • 52% Caucasian
  • 10% African American
  • 28% Hispanic
  • 7% other ethnicity
• Scholarships have been awarded to students from 68 different high schools
• Scholarship recipients have attended 58 different colleges and universities in 16 states and the District of Columbia