Dr. Seanelle Hawkins, President and CEO of the Urban League of Rochester, shared the following letter to our 2022 Black Scholars honorees and their families.

On behalf of the Urban League of Rochester’s staff and Board of Directors, I am delighted to first add our enthusiastic CONGRATULATIONS to you on your outstanding accomplishments! Your commitment to excellence and hard work, especially in such a challenging and uncertain time, is inspiring to your community and to the younger students behind you who may one day wish to be Black Scholars themselves, thanks to your example.

For the first time ever, I am pleased to announce that, in addition to being honored live in our Salute to Black Scholars Ceremony on June 21, each and every one of you will receive your commemorative Black Scholars plaque free of charge, thanks to the support of generous community donors. It is our hope that this keepsake will stand as a lasting reminder of your tireless efforts and of your community’s belief in you. Plaques may be requested from our website will be available for pickup from the main offices of the Urban League soon.

Just as our community, country, and world have been in a state of crisis and flux due to the twin pandemics of COVID-19 and systemic racism, so too has there been a great deal of uncertainty and change at the Urban League of Rochester. Like other workplaces, we have experienced a great deal of turnover and staffing changes in this time, including the entire team that handles our Black Scholars program.

Unfortunately, this unpredictable environment has resulted in your experience of our Black Scholars programming, honors, and scholarship opportunities being negatively impacted. On behalf of the Urban League of Rochester, I would like to offer our sincere apologies and also a clear vision of our next steps to ensure this does not happen again.

First, we are partnering with our community funders offering scholarships to ensure that all of their applications and criteria are uploaded to our website, urbanleagueroc.org, prior to the end of the fall 2022 semester. We will also be encouraging all of them to consider using the Urban League’s Common Scholarship Application to facilitate students’ application process.

Second, it has come to our attention that some students did not know they were eligible for Black Scholars due to not receiving adequate information about the program at their schools. As such, we are centralizing all Black Scholars forms and documents, including the initial application to join the Black Scholars, within a new hub on our website rather than having students work through their school counselors. School counselors have had an even more herculean task than usual in these unprecedented times, and we recognize that adding outreach about our community-based programs to their workload may be an unreasonable expectation. We believe this change will streamline and simplify the process, allowing us to better assist future students in joining your ranks.

Last, we have come to learn that some of our forms and mailings included the direct email address of Black Scholars staffers who no longer work at the Urban League, resulting in some students and families not knowing whom to contact with their questions. We have established a shared email address, blackscholars@ulr.org, that all of our Youth and Education team will have access to, ensuring that any potential staff turnover in the future won’t impact your ability to get ahold of our staff with your Black Scholars questions.

Once again, we are so grateful to you for your shining examples of Black excellence. You have incredibly bright futures, and we are honored that we have the opportunity to honor you!

With sincere congratulations,
Dr. Seanelle Hawkins
President & CEO
Urban League of Rochester