Dr. Michael Lomax Larry Griffith

NSHSS is working with the United Negro College Fund/Gates Millennium Scholars Program to combine our organizational resources to further empower scholars, especially those from low income families, first generation college students, and students of African American, Hispanic American, Asian Pacific, and American Indian ethnicity. We are working together to help these emerging leaders make academic decisions that best enable them to reach their potential and become our new generation of leaders.

The mission of United Negro College Fund (UNCF) is to enhance the quality of education by providing financial assistance to deserving students, raising operating funds for member colleges and universities, and increasing access to technology for students and faculty at historically black colleges and universities. Since its inception in 1944, UNCF has grown to become the nation's oldest and most successful African American higher education assistance organization. The mission of UNCF/Gates Millennium Scholars Program (GMS) is to cultivate talent of scholar leaders, reduce financial barriers to higher education, and prepare high talent, low income African Americans, American Indian, and Hispanic American students to make significant contributions in a dynamic and evolving global community.

Together NSHSS and UNCF/GMS will work to provide resources and opportunities to these college-bound high school scholars. Carla Maxwell Ray, Chief Development Officer at NSHSS, participated in the GMS Leadership Academy, October 2007, where she spoke on Community Leadership. Dr. Michael Lomax, President and CEO of UNCF, spoke to NSHSS members at The Carter Center event in December, telling the audience that "NSHSS is the 'cheerleader' for the scholastic achiever--we need to put greater importance on excelling academically, and recognizing students for it. It is important to show students that they are valued for their efforts and to let them know that working to achieve academic success helps them not only to develop a better future for themselves personally, but also for their communities, their countries, and the world."

We are also pleased to welcome Larry Griffith, Vice President of the Gates Millennium Scholars program-United Negro College Fund, to the NSHSS Advisory Board.