Blanche Macdonald Centre launches million-dollar scholarship program for Black Canadians

A Vancouver beauty college says it's serious about uplifting and celebrating Black Lives as it fights racism and discrimination.

As part of its efforts, the Blanche Macdonald Centre has announced that it's launched a $1-million scholarship program for Black Canadians.

Each year over the next five years, the school will award $200,000 to cover the full cost of tuition, books, and professional kits.

On August 28, the Blanche Macdonald Centre will provide details about how to apply. It's open to Black Canadians who are 19 years of age or older and who've graduated from high school.

"For 60 years Blanche Macdonald has been a space for education, for empowerment, for self-discovery," the school says on its website. "Founded by a Metis woman and now led by a woman of colour, we have always rooted ourselves in the shared values of love, compassion and inclusion.

"Our walls are home to a diverse community of lifelong learners engaged in the difficult, transformative and often uncomfortable work of self-growth. Through this work we seek to amplify new and unheard voices. To tell unique stories. To educate ourselves and to uplift others."

Blanche Macdonald Centre has Black faculty members—makeup program director Tracey Payne, makeup instructor Leah Elliston, pro hair instructor Lisa Callender, and esthetics instructor Angie Barnetson.

It's pledged to hire more Black instructors and to augment its makeup kits with more Black-owned beauty brands. 

It also intends to expand training for natural textured Black hair.