Brown v. Board scholarship committee announces 29 awards, at least $440,000; $500,000 federal grant pending

The Brown v. Board of Education Scholarship Committee, chaired by State Senator Angela Williams Graves, announced on May 8 in Richmond that it had approved scholarships for 29 new applicants totaling at least $440,000 and reviewed a fiscal update showing roughly $2.7 million remaining in the scholarship fund pending a possible $500,000 federal allocation.

Senator Angela Williams Graves, chair of the committee, said the group met in closed session to review applications and then returned to open session to report outcomes. “We have done some good work here in closed session,” Senator Williams Graves said after the committee reconvened.

Staff reported that the 2024–25 academic year was the first semester in which the committee implemented an extension of eligibility to descendants of the original plaintiffs. Under the committee’s report, 40 students were approved under the 2024 criteria: students eligible under the new (descendant) criteria were eligible for awards of up to $10,000; students eligible under the original criteria whose education was directly affected by school closings had full tuition and books paid. Of the 40 approved for 2024–25, 32 confirmed acceptance and enrolled at eligible institutions. A total of $230,146.25 was awarded for that school year, an average of $7,192 per enrolled student.

Chev fiscal staff (Scott Kemp) provided a fund history and status report included in the committee packet. The report states the program has served a total of 153 students since the earliest listed program year (recorded in the packet as the 2005–06 program year) with total scholarship spending of just over $1.5 million. The packet shows $4,050,000 was added to the fund; after subtracting amounts already paid to students, the committee was left with just over $2.7 million absent the pending federal funds. Committee staff and Chev said a separate $500,000 in federal funds is pending but had not yet been received.

Committee members discussed outreach and the recent application cycle. The 2025–26 application cycle opened Jan. 15 and closed April 11. The committee ran digital ads in February using a state press service targeted at college-age applicants and weekly newspaper ads in February aimed at reaching the generation of directly affected applicants. The committee spent $7,000 on advertising; staff said that expense came from the committee’s operating funds and not the scholarship fund. The committee received 53 total applications for the 2025–26 cycle.

The committee voted by voice to go into closed session to review applications; the motion was moved and seconded and the chair called the voice vote with no opposed votes recorded, after which the committee held its deliberations in closed session. When the committee returned to open session it announced that 29 new applicants would receive scholarships, with the aggregate amount awarded for those selections described by the chair as “at least $440,000.” The chair reminded members that directly affected applicants receive full tuition and books and therefore have no set per-student cap under that eligibility category.

Members discussed scheduling a summer meeting to continue work on eligibility parameters and possible legislative items for the 2026 General Assembly. The committee plans to circulate a Doodle poll to select July or August meeting dates and will include a date for a field trip; Delegate Monday King (recorded in the meeting as a committee member) suggested holding a meeting in Farmville to visit the Robert Russel Mote Museum and related sites. Committee members also noted a local media feature by Autumn Childress that highlighted scholarship recipient Martha Bailey Brown.

The committee adjourned after scheduling follow-up steps and outreach work. No new statutes or ordinances were cited during the public portions of the meeting; staff materials and the fiscal report were referenced as the basis for the financial figures presented.