He's not heavy, he's my Brother

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Alabama A&M initiative announces scholarship opportunities for Black Male Teachers

Nov 3, 2020
With support from the Education Writers Association, Chandra Thomas Whitfield took a close look at the shortage of Black male teachers in 2019. Nationwide, Whitfield found that only 2 percent of teachers are Black men.


Although minorities make up more than half of the student population in public schools, people of color make up about 20 percent of teachers. More than 70 percent of the total number of teachers are female.


Eleven months after Whitfield’s report, Alabama A&M University launched its Males for Alabama Education initiative to recruit Black male students who have an interest in teaching.


In October 2020, the Males for Alabama Education (M.AL.E.) Initiative announced that the scholarship program is accepting applications again.


Coordinated by the College of Education, Humanities and Behavioral Sciences and its Department of Teacher Education and Leadership, the M.AL.E. Initiative aims to:

• Recruit undergraduate and graduate male students who express an interest in teaching students within Alabama’s public P-12 schools
• Provide up to two years of tuition assistance for undergraduate juniors and seniors and up to two (2) years of tuition assistance for graduate students
• Provide funding and test preparation support to complete assessments needed to meet state certification requirements (Praxis I Core, Praxis II content, and EdTPA)
• Provide mentorship and build collegiality through a student cohort system beyond certification completion
• Provide pre-post job-embedded professional and personal development opportunities for M.AL.E students.

For each year of student participation in the M.AL.E. initiative, participants will be required to provide two (2) years of service within a public Alabama P-12 school.


For more information, contact e-mail larry.collier@aamu.edu or call (256) 372-5520.

 

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Pittsburgh Theological Seminary establishes Welch Scholarship
November 6, 2020

The Rev. Drs. John C. and B. De Neice Welch Endowed Scholarship has been established


PITTSBURGH (PNS) — Pittsburgh Theological Seminary has established The Rev. Drs. John C. (’02) and B. De Neice (’04) Welch Endowed Scholarship to honor the work and ministry of alumni John and De Neice Welch on the campus of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary as well as throughout the wider Pittsburgh community.

This merit scholarship will be rewarded to degree-seeking students of African descent and/or students of color with an interest in urban ministry who have completed at least one year of theological education.

“We want to make a seminary education affordable for students are who work full time while seeking their degree,” said the Rev. Dr. David Esterline, president of Pittsburgh Seminary. “The Welch scholarship will enable more students to complete their academic programs while remaining true to their call to urban ministry without worrying about financing their education.”


John Welch said, ”I am deeply honored that the length and depth of our commitment to PTS is being recognized in this manner and I hope this scholarship will further enhance the recruitment, retention, and graduation of Black students and other students of color who financially would otherwise not have chosen this seminary.”

Spoiler: rest of article

John Welch worked at Pittsburgh Seminary from 2007 to 2020, most recently as vice president for student service and community engagement and dean of students. While at the Seminary, he publicly lived out his faith by serving with several community organizations, ecclesial committees, and governmental boards and commissions.

Additionally, he has a supporting role at Bidwell Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh as minister of music, where he was ordained and formerly served as pastor. He is president emeritus of the Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network (PIIN) and also chairs the board of directors of the international network PIIN is a part of, Gamaliel. He previously volunteered for 10 years as chief of chaplains for the Bureau of Police Chaplaincy Corps in the city of Pittsburgh. He is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University (B.S.), Pittsburgh Theological Seminary (M.Div.), and Duquesne University (Ph.D.)

De Neice Welch is pastor of the Bidwell Presbyterian Church and a community advocate who served as the first female and African American associate pastor of Shadyside Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh. During her time at Shadyside, she expanded the missional focus and coordinated a number of mission trips, including outreach to the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and to the Presbyterian mission partners in Malawi.

