CHICAGO— (February 14, 2025) – The City Colleges of Chicago Foundation held a Celebration of Black Learner Excellence at Malcolm X College (1900 W. Jackson Street in Chicago) on February 13, 2025 to share how, along with its incredible partners and through its learning agenda, it is successfully supporting students, resulting in improved student outcomes, especially for Black students. In doing this work, City Colleges is putting students on the path to upward mobility and generational wealth. “Black student success is essential to our mission of supporting all our students. I am proud that we are increasing Black student enrollment and outcomes, and know with the investments our community is making, we will do even more,” said President of the City Colleges of Chicago Foundation, Executive Vice Chancellor – Institutional Advancement and Chief of Staff and Chief of Staff at City Colleges, Veronica Herrero. “I’m also thrilled to honor three special people who are changing lives through their service to our community.” “Education and equity are the cornerstones of economic development, laying the foundation for a thriving, inclusive future. At Intersect Illinois, we understand that empowering Black learners and fostering equitable access to education are not just moral imperatives but economic necessities. City Colleges of Chicago exemplifies the transformative impact of investing in education, cultivating talent, and creating opportunities that fuel our state’s growth and prosperity,” said President and CEO Christy George, Intersect Illinois. City Colleges and all its supporters are committed to supporting Black students—and all its students—so that they can achieve their ambitions, fuel Chicago’s economy, and become leaders in our communities and for our city. To that end, the event will celebrate recent achievements, including a record increase in Black student credit enrollment since 2021 (+35% for Black male students; +28% for Black female students). It will also introduce the bold goal that by 2032, 55% of credential-seeking students new to City Colleges will earn a degree, certificate or transfer to a bachelor’s degree-granting institution within four years of starting at City Colleges – across all racial groups. “As the Higher Education Appropriations Committee Chairman, I know that higher education is a vital pathway to the workforce so that’s why I remain committed to being a strong advocate for our students and the leadership of these institutions. The success of our Black learners, all learners, is essential as we build a stronger and more equitable Chicago and all of Illinois,” said Illinois State Representative La Shawn K. Ford. In addition, the summit will honor three remarkable individuals who are champions of Black learners and changing Chicago communities through their work and service to others. This years’ honorees for their respective awards are: Civic Leader Award:Illinois State Representative La Shawn K. FordRepresentative Ford’s leadership and advocacy has been instrumental in advancing opportunities for Black learners in Chicago. His unwavering commitment to the success of Black students continues to make a profound impact on our city’s educational landscape. Legacy Award:Ellen AlberdingAs retired President of the Joyce Foundation and former member of the City Colleges of Chicago Board of Trustees, Ellen Alberding has played a pivotal role in advancing access to education and opportunity, significantly influencing the City Colleges of Chicago community. Educator Excellence in Equity Award:Tammy Scott Brand, Dean of Nursing, Malcolm X CollegeDean Scott-Brand has impacted countless City Colleges students, driving both academic success and life-changing opportunity. Her efforts have empowered students to achieve their full potential, making a lasting difference in the local healthcare landscape. “When we invest in education, we invest in the unlimited potential of our students, their lives, and our communities. I’m very honored to have won the Equity Award, however, seeing City Colleges of Chicago students succeed is truly my greatest reward,” said Dean of Nursing Tammy Scott-Brand (MSN-ED, RN), Malcolm X College. Special thanks to our partners and sponsors: Loop Capital, The Joyce Foundation, Lewis-Sebring Family Foundation, Judith and Edwin Cohen Family Foundation, Mark and Rachel Hoplamazian, John and Bonnie Atkinson, Northwestern Medicine, and SNtial. For more information on the Celebration of Black Learner Excellence event click here or visit www.ccc.edu/BLE. For more information about City Colleges of Chicago visit www.ccc.edu or call 773-COLLEGE. City Colleges of Chicago is the city’s most accessible higher education engine of socioeconomic mobility and racial equity—empowering all Chicagoans to take part in building a stronger and more just city.

