Stormzy donates £500,000 to fund scholarships for disadvantaged students

Stormzy has donated £500,000 to the Black Heart Foundation to provide scholarships for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The 27-year-old made the new donation through his registered charity the Merky Foundation, and will help give substantial grants to around 50 students who need financial aid to engage in education of any form.

The Guardian reports that previous recipients have used the funds to “cover the cost of travelling to a distant school, to train to be an airline pilot, and to allow them to concentrate on academic studies at university rather than worry about holding down a part-time job.”

Scholarships from the Black Heart Foundation are available to those from underrepresented and underprivileged backgrounds, with the majority of recipients from Black or minority ethnic families.

Ric Lewis, the founder of the Black Heart Foundation, said: “[The Merky Foundation’s] contribution is an amazing testament to their vision and commitment to higher and further education for ambitious, hardworking young people from the most under-resourced and under-represented communities in our society.

“With their support we will reach another 50 young people, taking the total number of scholars we can help to 250.”

Back in June, the BRIT-award-winning artist pledged to donate £10 million over a decade, in a bid to tackle systemic racial inequality in the UK.

He already awards the annual Stormzy scholarships to two Black students admitted to the University of Cambridge. The awards cover tuition fees as well as giving a substantial living expenses grant.

In June, the rapper, real name Michael Ebenazer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr, said: “I am not the UK’s shining example of what supposedly happens when a Black person works hard.

“Black people have been playing on an uneven field for far too long and this pledge is a continuation in the fight to finally try and even it.”