Christmas arrived early for The United Negro College Fund (UNCF). The organization’s Mayor’s Masked Ball raised money during its festivities, with $4 million going toward supporting HBCU students nationwide. Actor Anthony Anderson served as the event’s master of ceremonies, and Big Boi and legendary singer Charlie Wilson entertained the robust audience as musical guests.
On Dec. 21, over 2,000 esteemed guests attended the masquerade at Atlanta’s exclusive Signia Hotel, all dedicated to helping these diverse scholars and institutions thrive. Theme evening’s theme, deemed “A Night of Elegance and Generosity: Celebrating Support for HBCUs and Empowering the Next Generation of Leaders,” also amplified UNCF’s mission to further Black youth in education.
In its 80 years, UNCF has raised roughly $6 billion in support of higher education for African American students. BLACK ENTERPRISE spoke to the organization’s president and CEO Dr. Michael Lomax, who just celebrated 20 years at the helm spoke enthusiastically about UNCF’s accomplishments: “We’ve helped over 600,000 students get college education and over the last 20 years we’ve raised $4 billion and over the last 4 years we’ve raised over a billion dollars,” Lomax told BE.