Around 200 engineering students from Wright College brought their innovative ideas to life at the 2024 Engineering Ideas Competition on Tuesday, December 3. Nearly 40 teams of students competed in the 6th annual competition, which is held to give them the opportunity to share their ideas and research, and gain valuable experience in presentation and shared scholarship. The presenting teams came up with a wide-range of useful solutions, including a wearable patch to prevent anaphylactic shock, a device to quickly save cars that have been submerged in water, navigational glasses for the visually impaired, and more. Each group laid out their project design and summary on a large presentation board, and a panel of judges walked around the atrium at Wright College as the students presented their ideas to the experts. Several City Colleges leaders including Chancellor Juan Salgado, Provost Dr. Mark Potter, and Wright College President Dr. Andrés Oroz also joined to view the hard work put on display by the students. The winner of the competition will be announced in the coming days. In addition to the excitement of the annual event, several engineering students celebrated scholarships they have received through the City Colleges of Chicago Foundation, including 15 students who were acknowledged for receiving awards from the Greer Foundation. The cohort of students will receive $1,500 per semester while at City Colleges and $2,500 per semester when they transfer to complete a bachelor’s degree in engineering. Elizabeth Luviano, an aspiring astronaut from Belmont Cragin who is studying aerospace engineering at Wright, was one of the recipients. Elizabeth Luviano “Ever since I came to [Wright College], I feel like I have found my purpose,” Elizabeth said. “The [Greer Foundation] scholarship is helping me so much. It covers me so I can study without feeling the pressure of where am I going to get the money from next.” Elizabeth’s future plans include transferring to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to earn her bachelor’s degree and continuing her education in a master’s degree program. She dreams of one day working for NASA. After an acknowledgement of the Greer Foundation scholarship recipients, another student was surprised with a scholarship on the spot. Hinelben Patel learned she would be taking home a $5,000 check from Transit Capital Partners (TCP) through the company’s partnership with the City Colleges Foundation. To learn more about the City Colleges of Chicago School of Engineering, visit www.ccc.edu/engineering.

Five City Colleges of Chicago alumni join the 2024-2026 cohort of the Obama Foundation Voyagers. These alumni are among 94 recipients of the Obama-Chesky Scholarship for Public Service from all over the United States. This recognition not only highlights their dedication to community service but also provides them with vital resources to further their careers in public service. The Obama-Chesky Scholarship for Public Service supports students with a proven track record of community service and a passion for helping others. To help them continue their work, recipients receive up to $50,000 in tuition assistance over two years, a $10,000 stipend for a Summer Voyage, $4,200 in Airbnb travel credits for their summer work-travel experience, and an additional $20,000 in Airbnb travel credits to be used over the next decade. This scholarship aims to alleviate the financial burden of a college education to allow students to focus on their commitment to public service. In addition to financial aid, the Voyager Scholarship Program provides students with the tools and opportunities to develop their leadership skills. Through immersive work-travel experiences, monthly meetings, individual coaching, and access to a network of leaders and mentors, the program is designed to empower the next generation of leaders. After graduation, students will join the Obama Foundation’s global community, gaining access to Foundation resources and programming. The selection of these five City Colleges of Chicago alumni as Obama Foundation Voyagers is a testament to their dedication to public service as well as the impact they made at City Colleges, their transfer institutions, and the communities where they live and work.