Since 2007, she has served as pastor of Bidwell Presbyterian Church, where she launched a summer lunch and camp program for children in the Manchester neighborhood. At PTS, she was a workshop leader on several occasions and guest lecturer. In addition to serving at the church, De Neice also was president of the Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network. She is a graduate of Robert Morris College (B.A.), Geneva College (B.S.), Pittsburgh Theological Seminary (M.Div.), and Duquesne University (Ph.D.).

 

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Black Investments in Greensboro aims to improve education, health, social well-being of Black community
https://myfox8.com/community-foundation/

Nov 18, 2020

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Kendrick Mayes and his wife Dr. Anbec DeShield-Mayes own Best Smile Dental in Greensboro, but healthy teeth aren’t their only focus.

“For us, we’ve always been philanthropists, we just have not identified ourselves as philanthropists,” said Kendrick Mayes.

They want a healthy, safe and just community too.

“We understand that in order for change to happen, it requires dollars behind that,” Mayes said. “With the BIG Equity Fund, the dollars that we are raising will go towards really addressing social justice and racial equity issues.”

The couple is part of a growing movement of donors with a variety of backgrounds supporting the Black Investments in Greensboro Equity Fund at the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro.



The endowment fund at CFGG’s goal is to improve the education, health and social well-being of the Black community. Rather than putting band-aid solutions on problems, the BIG Equity Fund aims to invest in programs and tools that take a more strategic approach.

 

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Golfers Who Give Back
November 19, 2020
Cameron Champ helps fund golf scholarships at Prairie View A&M while also honoring his grandfather

Cameron Champ lines up a putt on the second green during the final round of last week's Masters. Champ wore one black and one white shoe as part of his efforts to highlight racial injustice.



Cameron Champ tied for 19th in his Masters debut last week and in the process walked away with a couple of pieces of crystal, rewards for a pair of memorable eagles on the second and eighth holes during the third round. But he also left Augusta National with something much more enduring: Inspiration.

After hearing that Lee Elder, the first Black man to play in the Masters in 1975, would join Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player as an honorary starter for the 2021 tournament and that a pair of scholarships in Elder’s name will be awarded annually to the men’s and women’s golf programs at Paine College, a historically Black college and university in Augusta, Champ felt compelled to do something himself.

On Thursday, Prairie View A&M University, an HBCU in Prairie View, Texas, announced a $40,000 donation from the Cameron Champ Foundation and Chevron to establish two scholarships for its men’s and women’s golf teams. The scholarship fund will be named after Champ’s late grandfather, Mack (Pops) Champ.


“When Lee Elder walked on the Augusta grounds, it sent a message, ‘We belong,’ ” Champ said. “My grandfather had such an incredible influence on my life and always inspired me in many ways. I’m so grateful for Pops introducing me to the game of golf, but also for teaching me that there’s so much more to life than golf. He always stressed the importance of giving back and paying it forward.

“Last week, Augusta National Golf Club chairman Fred Ridley addressed how access and opportunities are still barriers to the game, and he hit the nail on the head when he said that the time to do more is now,” Champ continued. “That really sparked this idea, and I thought, what better way to honor PaPa Champ than to take up the challenge to do more, right now.”

After his win at 2019 Safeway Open, Cameron Champ celebrates with his father, Jeff Champ, and spoke to his grandfather, Mack, on the phone. Not long after, Mack, who get Cameron into golf as a kid, passed away from stomach cancer.


The mission of Champ’s foundation is to “transform the lives of youth from underserved and underrepresented communities through a focus on athletics, academics and healthy living.” And with the creation of the scholarships, Champ will help further that cause even more.

