Residents at a senior living community in Venice are funding the education of employees and their dependent children through a scholarship program supported entirely by resident donations.
Village On The Isle's Education Grants program is helping Venice native Kaela Coye complete her graduate degree debt-free. Coye will begin her second year in the Speech-Language Pathology graduate program at the University of South Florida this fall.
How the program works
The VOTI Education Grants program is open to employees after six to 12 months of continuous service. Employees can receive up to $7,000 per year for approved courses, and applicants can apply for financial support every semester.
A resident committee, led by Jim Handrich, reviews applications and decides who receives funding each semester. In total, the community has provided $35,000 in scholarships in 2026.
Coye’s path to VOTI
Coye started working as a server at VOTI in 2019 while attending Venice High School. It was her first job. She said residents were the ones who told her to apply for the grant.
As a low-income, first-generation graduate student, Coye said paying tuition was always a worry. She said she is grateful to be earning her second college degree debt-free because of the grants program and the support of VOTI residents.
Personal connection to speech therapy
Coye grew up with a stutter. After years of speech therapy focused on “fixing” the problem, her life changed when she started therapy focused on self-acceptance.
She hopes to extend that same compassionate care to the next generation and change how new speech-language pathologists learn about stuttering and how they treat people who stutter.