Reason One Mentorship and Scholarship Program Application Guide 2026–2027: Requirements & Deadline (USA)

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Overview

The Reason One Mentorship & Scholarship Program was launched by Reason One, a digital agency and Certified B Corporation, in direct response to the well-documented underrepresentation of Black professionals in the tech industry — a field where Black workers make up roughly 7% of the US tech workforce. Each year, the program awards three scholarships of $5,000 each to Black students pursuing digital-related fields, and pairs every recipient with one full year of mentorship and professional development support from the Reason One team, going well beyond a typical one-time cash award.

Differentiating fact: most scholarship directories list this program as either a South Carolina scholarship or an Ontario, Canada scholarship depending on which regional database happens to be indexing it, which understates the real eligibility. The Reason One Mentorship & Scholarship Program is actually open to residents of either South Carolina, USA, or Ontario, Canada — a genuinely binational program rather than a strictly single-region one, which many single-country scholarship listings miss entirely.

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Nationality & Residency Requirements

The Reason One Mentorship & Scholarship Program doesn’t set a US citizen requirement in the traditional sense. Instead, eligibility depends on regional residency and racial/ethnic identity, not immigration status. Specifically, applicants must:

• Identify as Black, African American, African Canadian, or African-descent.
• Be a resident of Ontario, Canada, or South Carolina, USA — either region qualifies, and there’s no requirement to also attend school in that specific region beyond being enrolled in an eligible digital-related program.

Academic & GPA Eligibility Requirements

There is no published Reason One Mentorship & Scholarship Program GPA requirement. Eligibility instead centers on age, program enrollment, and demonstrated financial need rather than a transcript-based cutoff:

• Applicants must be between 17 and 35 years old.
• Applicants must be enrolled or accepted into a full- or part-time digital-related program — this is defined broadly, covering not just traditional college and university degrees but also bootcamps and other specialized programs, which gives this scholarship eligibility for undergraduate students a wider net than most degree-only awards.
• Applicants must have demonstrated financial need.
• There’s no stated major restriction beyond “digital-related,” which the program has described elsewhere as covering fields like marketing, strategy, project management, web development, and design.

Application Materials Needed

Before the application deadline, gather the following:

1. Educational documentation — either a transcript or documentation confirming your acceptance into a relevant program of study.
2. A record of school and community-related activities or programs, plus any honors, awards, or work experience worth highlighting.
3. “Your story” — submitted either as a 500-word written document or a video under 5 minutes, covering your career goals, any innovative projects you’ve worked on, and why you’d benefit from the program. This flexible written-or-video format is less common than a standard essay requirement and is worth knowing about before you start drafting.
4. Contact information for at least two references, which can be academic, professional, or character references.

Step-by-Step How to Apply

1. Confirm your eligibility — Black/African-descent identity, age 17–35, residency in South Carolina or Ontario, enrollment or acceptance in a digital-related program, and demonstrated financial need.
2. Watch for the application window to open, typically in late March, on the Reason One website.
3. Decide whether you’ll submit “your story” as a written document or a video, and prepare it well ahead of time — 500 words or under 5 minutes is a tight format either way.
4. Gather your educational documentation, whether that’s a transcript or an acceptance letter/confirmation for your program.
5. Line up your two references and collect their contact information in advance, since you provide contact details rather than full letters upfront.
6. Complete the online application in full. The program explicitly does not accept emailed or mailed materials — everything must go through the online application.
7. Submit before the early-to-mid May deadline. Recent cycles have closed in the first three weeks of May, so don’t wait until the very end of the month to start.
8. Watch for interview notification. The selection committee reviews all applications and contacts the top ten candidates for a virtual interview before final decisions are made.
9. Expect notification in summer if you’re selected as one of the three scholarship and mentorship recipients.

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Frequently Asked Questions

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