“Mack Champ was born in Columbus, Texas, in a segregated neighborhood with limited resources. His determination to fight against systemic racism and discrimination fuels our work,” said Glenn Weckerlin, the foundation’s board chairman. “We recognize that the pandemic has disproportionately impacted communities of color and has placed a heavy burden on the university and its already stretched funding. We are thankful that we can collaborate with such a historic institution to provide deserving student-athletes from diverse backgrounds opportunities that they might not otherwise have. We are delighted to contribute to student dreams and hope our actions will inspire others to follow suit—the time is now

 

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Savannah State University Foundation Announces Melvin D. Williams Endowment Fund

November 18, 2020


Dr. Frank Williams (older brother of Melvin D. Williams, nephew of Hall) & Mrs. Sula Hall (widow of Hall)
Savannah State University (SSU) alumni Melvin D. Williams has generously gifted the SSU Foundation, Inc. with a $25,000 endowment fund to establish the James Monroe Hall Scholarship for needbased students.

Williams, retired president of Nicor Gas and senior vice president of Southern Company Gas, earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Savannah State University. The scholarship honors his late uncle, also an SSU alumni.

With esteem, class and distinction, Hall, (. ‘59), devoted his life’s work to educating youth, uplifting his community, and sup- porting his beloved SSU. A proud military veteran of the U.S. Army, Hall was a lifetime member of the NAACP, Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum, Woodville-Tompkins High School Hall of Fame and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. The first in his entire family to graduate from college, Hall gave his all to help others and exemplified an unwavering dedication to his family and friends.

“James Monroe Hall was quite community oriented and involved in his church,” said Sula Hall, widow of Hall. “He worked extremely hard while he was a student. He attended Savannah State College on an athletic scholarship and this was one of the goals he achieved.

He was the first in his family to get a high school diploma and the first to attend college. Simply put, he was an ordinary man doing extraordinary things. He often said, ‘If he could help someone, then his life would not be in vain.’”

The fund was established with an initial gift and is solely for the purpose of attracting and providing financial awards to students enrolled and matriculating at Savannah State University.

Donors may contribute additional gifts to the fund at any time.

The SSU Foundation is a Georgia non-profit corporation with the purpose of receiving, investing and administering the private support of Savannah State University. The mission of the Foundation is to support and enhance the University by encouraging charitable gifts from alumni and friends leading to academic programs of excellence. This allows the University to build upon a growing reputation of quality and value beyond the traditional resources provided by state appropriations or student tuition and fees. If you would be interested in financially supporting the University or contributing to the James Monroe Hall Scholarship, contact University Advancement by calling 912-358-3059 or visit www.savannahstate.edu/university advancement/.

 

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Tech Founders Donate $160K to Morris Brown for eSports

• November 23, 2020

“It is imperative that we continue the work of creating opportunities
that will allow our children to thrive in the generations to come,” said
PCX Co-Founder Erich Thomas.

Atlanta – Pharaoh’s Conclave (PCX), Georgia’s leading organization for
diversity and inclusion in competitive video gaming, and the Thomas Family Fund are proud to announce a contribution of $160,000.00 to
Morris Brown College in honor and memory of the family patriarch, Ronald Floyd Thomas (MBC 2002). The gift was designated to establish the Ronald Floyd Thomas Center for eSports and Innovation. The Morris Brown College Board of Trustees unanimously approved the decision to establish the center in October 2020.

Jakita O. Thomas, Ph.D. and Erich Thomas founded Pharaoh’s Conclave(PCX) in 2017. PCX is a company that uses education and exposure to video gaming to address diversity and inclusion in the technology industry by leveraging eSports.

PCX will now complete its “Cradle to Career” model with the opening of the Ronald Floyd Thomas Center for eSports and Innovation at Morris
Brown College, the alma mater of Erich Thomas’s father. The focus on
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) will help to
address the lack of diversity in eSports and technology.
" My wife and I both grew up in
Atlanta; we are both graduates of HBCUs, and are now watching the fourth generation of our family attend HBCUs."says Erich Thomas.


“When my husband, Ronald Floyd Thomas, entered Morris Brown College to complete the work on his degree, he fully embraced becoming a true “Brownite.” Funding the establishment of the Ronald Floyd Thomas Center for eSports and Innovation at Morris Brown College is a fitting tribute
to a man who valued education and the contributions of Historically
Black Colleges and Universities to our culture and family. Morris Brown College, in the words of her Alma Mater, was “a welcome true to everyone until thy work was done.” It is in keeping with his commitment to educational opportunity that a program exists to equip this generation of scholars with the skills to excel in STEM and be on the cutting edge
of this new technology at—Dear Old Morris Brown,” said Geri Thomas, Grant Advisor of the Thomas Family Fund.



