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Public
Employee Press Black History
Month Family Day More
than 600 DC 37 members and their families filled the union hall Saturday Feb.
10 for the Black History Committeesannual Family Day. Today
you can be an astronaut or a zookeeper, but there werent always so many
opportunities, Associate Director Oliver Gray told the large crowd. As
young people you need to think about what you want to do with your lives and start
preparing for your future now. The committee presented a session
full of information on education andopportunities through programs run by the
DC 37 Education Fund, including SAT prep, music, foreign languages and karate
classes; A Better Chance, which prepares hundreds of minority children for education
at day, prep and boarding schools nationwide (www.abetterchance.org),
and the United Negro College Fund and the Gates Millennium Scholars program, which
provide college scholarships. For parents, there was information on daycare,
and for the children, there was face painting, bead work and community arts programs
such as the Charles Moore Youth Dance Ensemble in Downtown Brooklyn and Staten
Islands PinkDiamond and Onyx Step drill teams. The United Negro
Scholarship Fund brought representatives from historically black colleges to hand
out information and applications. Teens and parents also learned about financial
aid and the criteria and application process for the $1 billion Gates Minority
Scholars program administered by UNCF. GMS and the UNCF help students of diverse
racial and ethnic backgrounds. To learn more about UNCF visit their Websites,
www.uncf.org
and www.gmsp.org.
For the youth who are here today, all of this information
will have a profound effect, like ripples on a pond, said Local 375s
Michelle Keller. The lives of many will be better because of this event.
Diane S. Williams | |