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UCLA Foundation steps in with $5M for students struggling amid the pandemic

An undated file photo shows the UCLA campus. The UCLA Foundation has announced a $5-million gift for scholarships, COVID-19 emergency support, mental health services and other student needs. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

As the COVID-19 pandemic took hold across the Southland, economic hardship hit UCLA senior Jelani Mora and his family like so many others.

His mother — the family’s main breadwinner, who with her job as a receptionist at a gas company had supported herself, Mora and his grandmother — was laid off in March and still hasn’t found work. The family is struggling to make ends meet with unemployment insurance and Mora’s part-time income as a mentor for underserved high school students.


But another source of income, he said, has made a big difference: a UCLA scholarship.

Mora, who is majoring in political science, said the $20,000 Chancellor’s Blue and Gold Scholarship had helped him continue his studies without interruption and even left some money to help support his family during this difficult time.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.