“I am so grateful for the gift from the Ronald Floyd Thomas family and Pharaoh’s Conclave. This designated gift will help take our new eSports program to the next level. I am so excited that Morris Brown College can lead as Georgia’s first State approved eSports Performance degree program. The institution has two tracks including a certificate and a degree. Additionally, high school students will be able to dual enroll
and complete high school with 24 college credit hours in eSports. Morris Brown will lead in eSports education and competitive gaming. This gift just catapulted us forward. We will immediately begin plans to remodel an area on campus into the Ronald Floyd Thomas Center for eSports and Innovation, which will include top notch eSports equipment. Moreover, we
will begin recruiting the best gaming students to attend Morris Brown and compete competitively on our eSports team,” said Dr. Kevin James, President of Morris Brown College.

 

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December 1, 2020
Detroit leader William Pickard creates five scholarships in Wayne State University School of Social Work

Successful entrepreneur, philanthropist and Detroit leader William F. Pickard, Ph.D. has pledged $250,000 to support scholarships in the Wayne State University School of Social Work. An initial gift of $150,000 will create five scholarships, and a future gift of $100,000 will endow the scholarships and make them permanent.

The scholarships will be available to undergraduate and graduate social work students who attend full or part time. Students must be active members of the Association of Black Social Workers Detroit chapter or the Wayne State chapter. Scholarship recipients will complete their field placement with Black Family Development, a prominent social services organization in Detroit.

“Social work is about making society stronger and making communities better,” said Pickard. “Supporting students who are steadfast in their determination to uplift Black families is rewarding, and I am proud to honor the individuals who showed me the way to make a difference.”

Each scholarship is named in honor of someone who has made a significant impact on Pickard’s development as a leader:

• Angelo Henderson Scholarship, honoring the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who wrote for The Detroit News, the Detroit Free Press and the Wall Street Journal, and hosted a popular radio program.
• Paul L. Hubbard Scholarship, recognizing Hubbard’s long friendship with Pickard, his championing of social work as a tool for change, and his work to make Black families stronger.
• William H. and Victoria Pickard Scholarship, honoring Pickard’s parents, who worked on a General Motors assembly line in Flint so that he could pursue his education.
• Dr. Gerald K. Smith Scholarship, named for the founder of YouthVille Detroit, who established the organization to support young people through mentoring.
• Sylvia Wilson Scholarship, honoring her dedication to students as the former director of admissions for the School of Social Work.

 

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Whittakers Honored for Endowment
Dec 3, 2020

As an opportunity to highlight the impact their financial support has had on St. Petersburg College, Dr. Gerald Whittaker, along with his wife, Betty Gaston Whittaker, visited SPC’s Health Education Center on Wednesday, December 2, where they were given a tour of the nursing labs and shown demonstrations of the equipment and computer programs used to prepare students to practice on real patients. After their tour, they were surprised with a permanent plaque placed in the HEC’s media center honoring the impact they have made with their contributions.

Over the past three years, The Whittakers have created endowed scholarships at St. Petersburg College in both their names, totaling $521,500 to date. Mrs. Whittaker retired from her position as librarian at SPC’s Gibbs campus in 2015, even further sealing their dedication to SPC students. In 2019-20, Dr. Whittaker made additional gifts to help grow the funds in order to impact more SPC nursing students.

 

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Robert F. Smith Commits Up to $1 Million To Support NSBCPA’s Groundbreaking Efforts To Increase Black CPAs
December 08, 2020

WASHINGTON--The National Society of Black Certified Public Accountants (NSBCPA) announced today a major gift from Vista Equity Partners Founder, Chairman and CEO, Robert F. Smith, who pledged $1 million to support the NSBCPA’s first-of-its-kind Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Exam Bootcamp Program for Black Accounting Students.

