On Aug. 16, the National Council of Negro Women, the Tom Joyner Foundation and PUSH Excel announced a partnership with Denny’s to assist students who attend Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Held at the NCNW’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., the event featured commentary from Janice Mathis, executive director of NCNW, Denny’s president and CEO John Miller, Dr. Julianne Malveaux, Dr, Johnnetta Betsch Cole, and Ruben Barrales of Wells Fargo.
Starting in September 2019, the NCNW 2019 HFE HBCU Tour will visit seven campuses in six cities to encourage college enrollment, academic excellence, and career preparation for students of all backgrounds. Tour stops will be South Carolina State University and Claflin University, Orangeburg, S.C. (Sept. 7); Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, Fla. (Sept. 14); Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta, Ga. (Sept. 21); Howard University, Washington, D.C. (Sept. 28); Wilberforce University, Wilberforce, Ohio, (Nov. 2); and Texas Southern University, Houston, Texas (Nov. 6).
Denny’s will award more than $200,000 in scholarships this year to high school and college students who apply this fall. During each stop along the HBCU Tour, Denny’s will also provide $500 meal scholarships to four high school students and four college students, totaling $4,000 at each college stop. The meal scholarships will be a direct tie-in to Denny’s efforts to address food insecurity on HBCU campuses and an extension of the meal swipe initiative, created by Mary-Pat Hector, a winner of the HFE scholarship.
“At Denny’s, we have found that supporting HBCUs is an incredibly effective way to invest in the diverse communities we serve,” said April Kelly-Drummond, head of Diversity Equality Inclusion & Multicultural Engagement. “HBCUs make up only three percent of the colleges and universities in the United States, yet they produce 23 percent of African-American college graduates.”
“The Hungry for Education Scholarship program benefits the scholarship recipients, of course, but when those students use their scholarships at HBCUs, it’s like we’re investing that scholarship twice—once in today’s student and once in the future students who will benefit from the incredible work that HBCUs are doing,” said Denny’s president and CEO John Miller.
Janice Mathis, executive director of NCNW, added, “NCNW is very pleased to have great partners like Denny’s, and our HBCU destinations to help us spread the good news that nothing levels the playing field like education.”
