Gates Millennium Scholars Program

Every year, the Gates Millennium Scholars Program selects 1,000 talented minority students to receive a good-through-graduation scholarship to use at any college or university of their choice. The program provides scholars with personal and professional development through our leadership programs along with academic support throughout their college career.

Administered by the United Negro College Fund, the program was initially funded by a $1 billion grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Since 1999, it has funded the education of more than 16,000 students, awarding them more than $614 million dollars to pay for tuition, fees, books and housing.

The program aims to reduce financial barriers for African American and other students of color with high academic and leadership promise who have significant financial need; increase the representation of these target groups in the disciplines of computer science, education, engineering, library science, mathematics, public health and the sciences, where these groups are severely underrepresented; develop a diversified cadre of future leaders for America by facilitating successful completion of bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees; and provide seamless support from undergraduate through doctoral programs, for students selected as Gates Millennium Scholars entering target disciplines.

The deadline for submission is January 15, 2014.

Click here to learn more about the 2014 Gates Millennium Scholars program.

Gates Millennium Scholarship Program

The Gates Millennium Scholarship Program will select 1,000 talented students next year to receive a good-through-graduation scholarship to use at any college or university of their choice.  The deadline for submitting an application is January 11, 2012.

Scholars will also be provided with personal and professional development through their leadership programs, along with academic support throughout their college career.

The program, funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was established to provide outstanding low income minority students with an opportunity to complete an undergraduate college education in any discipline area of interest. To date, the program has given scholarships to more than 15,000 students.

Continuing scholars may request funding for a graduate degree program in one of the following discipline areas: education, engineering, library science, mathematics, public health or science.

Gates slams African Leaders Over Vaccine Coverage

Microsoft founder Bill Gates says some African countries are failing to deliver life-saving vaccines to children, hampering billion-dollar efforts to save millions of lives and stamp out deadly diseases.

Once you have vaccines invented and manufactured at low cost, and rich donors paying for them, "you have to have developing countries act to take the vaccines and get them out to all the kids."

Gates' message: Technology is only as effective as the leaders delivering it.

"It is tragic when the last delivery piece holds it back. You have some countries, northern Nigeria, or Chad or the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) where less than half the kids right now are getting the vaccines," he said, referring to polio immunization in those countries.

Read the full AFP article.

Do Warren Buffett and Bill Gates Have Anything to Say That Benefits the Black Community?

As we embark on a new year and decade ... it might be worthwhile to look back on a recent interview conducted with Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, two of the most wealthy people in American history. Neither of them came from money ... rather they made it during their own lifetime. Is it far-fetched to think that one of us villagers might have similiar destiny in store over the coming weeks, months and years?

Soulclap to Janice Coleman for pointing me to this video. Ravi Nagarajan wrote a review piece on his blog about this discussion between Buffett and Gates.




CNBC has the full transcript published on its website.

What are your thoughts on the insights provided to us by Warren Buffett or Bill Gates? Do you see anything in what they said that should resonate for us in the African American community as we look towards the future?