Scholarships and Philanthropy
Soon after its founding in 2015, the Sacramento chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier awarded its first scholarship—to a student in American River College’s Hospitality Management program—in 2017. Since then, we have given out close to $100,000 in scholarships and grants to help women pursuing careers in the culinary, hospitality, agriculture and food science industries.
For general information about our scholarship and philanthropy program, please contact us at scholarships@lesdamesssacramento.com.
Who We Help
Sacramento LDEI works with the following organizations:
In 2020, we partnered with Saint John’s Program for Real Change to sponsor a tiny house at Saint John’s Square, a transitional housing community. We committed to give $25,000 over five years for a two-bedroom cottage that houses two women and their children as they transition to full self-sufficiency. It is the latest iteration of our chapter’s longstanding support for Saint John’s, the region’s largest residential program for formerly homeless women and their children.
Since 2017, we have supplied numerous half-tuition scholarships for women enrolled in the Center for Land-Based Learning’s Farm Academy, an intensive, seven-month-long training program for aspiring farmers. We are proud of our long-running support for California’s future farmers.
In 2023, we teamed up with Alchemist CDC, an inspiring nonprofit organization that champions food justice and supports local food entrepreneurs, many of them low-income women of color. Our money goes toward matching grants that help women enrolled in Alchemist’s mentoring program purchase much-needed equipment to pursue their culinary dreams.
In 2023, we also provided a grant to Oak Park Farmers Market so that it could reopen after the pandemic. This community market provides healthy produce to the underserved Oak Park neighborhood, which has long been a food desert.
We also provide scholarships for students enrolled in American River College’s Hospitality Management program and UC Davis’s Department of Viticulture and Enology, and we give grants to enable women to attend wine, culinary, hospitality and beverage classes and programs.
If you know of a group or individual who could use our support, please let us know! You can reach us at scholarships@lesdamesssacramento.com.
Scholarship and Philanthropy Recipients
For a list of our past recipients and to hear from a few of our recipients, please visit LDEI Scholarship and Philanthropy Recipients.