Although this campaign has ended, you can still make a gift to The Ebony Bobcat Network Urban Scholarship Endowment by using the Give to Ohio University donation page. Thank you, and Go Bobcats!
Thank you for the continued support of the Ebony Bobcat Network (EBN) Urban Scholarship Endowment. Building from this strong foundation of more than 2,000 donors, and last year's successes, the EBN has kicked off its Fall 2022 effort, again titled "1804 Campaign of Champions.” This honors Ohio University's founding year and recognizes donors as champions.
Through The OHIO Match, launched in July 2013, Ohio University has pledged up to $25 million to strengthen its endowed scholarship program by providing $0.50 for every dollar committed to eligible scholarship endowments, which includes The EBN Urban Scholarship Endowment. As of June 15, 2020, donors had committed nearly $19.86 million in eligible gifts to The OHIO Match, and more than 270 new endowed scholarship accounts have been created, providing more students a pathway to an Ohio University education while establishing a legacy of long-term student support. The OHIO Match will continue to match gifts and pledge payments to eligible endowed scholarship accounts through June 30, 2024.
This is why now is a great time to support the EBN Urban Scholarship Endowment! As an example, a donor can pledge $5,000 to the scholarship and as long as that gift is honored by June 30, 2024, it will be OHIO Match-eligible for $2,500. This makes the total gift [impact] to OHIO $7,500.
EBN Endowment Chair Stella Antwine said, "Your giving makes you a champion for the cause. Not quite like the Olympic winners, but symbolic of their dedication. The endowment will ensure that future generations of Ebony Bobcats receive the needed financial support to fulfill their education and post-graduate goals.”
The inaugural Ebony Bobcat Network Urban Scholar, Te’Aylis Jackson, BBA '24, from Englewood, Ohio, was announced in August 2020. “I was so worried about going to college and not being able to afford it. Then this scholarship came, and I get to do what I want. I get to make a difference by being the first person awarded the scholarship,” Jackson said. She later shared, "This was make or break for me. I probably would not have decided to come to OU had it not been for this scholarship. It was life-changing to get the call and hear them say you got the scholarship – it covered my whole tuition. This is going to change everything for me."
"The EBN Urban Scholarship Endowment is one of the pivotal endowments to the Division of Diversity and Inclusion, and we remain proud of its first scholarship recipient Te’Aylis Jackson. We look forward to the endowment‘s continued growth and its second scholarship recipient,” said Dr. Salome Nnoromele, Interim Vice President of OHIO’s Division of Diversity and Inclusion.
In May 2020, the EBN Urban Scholarship Endowment received its second endowment, a planned gift, the EBN-Dr. Michele Curtis Penick,1966 Scholarship Endowment benefiting students majoring in early childhood education in the Gladys W. and David H. Patton College of Education.
The EBN is working hard to double the amount it originally raised to endow the first scholarship — that makes the next milestone $600,000. The group of more than 100 active members feels if they did it once, with the help of many, they can do it again!
The EBN is an organization formed in the spring of 2010 by Black alumni after meeting with [then] President McDavis during the Black Alumni Reunion. He called upon the alumni to support OHIO’s Urban Scholars Program. Since then, EBN has organized and hosted various events to raise funds to endow its scholarship. Since its original formation in Cleveland, it has grown to be a body of six affiliates: Akron/Canton, Chicago, Cincinnati/Dayton, Cleveland, Columbus, and Washington D.C., all organized under a National Chapter.
An EBN donor shared, “OU was the best time of my life. It feels good to know I can help someone experience that feeling too.”
Make a gift on this page to support the EBN Urban Scholarship Endowment. If you prefer to give by check (payable to The Ohio University Foundation, with "EBN Urban Scholarship En" on the memo line), mail your gift to The Ohio University Foundation, PO Box 869, Athens, OH 45701. If you want to explore making a charitable gift to this campaign with a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) from your Individual Retirement Account (IRA), giving via a Donor Advised Fund or stock transfer, don't hesitate to get in touch with Caryn M. Bailey, Director of Development, Major Giving.
Remember: For every dollar donated to the EBN Urban Scholarship Endowment, the University will match it with 50 cents. The OHIO Match will match gifts and pledge payments through June 30, 2024.