Volunteer Support • PI Training • Scholarship

The Cheryl Ellis Scholarship Fund

Training and supporting the next generation of private investigators, with a special commitment to women, minorities, and underserved communities seeking a path into investigative work.

Call 850-613-1858 Email OT@EJPIG.com

Why This Fund Exists

The Cheryl Ellis Scholarship Fund honors a mother who refused to accept silence, neglect, and institutional indifference after her daughter, Salisa Luster, was violently assaulted in Louisville, Kentucky.

After the attack, serious questions arose about the way the Louisville Police Department handled the case. The officer who responded did not properly investigate, failed to protect Salisa from further danger, and the family was later told that evidence had been processed when it had not been. Those failures became the beginning of a long fight for answers.

A Mother Became an Investigator

Cheryl Ellis learned how to do the work many officials failed to do. With guidance from our organization, she learned how to request public records, review police reports, identify missing evidence, follow up with agencies, organize documents, and push for accountability.

She did not hold a private investigator license, but she learned the discipline, persistence, and evidence-focused approach required of investigators. In many ways, she helped solve her own case.

The Louisville Case

Our organization became involved after meeting with Salisa and reviewing the failures surrounding the investigation. We helped the family examine records, identify contradictions, pursue accountability, and connect with legal support.

The case later contributed to public scrutiny of Louisville’s failure to properly process sexual assault evidence. Salisa ultimately received a settlement from the Louisville Police Department, but only after years of fighting for the truth.

Cheryl Ellis showed what determined citizens can do when they are trained to ask the right questions, demand the right records, and refuse to be ignored.

What the Scholarship Supports

PI Licensing Support

We help qualified applicants pursue private investigator licensing by supporting fees, training, supervision, and practical experience.

Training & Mentorship

Participants learn public records work, witness development, case documentation, evidence review, report writing, and investigative ethics.

Opportunity & Employment

When possible, scholarship participants may receive paid work, internships, or case-support assignments through our organization.

Who We Aim to Help

The fund is especially focused on people who have historically lacked access to investigative careers, including women, minorities, returning citizens, working-class applicants, and people from underserved communities.

Our goal is not merely to teach people how to investigate. It is to help create investigators who understand accountability, dignity, evidence, civil rights, and the responsibility that comes with serving people in crisis.

Carrying Cheryl’s Legacy Forward

Each year, the Cheryl Ellis Scholarship Fund sponsors private investigative interns and trainees in her honor. Her story reminds us that ordinary people can become powerful advocates when they are taught how to document the truth.

This fund exists because Cheryl Ellis showed us what courage, grief, discipline, and love can become when transformed into action.

Interested in Training or Supporting the Fund?

Applicants, volunteers, donors, and community partners may contact our office for more information about scholarship opportunities, investigative training, and volunteer support.