City Colleges of Chicago Foundation Board Welcomes Four New Members   The City Colleges of Chicago Foundation announces the addition of four new members to its esteemed Board of Directors.  Melissa Flores, Jonathan Glover, Quintin Williams, Ph.D., and Darlene Oliver Hightower, J.D. bring diverse expertise and a shared commitment to the Foundation’s mission of supporting City Colleges of Chicago students.   The new officers join the following current board members, including Monica Bibbs, who was recently appointed secretary:  Gary L. Rozier, Chair  Nicole Johnson-Scales, Vice Chair  Maribel Rodriguez, Treasurer  Monica Bibbs, Secretary  William Lowry, Sr., Chair Emeritus  Norma Manjarrez  Chancellor Juan Salgado  Darrell A. Williams  We are so pleased to welcome our newest Board members.  As our reach grows, this strong and passionate team will help us to ensure the greatest possible impact on our students,” said City Colleges of Chicago Board President Veronica Herrero.   New Board Members:  Melissa Flores  Melissa Flores oversees the Chicago engagement strategy on the Global Public Policy and Government Relations team at McDonald’s headquarters. She also serves as an independent, part-time organizational development consultant and executive coach to nonprofits in Chicago. Ms. Flores is chapter lead for the Harvard Latino Alumni Alliance (HLAA) in Chicago, serves as an Alumni Ambassador for the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and is a mentor to the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of Chicago Fellowship. Born and raised in Chicago and the daughter of Mexican immigrants, she has dedicated her career to advocate for equity and improve the educational and economic outcomes of children and families. Ms. Flores holds a B.A. in English Professional Writing from Mount Mary College; an Ed.M. in Education from Harvard University; and an M.A. in Chicana/o Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara.   Jonathan Glover   Jonathan Glover is Senior Client Advisor at Northern Trust Wealth Management where he collaborates with clients and their advisors to offer holistic wealth management services for individuals and families, privately held businesses, family offices, and foundations and endowments. Before arriving at Northern Trust, he held various leadership positions at BNY Mellon and U.S. Bank. Mr. Glover is a Chicago Urban League IMPACT Leadership Development Fellow. He serves his community in various capacities, including as a volunteer attorney at Legal Aid Chicago and as a member of the Ambassadors Board. Mr. Glover holds a B.S. in Finance, and a J.D. in Business and Commercial Law from New England Law|Boston. Darlene Oliver Hightower, J. D.  Darlene Oliver Hightower, J. D. serves as designee for Katya Nuques, Chair of the City Colleges of Chicago Board of Trustees. Ms. Hightower is the President & CEO of the Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC), where she leads the organization’s strategic vision to address built environment issues through the lens of racial and economic justice. Previously, she served as VP of Community Health Equity at Rush University Medical Center and led the development of West Side United. A recognized leader, she is a Leadership Greater Chicago Daniel Burnham Fellow, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Fellow, and a Civic Leadership Academy Fellow, and serves on several boards, including the ACLU of Illinois.  Quintin Williams, Ph.D.  Dr. Quintin Williams is the program officer for the Gun Violence Prevention and Justice Reform initiatives at the Joyce Foundation, addressing racial equity, reentry for formerly incarcerated citizens, and police reforms. Dr. Williams has more than a decade of experience as a criminal justice reform policy advocate, researcher, coalition builder, manager of reform campaigns, and community organizer. Dr. Williams previously worked at Heartland Alliance where he led that organization’s Fully Free Campaign, and worked on state level reforms that would end “permanent punishments” and restore rights to people with criminal records. Dr. Williams holds a bachelor’s degree from Concordia University, and master’s and doctoral degrees in sociology from Loyola University. His dissertation examined how housing insecurity affects formerly incarcerated people reentering society. 

Truman College has received a $900,000 grant from The McCormick Foundation to help support the launch of the city-wide Education Workforce Center (EWC). The EWC will serve as a “one-stop shop,” providing academic support, mentorship, community, professional development, and emotional support to the Truman College community and alumni, community members, and other early childhood education professionals and practitioners—no matter where they are on their career journey.  The EWC is slated to launch in the Fall 2024 semester. 

