According to National Black MBA Association Dallas-Fort Worth Community Relations Committee Chair Demetrius Washington,
This past spring, billionaire Robert F. Smith pledged to pay off the student loans for his fellow class of 2019 graduates. Mr. Smith’s extraordinary gesture was widely celebrated but helped to emphasize the student debt crisis in America. According to a recent story by Josh Mitchell in the Wall Street Journal, borrowers currently owe more than $1.5 trillion in student loans. Even after graduation, black professionals continue to struggle with unemployment or under-employment. As a result, a study conducted by The Brookings Institution found that student loan debt more than triples for black graduates in comparison to their white peers. While student loan debt forgiveness is a hot topic for politicians, the National Black MBA DFW chapter has been addressing the issue through our programs for both students and professionals.
As a nonprofit that constantly gives, we rely on the generous donations of our members, individual supporters, and 2019 corporate partners to impact the community. With the help of North Texas Giving Day, we were able to raise critical funds in 2018 which we used towards our Leaders of Tomorrow and Excel Scholarship programs. Ultimately we raised $2500 through the event. We certainly would love to raise more as we continue to grow but truly every penny helps, and we appreciate Community Foundations of Texas for getting donors excited about giving.
The money NBMBAA DFW Chapter raised through North Texas Giving Day last year helped to support our Leaders of Tomorrow (LOT) high-school mentoring program. During the eight-month program, we teach the LOT students around four developmental areas: Leadership, career preparation, college preparation, and financial literacy. We teach the students keys to choosing career paths, selecting colleges, and earning scholarships/grants while honing their leadership skills with the ultimate goal of graduating college with minimal to no student debt. Last school year we impacted 57 students through our LOT program. 5 of those students earned roles on the 2019 case team and we sent them to compete at the national summit and case competition in Washington DC this June.
Last year, we also awarded $11,000 in scholarship money to graduating high seniors, undergraduate students, and graduate school students. North Texas Giving Day helped to make those awards possible.
In addition to our student programming, we present programs to help our more than 1000 financial members become more financially literate and higher earners in their careers.
With the help of North Texas Giving Day and our generous donors, NBMBAA DFW Chapter is celebrating 30 years of personal and professional development for African-American professionals in 2019.
* Graphic/photo provided by National Black MBA Association Dallas – Fort Worth
In ten years, Communities Foundation of Texas’ North Texas Giving Day has pumped more than $240 million into the North Texas community. In 2018, more than $48 million was raised through more than 157,000 gifts benefiting over 2,700 area nonprofits.
On Thursday, September 19, support National Black MBA Association Dallas – Fort Worth by linking here and spreading the word. #NTxGivingDay
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