Mission
The Charlotte R. Schmidlapp Fund was created to ennoble, empower, and uplift young girls and women. Jacob Godfrey Schmidlapp created the fund to memorialize his daughter, who was killed at the age of nineteen in an automobile accident while touring France. He wanted other women to have the same opportunities in life that he would have afforded for Charlotte.
Legacy
In 1908, while women around the world were fighting to attain the most basic rights, Jacob Schmidlapp was working to ensure their futures. What started as a $250,000 fund has grown to more than $25 million in assets. It began by awarding interest-free loans to aid young women in pursuit of higher education. In 1919, the fund gifted its first award to a not-for-profit organization, the YWCA.
Over 100 years later, the fund is still supporting the work of the YWCA. In 2008, the Charlotte Schmidlapp Fund Scholarship was created to provide financial support to women who are participating in YWCA programs to complete their educations in order to secure employment and financial stability and achieve independence and self-sufficiency.
2022 Award
The 2022 Charlotte R. Schmidlapp Fund Scholarship Award winner was recognized during the YWCA’s 43rd Annual Career Women of Achievement Broadcast on May 26, 2022.
2022 Charlotte R. Schmidlapp Fund Scholarship Recipient:
Kate Kinman
Penn Foster College
Kate fled an abusive relationship and was taken to a hotel used as a YWCA shelter. Due to the effectiveness of YWCA’s Transitional Living Program, she was able to enter a therapy program, get control of her mental health and heal from years of abuse. Early in the program she also discovered she was pregnant. Thanks to their Rapid Rehousing Program, she now has her own apartment and a safe place to raise her child.
Kate learned how to conduct a personal inventory of her skills. She determined that a remote work-from-home position in the medical and billing field would provide lucrative pay and the opportunity to care for her baby. The Charlotte R. Schmidlapp Scholarship will enable her to be a full-time student in the Penn Foster Program so that she can enter the workforce as quickly as possible.
“Today I am proud to say that I do see myself as a strong, determined woman,” Kate says. Adds YWCA staff sponsor Sunni Smith, “Kate is very deserving of this scholarship. I haven’t met anyone who has put in more hard work to be successful than Kate.”
Past Scholarship Recipients
| Year | Name |
|---|---|
| 2021 | Angel Spurlock-Lang |
| 2020 | Bree Moss |
| 2019 | Gina Armacost |
| 2018 | Beverly Hector |
| 2017 | Rashawn Hill |
| 2016 | Angel Raquel Bush |
| 2015 | Francesca Mazzucca |
| 2014 | Kelly Schierloh |
| 2013 | Rose Morgan |
| 2012 | Brittany Weakley |
| 2011 | Angela Lewis |
| 2010 | Yvonne Bradley |
| 2009 | Vikki A. Kimbrough |
| 2008 | Ryan Byes |