Smith’s gift will pay for students to take the CPA exam and contribute wrap-around support to ensure the program’s participants have the tools they need to pass the exam and succeed in the accounting profession. The program, open to all colleges and universities in the United States, will enroll 100 students per year in a hands-on, virtual “bootcamp” to prepare them for their CPA exam, in an effort to boost Black representation among CPAs.

The program is supported by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Foundation and is aimed at increasing Black representation in the accounting profession. According to Bloomberg, Black Americans make up less than 1% of all CPAs in the United States.

“Raising Black representation in the financial workforce doesn’t just put more Black people in high quality jobs. It helps build opportunity and wealth over generations while promoting financial literacy that is so crucial to achieving prosperity,” said Smith. “Representation matters, and this program will help aspiring accountants see that they belong in this field.”

The virtual program will provide students with the roadmap necessary to complete their coursework and navigate all exams and entrance materials required to become a CPA, including placement assessments, educational sessions with Black professors, CPA exam review sessions led by Black CPAs, study sessions, and a CPA mentor assigned to each student upon entrance to the program, as well as books, applications and test fee support. The program will also heavily feature material on the first 100 Black CPAs as part of its holistic education.

“We’re proud to partner with Robert Smith and the AICPA on this groundbreaking project,” said Felicia Farrar, Vice Chair of NSBCPA. “Next year will mark the 100th anniversary of the hire of the first-ever Black CPA, John Cromwell.

John W. Cromwell
For that and so many other reasons, now is the perfect time to build on his legacy and create new ones in the financial community for future generations to look up to.”

 

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$8 million donation to U. of C. Medicine aims to improve health care in Black communities



Dec 9, 2020

The University of Chicago Medicine located at 5841 S. Maryland, in the Hyde Park neighborhood.
Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
An $8 million donation from a North Chicago drugmaker is intended to reduce health care disparities in Black communities on the South Side.

AbbVie’s donation, announced Wednesday, will boost efforts by University of Chicago Medicine’s Urban Health Initiative to build relationships with community leaders and organizations, with the goal of improving the quality of care for South Side residents.

Most of the money will go toward hiring 14 community health workers who will stay connected with patients once they leave the hospital or primary care office. Those workers will be part of the new Liaison in Care program, who help keep patients educated about their care.

“Community health workers will be deployed to help patients in the community, and at various health centers on the South Side, navigate to the resources they need to improve their health,” said Brenda Battle, vice president of the Urban Health Initiative. “They will not simply link them to services and leave them, but stay with them to get over any barriers that pop up so they can achieve wellness.”


“These funds allow us to provide additional support to community members that will help reduce disparities,” Battle said, noting that the work community health workers do for patients is not covered by Medicaid. “There is evidence that community health workers help with health care inequities.”

The Urban Health Initiative has relied on these workers since Michelle Obama helped launch the effort in 2005.

Battle said the Initiative was behind the Violence Recovery Program, which helps victims being treated in U. of C. Medicine’s trauma center. It also created the South Side Pediatric Asthma Center after learning communities where struggling to find asthma care for their children.

The donation also allows the Urban Health Initiative to do robust data collection and evaluations to help its team of epidemiologists assess the impact of its programs.

The $8 million donation will also let the Urban Health Initiative donate a total of $50,000 per year for the next five years to community-based organizations to help those groups serve more residents.

AbbVie’s donation to the Urban Health Initiative is part of the drugmaker’s $50 million, five-year philanthropic efforts supporting Black communities across the United States.

KAREN HALE



Karen Hale, vice president and deputy general counsel at AbbVie, leads those philanthropic efforts. She said what community health workers do resonated with her. As a Black woman, she said, she saw firsthand the uncertainty her grandmother felt when she left the hospital.

