Public Employee Press

Black History Month
Family Day

More than 600 DC 37 members and their families filled the union hall Saturday Feb. 10 for the Black History Committee’sannual Family Day.

“Today you can be an astronaut or a zookeeper, but there weren’t always so many opportunities,” Associate Director Oliver Gray told the large crowd. “As young people you need to think about what you want to do with your lives and start preparing for your future now.”

The committee presented a session full of information on education andopportunities through programs run by the DC 37 Education Fund, including SAT prep, music, foreign languages and karate classes; A Better Chance, which prepares hundreds of minority children for education at day, prep and boarding schools nationwide (www.abetterchance.org), and the United Negro College Fund and the Gates Millennium Scholars program, which provide college scholarships.

For parents, there was information on daycare, and for the children, there was face painting, bead work and community arts programs such as the Charles Moore Youth Dance Ensemble in Downtown Brooklyn and Staten Island’s PinkDiamond and Onyx Step drill teams.

The United Negro Scholarship Fund brought representatives from historically black colleges to hand out information and applications. Teens and parents also learned about financial aid and the criteria and application process for the $1 billion Gates Minority Scholars program administered by UNCF. GMS and the UNCF help students of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. To learn more about UNCF visit their Websites, www.uncf.org and www.gmsp.org.

“For the youth who are here today, all of this information will have a profound effect, like ripples on a pond,” said Local 375’s Michelle Keller. “The lives of many will be better because of this event.”

— Diane S. Williams