For 20 years, the investment was in what each of us could become.
At the Pay It Forward Summit, something incredible happened when we came together.
TAKE YOUR PLACEPart of a community of 20,000+ scholars.
During his closing remarks, after watching scholars spend the day learning from one another and imagining what they could build together, Larry challenged us not to let it end there.
LARRY GRIFFITH · EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, GMS
From GMS to SEN: The Room Where It Happened
Dear friends,
On August 14th, I stood in a beautiful room at the Obama Presidential Center full of Gates Millennium Scholars turned builders, healers, organizers, educators, advocates and changemakers. It was an extraordinary night, powerful with emotion and celebration, and I haven't stopped thinking about it since.
I am in my 20th year at UNCF leading the Gates Millennium Scholars Program, a $1.3 billion initiative geared toward proving that by removing the barrier of the cost of a college degree from highly capable individuals like yourself, opportunity would unleash your nascent potential. What I saw at the Pay It Forward Summit is the clearest demonstration that the Gates' investment is wildly successful! You are part of 20,000+ GMS alumni turning shared experience into mentorship, civic engagement, scholarship, and positive impact on your communities.
With our goal of growing your leadership, the scholarship was never meant to end at graduation. It was meant to be the beginning of a lifelong commitment to one another and to giving back to others — and I believe this network is only getting started, with a reach that will extend across our nation and, in time, our world. Accelerator grants already funding changemakers in community health, literacy, and beyond.
To everyone who was in that room: thank you for being a powerful, living testimony. To everyone reading this who wasn't: there's a place for you here too.
As I said that night, now is your turn. SEN needs you, your time, your talent and, importantly at this stage, your treasure. I am asking you to give annually and generously, with a minimum commitment of at least $100.00.
Every contribution keeps this momentum going, so please make a gift so that you are part of what SEN builds next.
With excitement for everything ahead,
Larry Griffith
Executive Vice President (GMS)
Programs & Student Services, UNCF
GMS invested in what each of us could become. Now we decide what we build together.
Every light is a scholar saying, “I'm in.”
Coming together takes real infrastructure: ways to find each other, gather, collaborate, and keep showing up. SEN builds that infrastructure so individual opportunity can become collective power.
This isn't another scholarship. It's what becomes possible because there are 20,000 of us.
Twenty cohorts. One community. Let's make it interesting.
Every light represents a scholar who said: I'm in.
6 more scholars answered Larry's call.
The scholarship opened a door for us.
Now we're building the room so the next generation can walk through it too.
YOUR LIGHT IS ON.
You're sustaining scholar #85. And the room just got a little brighter.