“This kind of philanthropy is extremely important, and there is so much needed in the world that in some ways it is overwhelming,” said Hale. “This type of philanthropy will hopefully motivate others to come and give bigger donations and recognize we can do more together than individually.”

 

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CEOs Pledge One Million Jobs for Black Americans
Leaders of Merck, IBM, others have raised $100 million for OneTen, a startup that will focus on training Black candidates for corporate roles

Merck CEO Ken Frazier, one of OneTen’s founders, said the killing of George Floyd prompted corporate leaders to re-examine their initiatives and join forces.
Photo: Bess Adler/Bloomberg News

Dec. 10, 2020

A coalition of more than 30 chief executive officers from companies including Merck MRK 0.35% & Co., International Business Machines Corp. and Nike Inc. NKE -0.24% are backing a startup that will connect employers with Black workers.

The startup, called OneTen, aims to create one million jobs for Black Americans over the next 10 years and has so far recruited over 35 company backers and raised more than $100 million in seed funding.


Merck CEO Ken Frazier, one of the startup’s founders, said the nonprofit organization will focus on helping Black Americans without four-year college degrees, but with high school diplomas and other certifications, find and retain “family-sustaining jobs,” or those earning $40,000 or more depending on the region.

Nonprofits, community colleges and credentialing organizations will provide training to help them be successful in business, and the CEOs who have joined the effort are committing to hiring these workers.

The initiative is an acknowledgment by the CEOs that the efforts they undertook in recent years haven’t made a meaningful difference for Black Americans, according to Mr. Frazier. He said the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, in police custody in May and the ensuing protests prompted corporate leaders to re-examine their initiatives and join forces.

“What brought people together is that they looked at our country and said, it’s this generation of CEOs who don’t want to pass this down to the next generation,” Mr. Frazier, one of four Black CEOs in the Fortune 500, said in an interview.

Black people make up 12.4% of the U.S. population, but 8% of professionals, a number that has stayed steady since 2013, according to a study by the Center for Talent Innovation, a nonprofit research group. Black people hold 3.2% of senior executive positions, the group said.

Mr. Frazier said nearly 80% of working-age Black Americans don’t have a four-year college degree, making it a structural barrier for meaningful employment at many companies. He said OneTen’s goal isn’t only to connect companies with those workers, but also improve how companies are hiring and developing people with four-year college degrees, so that they can address the lack of Black representation in middle and upper management. “All of us would agree that what we’re doing now isn’t working to the extent that we want it to work,” he said.


Ginni Rometty, executive chairman at IBM and another founder of the startup, said companies will share their best practices and insights to ensure existing Black workers are promoted. “We want to avoid the leaky bucket,” she said. “As we bring people in, we don’t want them going out the other side.”

Ms. Rometty said companies will re-examine jobs to see whether they truly require a four-year college degree, calling it a “skills-first approach.” She noted IBM, where she was CEO for eight years, once required a college degree for all its jobs, and now 43% of jobs don’t require a four-year degree. “This is the hard work of going through every job and removing unnecessary barriers,” she said.

Entry-level work in health care, business and finance operations, cloud-computing, cybersecurity and advanced manufacturing could fit the bill. “These are jobs that in almost all cases have upward mobility,” she said.

Ms. Rometty said OneTen plans to announce a CEO soon and set up offices in cities across the country. “Think of us as a startup and we will keep expanding and expanding,” she said.

The companies backing OneTen include finance firms like American Express Co. AXP -1.48% and Bank of America Corp. BAC -0.45% , retailers like Target Corp. TGT 0.78% and Walmart Inc., WMT -0.79% and product manufacturers including Whirlpool Corp. WHR -0.06% and Johnson & Johnson. JNJ 1.02%

 

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Former Card Donovan Mitchell gives back to alma mater with exclusive adidas ‘Shoe for Change’

Dec. 18, 2020
Former Cardinal Donovan Mitchell has teamed up with adidas and his alma mater, the University of Louisville, to support current and future Black students at the school. Through his passion for education, all proceeds from the sales of the exclusive D.O.N. Issue #2 x Louisville sneaker, up to $200,000, will go toward funding several academic initiatives and scholarships.

