Donate - LLSF - Lauren's Legacy Scholarship Foundation

Join the community rallying around Lauren's legacy.

Scholarships, mentorship, and financial literacy for the next generation of young Black women of brilliance, leadership, and purpose. Every gift — from $25 to a full $2,500 scholarship — keeps Lauren’s legacy alive.

THE PROBLEM WE EXIST TO SOLVE

Black women carry the heaviest student debt burden in the country.

Black women face the largest student loan debt of any group in America¹ , and this burden is compounded by the racial wealth and gender pay gaps, making financial stability difficult.²

The issue is a lack of resources, not effort; Black women earn degrees at high rates than many of their peers³ but lack financial support.

Lauren’s Legacy Scholarship Foundation addresses this gap by funding scholarships for high-achieving young Black women (2.5+ GPA, financial need, leadership). Our $2,500 awards remove financial barriers.

In our first year, we awarded four scholarships out of 70 applications and retained 100% of our scholars. As one scholar noted, “This scholarship gives me the opportunity to begin my journey with confidence.”

Your donation expands this critical support in 2026.

¹Education Trust, How Black Women Experience Student Debt (2022). Based on federal NPSAS and Baccalaureate & Beyond data. edtrust.org

²American Association of University Women, Deeper in Debt: Women and Student Loans. aauw.org

³U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.

Lauren's Story

Who you're giving in honor of

Lauren Delayne Hicks was a daughter, a sister, a Spelman Woman who graduated cum laude: c/o 2020. She was a community builder before she had the title. She passed in February 2023, at 25, from an undiagnosed pulmonary embolism caused by Deep Vein Thrombosis. Her family built this foundation so her love for community, her commitment to other young Black women, and her belief that education changes everything would keep working after her.

In Memoriam

Lauren
Delayne Hicks

1998 — 2023

Spelman Woman · Cum Laude

WHAT YOUR GIFT FUNDS

Here's exactly what your gift makes possible.

A full Lauren's Legacy scholarship is $2,500. Gifts of any size are impactful and appreciated.

$50

A month of books for one scholar.

Course materials for a young woman in her first year of college.

$250

A financial literacy workshop seat.

One seat in our quarterly workshops where scholars learn to budget, save, and build wealth.

$1,250

Half of a scholar's award.

Perfect if your employer offers a matching funds program. Or team up with another donor to fully fund one young woman's scholarship.

$2,500

One full scholarship.

Become the donor behind a single scholar's entire award. The most direct way to make a difference.

Tax-deductible · EIN 99-2900317

THE IMPACT YOU HELPED CREATE

What your giving built in 2025.

Raised in our 1st full year

Scholarships awarded to young Black women

Scholar retention into year two

Each of those numbers is the result of someone like you giving. In 2026, we're opening our scholarship portal on June 1 and hosting our first inaugural scholarship fundraiser on June 13. The 2026 cohort is waiting.

The Lauren Line

Lauren's own ideas are still changing lives.

In January 2023, Lauren’s father, a longtime LA County District Attorney, was worried about a colleague who had been assaulted walking to catch her train home. He asked Lauren how the office could better protect employees who relied on public transit. She had an answer ready: create a shuttle service to safely transport staff between the office and nearby train stations. Her father presented the idea. Within months, the shuttle service was running. In August 2025, the LA County District Attorney’s Office renamed it The Lauren Line in her honor. That same spirit lives in the scholars who carry her name today. Gianna, one of our inaugural scholarship recipients, said it this way: “I aspire to touch the lives of others the same way Lauren did. I’m so happy to be part of the LLSF family.” When you give, you fund a foundation that works the same way Lauren did, and a generation of young women doing the same.

LA County Honor · August 2025

The Lauren Line unveiling

A permanent, living tribute carrying her name through the community she loved.

Scholarship portal opens June 1

Our scholarship portal opens June 1.

Your gift today funds the young women who apply. Brooklyn, one of our 2025 scholars, is already thinking about what she'll do with hers: “I want to tell stories that bring inclusivity and highlight the African American experience.” The 2026 cohort is waiting to tell us what they'll do.

Questions about major gifts? Click here to email us →