The International Longshoreman Association (ILA) Local 1408 Scholarship Fund, Port of Jacksonville, Inc., is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization established in 1995 as the brainchild of Mr. Charles Spencer. The fund began as an effort to assist local graduating seniors and returning college students with scholarships for tuition, but over the past few decades the recipient demographic has spanned outside of Jacksonville, Fl.  When Mr. Spencer is asked what his motivation for starting such a fund was, his answer is simply, he had to struggle to send his own children to college and wanted to ensure other parents did not struggle in the same manner. He wanted to be a bridge empowering academically successful applicants with tuition assistance for their secondary educational pursuits. The fund focuses on providing scholarships in the form of financial assistance to academic high achievers and/or financially disadvantaged graduating seniors and returning college students that are residents of Duval, Clay, St. Johns, and Nassau counties in Florida.