With the support of a City Colleges of Chicago Foundation scholarship, recent Wright College graduate Praise Daniels is one step closer to earning a four-year degree in engineering.   At an end-of-year engineering program celebration on May 10, Praise was selected as the spring 2024 TCP-CTA Transfer Scholarship winner, which is managed by the City Colleges of Chicago Foundation and made possible by sponsors Transit Capital Partners and the Chicago Transit Authority.   “This scholarship will really help me with tuition and rent as I transfer… I am extremely grateful for this opportunity,” he said.   Praise will participate in an internship with the Chicago Quantum Exchange this summer before he transfers to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Grainger School of Engineering in the fall.  To help us celebrate the Class of ’24, consider donating to the City Colleges of Chicago Foundation and supporting students like Praise with scholarships that fuel their future. Visit www.ccc.edu/24 to get started. 

The PepsiCo Foundation announces the fourth class of PepsiCo Foundation S.M.I.L.E. (Success Matters in Life and Education) Scholarship recipients, including 10 City Colleges students. The S.M.I.L.E. scholarship program is designed to support students as they transition from community colleges to four-year universities, empowering them to achieve their academic and professional goals. Since 2021, the PepsiCo Foundation has awarded this transformational scholarship to 25 City Colleges students, recognizing their strong academic records, demonstrated leadership, and future goals. This year, after four years of strong partnership, the PepsiCo Foundation increased the number of City Colleges recipients from five to ten. These ten City Colleges S.M.I.L.E. Scholars will receive up to $25,000 a year for a maximum of two years (totaling up to $50,000) from the PepsiCo Foundation. Scholars also receive access to mentors, financial wellness training, skill development workshops, and more. This year’s recipients are: Mariam S. Adegbite – University of Illinois at Chicago, Human Resources Management Ameena A. Adeyemo – University of Illinois at Chicago, Computer Science and Programming Edgar Brizuela – University of Illinois at Chicago, Computer Science and Programming Kels Cavin – Illinois Institute of Technology, Computer Science and Programming Vanessa Gama – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Chemical Engineering Julia D. Harper – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Computer and Information Sciences Ruby Jimenez – Loyola University Chicago, Chemistry Jacob V. Morales – City Colleges of Chicago: Olive-Harvey College, Business Administration Brenda Najjuma – University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Computer Engineering Ariba Vohra – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Accounting Since 2020, the PepsiCo Foundation has awarded nearly 2,800 scholarships. More than 90% of recipients are on track to graduate or have already graduated. About the PepsiCo Foundation   The PepsiCo Foundation, the philanthropic arm of PepsiCo, invests in the essential elements of a sustainable food system with a mission to support thriving communities. Working with non-profits and experts around the globe, we’re focused on helping communities obtain access to food security, safe water and economic opportunity. We strive for tangible impact in the places where we live and work—collaborating with industry peers, local and international organizations, and our employees to affect large-scale change on the issues that matter to us and are of global importance. Learn more at www.pepsicofoundation.com.

A group of student leaders from across City Colleges of Chicago is returning to Chicago with a new outlook on the civil rights movement. The 16 students, which included several from the Timuel D. Black Jr. Scholarship & Fellowship (TBSF) program, along with Student Government Association members and student ambassadors, traveled to Alabama for a four-day tour of historic civil rights sites in Birmingham, Montgomery, and Selma. From Friday, May 17 through Monday, May 20, the students visited several museums and landmarks, from the National Memorial for Peace and Justice to the Edmund Pettus Bridge. For many, it was their first time experiencing the history they’ve learned about in textbooks in a tangible way. “I first learned about the 16th Street Baptist Church in fifth grade, and it was amazing to see it [in person], said Angelynn Jimenez, a TBSF program participant. Angelynn recently graduated from Wright College and plans to pursue a bachelor’s degree in political science so she can go into public policy. “You have to learn about the civil rights movement…,” she said. “It’s important to understand what people fought for and how people are still fighting today for their rights.” Beyond what the students already knew and learned during the trip, touring the historic sites inspired many to want to learn even more. “Coming on this trip made me realize that I want to learn more about the civil rights movement. I want to be able to teach others more, too,” said Adedoyin Adekanmbi, another TBSF student who recently graduated. While Adedoyin studied cybersecurity at Olive-Harvey College, she still plans to use what she’s learned about civil rights in her future career—a common goal among several of the students. James Wolf, who will serve as the vice president of Truman College’s Student Government Association during the upcoming school year, plans to pursue a career as a lawyer. He agreed that the trip was eye-opening. “If you really want to make a change in this country—which I certainly do—you need to look into the actual lived experiences of this nation,” he said. “It’s not something you can read about and understand… You have to be in this place where it all happened to feel it. There’s really nothing like walking across the [Edmund Pettus] bridge, feeling the heat on you, and knowing this is something that happened in many Americans’ lifetimes.” View photos from the trip below.

