The Lubetzky Family Foundation (LFF) has announced the launch of a $1 million initiative to support Ukrainian scholars and student ambassadorship.

LFF is leading the initiative by activating its resources and team to launch the program and raise awareness for the critical role of citizens in defending democracy. According to the World Bank, 700,000 Ukrainian students have been displaced and 2,000 schools have been destroyed in Ukraine. The program will award $1 million to an initial group of Ukrainian scholars with financial and wraparound support to study at a U.S.-based postsecondary institution for one academic year. Scholarship recipients will be empowered to act as campus ambassadors for democracy.

Partners in the initiative include chef and humanitarian José Andrés; chess grandmaster and global human rights and pro-democracy activist Garry Kasparov; social entrepreneur and KIND Snacks founder Daniel Lubetzky; and retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel Alexander Vindman—all of whom emigrated to the United States or came seeking asylum.

Kasparov, who has long used his platform to educate the world on the global interconnectivity of democracy, will mobilize his Renew Democracy Initiative to provide scholars with educational programming. Andrés, whose nonprofit organization World Central Kitchen has provided more than 154 million meals to Ukrainians, has committed to lending his public support to the initiative.

“Young Ukrainians have a powerful role to play in waking up our world to our shared responsibility to defend values like freedom and democracy that we cannot take for granted,” said Lubetzky. “We want this program to put a spotlight on the fact that the fight for freedom is ongoing, and that every one of us has the power to make a difference.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/temizyurek)