Second student reports delay in receiving Juneteenth Foundation scholarship money
A second student says he did not receive a scholarship from the Juneteenth Foundation
A second student reports not having received the scholarship money promised by the Juneteenth Foundation after FOX 5 reported in September that a Prince George’s County university senior was still waiting for a $10,000 scholarship that had him was promised during the summer. FOX 5’s Nana-Séntuo Bonsu has the story.
WASHINGTON – Delaware State University student raises alarm bells over organization in DC
In September, FOX 5 brought you the story of a senior student from Prince George’s who was waiting for a $10,000 scholarship from the Juneteenth Foundation and finally received her money several weeks after classes began.
Now another student, Erica Carroll, says she is saddened and disappointed with the run she has had trying to get the money she was promised.
“It’s $20,000. It will literally cover a third of my tuition. That’s a lot of money,” Carroll said.
Over the summer, Carroll and 24 other students were notified that they were the recipients of the Juneteenth Foundation scholarship for students attending historically black colleges.
Carroll is currently in her final year of graduate school in social work.
She says that to receive her $20,000 award, she must attend the Juneteenth Festival in DC held at the Warner Theater.
“I felt really celebrated and honored and it was a fun experience,” Carroll said.
An experience she didn’t realize would be so difficult. After the June event, she spent the summer following up with the foundation about her scholarship.
When the start of the school arrived and she heard nothing from the foundation, her school intervened.
In an email from the DSU budget director, they say:
“We have not been able to contact anyone from the Juneteenth Foundation. However, since the funds have been promised to you, the Foundation will cover the costs so that you are no longer inconvenienced.”
After weeks of email exchanges with the foundation, we had the opportunity to speak to Charles Hurley, a member of the foundation’s board of directors.
READ MORE: Family says Juneteenth Foundation withheld $10,000 scholarship to winner
FOX 5 asked about the lack of communication.
“I wouldn’t say that because a lot of it had to be communicated to schools. Sometimes they [universities] were the ones who lacked communication with us,” Charles Noah Hurley said.
Carroll disagrees. “This is not a situation of miscommunication or human error; this is a pattern.”
Hurley says the Juneteenth Foundation is growing. They are entering their third year and they are still working on logistics, processes and how best to distribute funds to students.
“I think it’s a matter of timing for some of these things and it can be avoided next time around and I’m sure it will be now that we’ve learned that,” Hurley said.
Hurley says most of the 25 scholarship recipients have their money and are working with two other students to get their funds.
Erica has a message for the students.
Juneteenth scholarship money controversy
Janaan-Arie Akinmurele has been promised a $10,000 scholarship over the summer that she has yet to see. FOX 5’s Nana-Sentuo Bonsu takes a look at the Juneteenth Scholarship Fund, an award recipient says she never received.
“My aim is to raise the alarm and awareness of this. I don’t want this to happen in the future. I don’t want another student to fall victim to this. I don’t want this organization to behave. in ways that I find inappropriate,” says Carroll.
FOX 5 contacted Delaware State University to see if they had received the money from the foundation.
Due to student privacy, they cannot share this information with us, but Carroll plans to follow up.