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has announced the 2024 recipients of its Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship, and three of the four awardees from Illinois are City Colleges of Chicago students. Yehuda Goldbloom (right in the photo featured above) and Juan Munoz (left), both engineering students at Wilbur Wright College, as well as a third recipient from Harold Washington College, have been selected for the prestigious transfer award, which supports community college graduates as they pursue their bachelor’s degrees. In total, 60 students received the Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship this year. The three students from City Colleges were selected from a pool of nearly 1,700 applications from over 380 community colleges. The award provides up to $55,000 per year to help students pay for their tuition, living expenses, books, and other fees at a four-year college or university. With the scholarship, Yehuda and Juan both plan to transfer to the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to pursue their bachelor’s degrees. Juan, who also received the Star Scholarship to cover the costs of his associate degree at City Colleges, says receiving the award means “everything” to him and his family. He plans to study mechanical engineering and hopes to work at a robotics company after he graduates. “For me, this scholarship means a worry-free education,” Juan said. “It means I don’t need to stress over financials, especially as an undocumented student. Being able to finance my own education through scholarships is something I’m really grateful for.” Yehuda, who served as the student trustee at City Colleges for the 2023-24 academic year, agrees. He plans to study environmental engineering at UIUC with a focus on One Water, a holistic approach to water management. “The Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship is a huge affirmation of the effort I’ve put in and a ticket to a life I couldn’t have previously imagined for myself,” Yehuda said. “More importantly, it’s a call to action. I have big dreams, and with the support of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, my focus is now on turning them into reality.” Both students participated in the Engineering and Computer Science program at Wright College, a unique cohort model that prepares students to transfer to prestigious engineering schools in Illinois and across the country. “Community college students remain far too underrepresented at our nation’s top institutions, despite clear research demonstrating their success once they arrive. Our scholarship is one way we aim to ensure that high-achieving students have the opportunity to complete their degree where they want, regardless of their financial background,” said Seppy Basili, executive director of the Cooke Foundation. To learn more about this year’s cohort of Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholars, click here.

The City Colleges of Chicago Foundation (CCCF) is celebrating and recognizing the outstanding achievements of graduates from City Colleges of Chicago. Among them, four valedictorians and salutatorians were supported by a City Colleges of Chicago Foundation (CCCF) scholarship. Their dedication and hard work propelled them to graduate at the top of their class. The City Colleges of Chicago Foundation provides scholarships to support students pursuing a certificate or degree at City Colleges of Chicago. With a CCCF scholarship, students who might struggle with tuition can focus on their classes and continue to work toward their academic goals. “The scholarship provided me with a lifeline. It relieved the financial burden, allowing me to breathe a little easier and focus more on my studies without the constant weight of debt looming overhead. It was a pivotal moment where I regained a sense of direction and hope for the future,” said Adam Moine, Salutatorian Class of 2024, Wright College. As we continue to celebrate these exceptional students, we also celebrate our donors and supporters who’s generosity has made CCCF scholarships possible. Together we are empowering City College students and paving the way for every student to succeed regardless of their financial barriers. To learn more or donate, visit www.ccc.edu/foundation.