Make Muskingum Home celebrates five years of impact and opens application window
ZANESVILLE, Ohio – A scholarship application window has opened to combat student loan debt and plant roots in the community.
Thanks to a partnership between the J.W. and M.H. Straker Charitable Foundation and the Muskingum County Community Foundation, $50,000 of student loan debt could be wiped out in five years and all you have to do is make Muskingum home.
Make Muskingum Home is a program available to college/post-secondary training graduates who work and live in Muskingum County. On Wednesday, the MCCF held a community impact and application launch event to announce that applications are open and to highlight the program’s impact over the past five years.
“…and college attainment has increased by 3%. Now I’m not going to sit here and say that that is directly because of Make Muskingum Home. But I think it is a contributing factor and that’s an important quality for our young professionals,” said Beth Fox, the program director for the MCCF and the Straker Foundation.
The application window closes on Oct. 31. According to the scoring rubric offered on Make Muskingum Home’s website, the applicant will need a letter of recommendation, strong community engagement, and a desire to live, work, and play in Muskingum County.
Among those in attendance was Maddie Skaggs, who was one of the first recipients of the Make Muskingum Home post-graduation scholarship. She says she was living in Columbus when she learned about the program and it was the motivation that brought her and her husband back to Muskingum County.
“…and looking back now, I can just feel deeply in my heart that this was a part of God’s plan for me. We now live in Philo. That property really just kind of fell into our laps. But now we have chickens and ducks and dogs and cats and I think most people who knew me growing up are shocked by that,” said Skaggs. “That’s the kind of dream that Dillon and I always had for our lives, and the nudge from the Make Muskingum Home program made that dream a reality for us. And now, I get to work at the Muskingum County Conference and Welcome Center, downtown.”
According to a media information packet from Make Muskingum Home, 41% of recipients have purchased homes in the county, 24% have had or adopted children, and 81% are participating in volunteer service since receiving the award.
49 recipients have been selected so far and received up to $50,000 in student-loan repayment assistance. The media information packet says that there is a combined $6.3 million in annual salaries among recipients.
You can learn more and apply for the Make Muskingum Home program by visiting MakeMuskingumHome.org.