The proceeds from the adidas.com sales of what is being coined as “A Shoe for Change” aim to bring positive and lasting transformation to the Louisville community. Mitchell and adidas worked closely with the UofL Office of Diversity and Equity to determine which scholarships and academic initiatives to fund to best serve its diverse student population. These initiatives include the Woodford R. Porter Scholarship Program, the Muhammad Ali Scholar Program, the Health and Social Justice Scholars Program and an expanded emergency fund to help increase retention rates of the impacted students, allowing them to focus on their studies and work toward graduation.


“With my mom being a teacher and based on the values she taught me from a young age, I have always understood the importance of education, which is why adidas and I worked with my alma mater, the University of Louisville, to ensure proceeds from the Louisville colorway of D.O.N. Issue #2 would fund scholarships to support Black students,” Mitchell said. “I am passionate about giving back, so having the opportunity to support the Louisville community, a place that helped shape me, is really special and it’s great my friend and champion for equality, Angel McCoughtry, is supporting these efforts as well.



The sneaker’s name, D.O.N., remains a testament to Mitchell’s Determination Over Negativity, aiming to be a vehicle for positive disruption on the court and in communities. The D.O.N. Issue #2 x Louisville portrays the familiar UofL colors and its iconic mascot, Louie the Cardinal, featured inside the rubber outsole dunking. The shoe’s lace overlay includes the Cardinals’ rallying cry, “Louisville First, Cards Forever,” and the heel features “THE VILLE” as a tribute to the city’s long-standing nickname

 

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https://denver.cbslocal.com/2020/12...-weekend-closure-i70-brighton-boulevard-i270/
New Robert F. Smith STEAM Academy Provides HBCU Experience In Denver
December 18, 2020



https://denver.cbslocal.com/live/cbsn-denver/
DENVER (CBS4)– A new high school in the Montbello neighborhood is the creation of Denver-native and East High School graduate, Robert F. Smith. The Robert F. Smith STEAM Academy will embrace science, technology, engineering, arts and math. It’s founded on the principles of historically Black colleges and universities.

“When I think about what it took to create the STEAM academy, it occurs to me it wasn’t actually about starting a school. It was about building a village,” said Smith.

 

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Two GSU students selected to receive Shade Room scholarship
Dec 10, 2020

GRAMBLING, La. (KMSS) – Two Grambling State University students have been named the first recipients of The Shade Room First Generation scholarship.

The Shade Room established the scholarship fund for first-generation African American students. 

Selected were Natasha Jacobs of Monroe, Louisiana, and Jacques Lockhart of Lake Providence, Louisiana. Jacobs’ major is elementary education 1-5 mild moderate. Lockhart is a nursing major.

“The Shade Room Scholarship will mean everything to me.  It will allow me to finish my studies at Grambling State University.  I have exhausted my financial aid and I am classified as a senior,” Jacobs said.

“Graduating college has been a dream of mine for years and I finally had the courage to enroll. I want to make a difference in the classroom and help the students achieve their goals,” she said.

The scholarship will help Lockhart continue his studies.

“I currently do not receive any money from financial aid and I’m struggling to pay for school,” he said. “I’m a nursing student at Grambling State University and nursing is very time consuming so I’m only able to work weekends, which is not a lot of money to pay for school. I have been working hard to save up for college, but with the exorbitant costs of tuition and nursing school, my part-time jobs haven’t been enough.”

“The scholarship effort was a part of our mission to create as many endowments at HBCUs as we can,” said Shade Room Founder Angie Nwandu. “Grambling was the first HBCU we started with.” 

“The minimum GPA is low because I graduated with a 2.8 GPA and couldn’t get into law/grad school,” Nwandu said. “I would like to give college students like me an opportunity for success.”