About Us
Tilga Scholarship is the philanthropic initiative of Wally Bakare as a vehicle to provide opportunities for minority students to complete their collegiate education.
As an avid collector of arts from the African continent and the diaspora, Wally created The Tilga Art Fund to support and foster criticality, broaden artistic practice and engage new and exciting modes of art-making among young contemporary African artists.
Wally's life mission is to help people become all that God has created them to be. He is very passionate about facilitating endeavors that will significantly improve the opportunity for under privileged young adults, particularly black and brown, to climb out of poverty and alter the financial trajectory of their families for generations.
Since 2012 Tilga Scholarship has partnered with the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), The Ohio State University Todd Bell Resource Center for African American Males, St. Charles Preparatory School and University of California, Riverside to offer scholarships to students.
Beyond scholarships, with the intent of amplifying his impact, Wally partnered with University of California Riverside Office of Undergraduate Studies and the Provost Office to create the Excel+ Career Readiness plus Leadership program. This program is a campus-wide initiative designed to engage students in leadership, professional development opportunities, and building career readiness skills that can be articulated to future employers to make them competitive candidates in a variety of industries.
Internships are an important aspect of the Excel+ program and a critical component of the student experience. As part of his ongoing commitment to the future success of UCR students and to meet the need for paid student internships, Wally established Tilga Internships with a seed donation.
As of Winter 2024, over 400 UCR students are enrolled in the Excel+ program with 45 funded internships. Tilga interns have had opportunities to use their acquired skills and knowledge across the United States, and as far away as Rome, Italy and Prague, Czech Republic.
We know it takes a village to raise a child. Our mission is to come along side minority students struggling financially to continue their college education, and young artists striving to build their careers. We strive to rescue their dreams.
We look at our scholarship and art grant as investments in each recipient. The expectation is that each investment would yield exponential returns as the students graduate, and the artists become more commercially viable.