Investing in Better Futures for HBCU Students in Charlotte and Across the Country

Here at UNCF’s Charlotte area office, we believe that, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste, but a wonderful thing to invest in.”^® Every investment is a bet on the future: a bet on better futures for our students and, through their success, for all of us. And it’s a bet on the year ahead, and on our ability to give our students the education they need, and that we as a state, as a region and as a country need them to have.

There’s a lot riding on UNCF Charlotte in the year ahead. Five North Carolina-based UNCF-member HBCUs—Bennett College in Greensboro, Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, Livingstone College in Salisbury, and Saint Augustine’s University and Shaw University, both in Raleigh—with a total enrollment of more than 5,600 students, depend on UNCF for the financial support that helps them keep their academic programs strong, their tuitions affordable and their scholarships available.

But, that’s not all that UNCF and HBCUs contribute to Charlotte and North Carolina. UNCF awards almost $3 million in scholarships to North Carolina students, and more than $300,000 to students from Charlotte. And North Carolina’s private and public HBCUs generate more than 15,000 jobs, $1.7 billion in total economic impact, and $20.7 billion in lifetime earnings for HBCU graduates.

It’s a responsibility that Charlotte Area Office Director Tiffany L. Jones and a large and active team of dedicated volunteers take seriously—so seriously that in addition to staging the 2017 and 2018 editions of two popular and productive special events, UNCF-Charlotte launched an exciting new Masked Ball in the Hampton Roads area along the North Carolina/Virginia border.

Watch UNCF.org/Charlotte for new events and more information on how you can help area students.