Our Commitment
During this time of long-overdue reckoning and revolution, The Academy for Dog Trainers acknowledges the racial disparities in the profession of dog trainers as well as the unequal access to dog training in communities of color. And we acknowledge that to date, we have not done enough to change these inequities.
One of the ways we are committing ourselves to invite, and meaningfully involve, the community of dog trainers who have been marginalized is to offer a scholarship to support the education of aspiring trainers of color.
Scholarship Amount
The BIPOC scholarship is for 50% of tuition. Current rates can be found in the button below.
- Full Payment: $3,750 at the time of enrollment.
Scholarship Requirements
To be considered for a BIPOC Academy Scholarship, an applicant must:
Self-identify as an aspiring or current dog trainer who comes from a racialized and marginalized community such as Indigenous, Black, Latinx, or immigrant people. Preference will be given to BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) in the US and Canada.
Be prepared to complete the Academy’s 2-year program. Applicants should be able to set aside 10 to 15 hours per week to study program materials, attend webinars, participate in online discussions, and practice mechanical training skills.
Have access to untrained dogs and to basic video capabilities – shooting, editing and uploading – for the purpose of filming practice sessions to submit for coaching feedback and to achieve exam readiness.
Submit a completed Application Form (below) by midnight PST September 9.
Dates
We will next be taking BIPOC scholarship applications in the fall of 2023.
Selection Criteria
The individuals who best meet The Academy’s entrance requirements as well as the purpose of this scholarship program will be selected. There is no separate requirement to undertake volunteer activities or work with homeless or at-risk dogs, as with the Shelter/Rescue Scholarship.
Our Selection Committee
A selection committee has been convened to select the winner(s) of this scholarship, comprised of experienced BIPOC Academy graduates and a BIPOC social justice advocate. They will work together with a consensus-building approach to select the individual(s) who best meet The Academy’s selection criteria.
Olga Trujillo
Olga Trujillo is an attorney, trainer, speaker and author, who has devoted her career to social justice and anti-violence. Olga is a co-founder of Latinos United for Peace and Equity, an organization that addresses the impact of violence in Latinx communities. Olga is also one of a handful of speakers in the US to address the issue of Dissociative Identity Disorder from a lived experience of diagnosis and healing. She currently lives in rural Wisconsin with her partner, Casey, an Academy graduate and staff, and their dogs and cat.
Maria Karunungan
Maria Karunungan is an honors graduate of The Academy for Dog Trainers and is co-owner of Fetch the Leash in Burlington, Vermont. Maria is a graduate of Yale University and Emory University. Maria taught and developed curricula for multicultural and civic education and served as a researcher and instructor for the former Center for Urban Learning/Teaching and Urban Research in Education and Schools —CULTURES—that was recognized as a model of best practice in teacher professional development by the U.S. Department of Education. Her masters thesis and doctoral dissertations concentrated on the role of racialization and intercultural relations in American classrooms.
Julielani Chang
Originally from Vietnam, Julielani called Virginia home. After attending college at GWU in DC, she headed west to the sunshine state for graduate school. She then got her PhD in biochemistry, practiced medical genetics at UCLA and migrated to NorCal. Julielani’s CTC came in 2019 and since then she has explored ways to dovetail her love of science and her canine education to do good. Recently she joined Red Rover as a humane educator, adding education to her bag of tricks. She likes to think of herself as evolving. She believes she can always learn to be better because when “you know better, you do better” Maya Angelou. She learns much from her rescue dog, Kai.
Questions?
Fill out the form and we’ll be in touch.