About Us

Founded in 1993, The Orange County Hispanic Education Endowment Fund (HEEF) serves students who live in Orange County, California. HEEF is a collaborative of more than 30 funding partners that offer individual scholarship awards of $2,500 – $5,000 across multiple areas of interest. The HEEF Scholarship Program primarily offers competitive academic scholarships for OC high school graduates, community college transfer students, while also providing tuition grants for students at selected Santa Ana, CA Catholic grammar schools and scholarships for OC college graduates heading to Law School.

With a mission to improve access to higher education for OC Hispanic/Latino students, HEEF serves US Citizens, Permanent Residents and Dream Act/ AB 540 students who live in Orange County, California only. HEEF prioritizes low-income students who are part of the first-generation in their families to attend college.

HEEF students
HEEF students
HEEF event
HEEF students
HEEF students
HEEF students
HEEF founders and donors photo
HEEF founders and donors photo
HEEF founders and donors photo

Our Founders

Infotec Development Inc provided an initial $25,000 challenge grant, and the following donors met the challenge with donations of $1,000 or more to create what is now the Hispanic Education Endowment Fund.

Organizations and Corporations

Association of Hispanic Professionals for Education
CA Hispanic Medical Group
Case Swayne Company
Chapman General Hospital
Comcast Cablevision
Downtown Santa Ana Merchants
Edison International
Evian Natural Spring Water
GTE Customer Networks
Hispanic Bar Association of Orange County
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (OC)
Infotec Development, Inc.
The Irvine Company
Los Amigos of Orange County
MANA of Orange County
OC Federal Credit Union
Pacific Bell
Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange
RJR Nabisco Foundation
The Santiago Club
SoCalGas
Taco Bell
UCI Chapter, CA Hispanic Medical Group
UCI Chicano/Latino Association
UCI La Raza Faculty and Staff
Univision Television Group

Individuals

Margie & Cory Aguirre
Barbara & Ray Alvarado
Justice John Arguelles
Avila Family
Enrique “Henry” Baray
Arthur B. Birtcher
Teresa & Arturo Cisneros
Robert DeJunco
Marjorie DeMartino
Frank Dominguez
Dolores & Manuel Esqueda
John & Julianne Flora-Tostado
Genet & Manuel N. Gómez
Ana Hernandez-Schneider
Arthur Hidalgo
Joanne & Juan Francisco Lara
Mary Ellen Lohnes
Alex Mendoza, Jr.
Robert J. Miranda
Edward & Jayne Muñoz
Hon. Frances Muñoz
Gregory Muñoz
Olga & J. Fernando Niebla
Stephanie Ortiz
Inez & Frank Quevedo
Ruben Smith
Rudy Suarez
Javier Tostado
The Ueberroth Family Fdn.
Socorro & Ernesto Vasquez
Elaine & Gaddi Vasquez
Isabelle Villaseñor
Peter Zeughauser

Founding Board Members and Advisors

The following individuals provided the initial guiding Board of Directors for HEEF established in 1993

Dr. Silas H. Abrego
CSU Board of Trustees
‍Joseph L. Chairez
Baker & Hostetler, LLP
‍Antoinette Del Peral
Orange County Financial Services
‍Marjorie DeMartino
UC Irvine, retired
‍Frank Dominguez
United Way of Orange County
‍Arthur Hidalgo
R.J. Miranda & Co. and Valuation Group
‍Dr. Juan Francisco Lara
University of California, Irvine
‍Mary Ellen Lohnes
Bound for College
‍Henry Mendoza, CPA
MM & Company, LLP
‍Ron Meraz
Financial Services, INC.
‍Honorable Frances Muñoz
Superior Court Harbor Justice Center, retired
‍Viola Myre
Supervisor for Pacific Bell, retired

J. Fernando Niebla
International Technology Partners, retired
Frank J. Quevedo

Southern California Edison, retired
‍John J. Reza
International Technology Partners
‍Bert Salazar
Cambridge Financial Partners, LLC
‍Ruben Smith, Esq.
AlvaradoSmith, a Professional Corporation
‍Reverend Monsignor Jaime Soto
Diocese of Orange
‍Rudy J. Suarez
Michael J. Marion & Associates
‍Anita Varela
Santiago Canyon College
‍Ray A. Verches
Verches Associates
‍Peter Villegas
Washington Mutual

2027 HEEF Scholarship Applications will open in the fall

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