UNCF (United Negro College Fund) through its Fort Lauderdale/Miami Area Office has established a partnership with Carnival and the Miami HEAT to provide college scholarships for Florida students who have completed the innovative School to Work mentoring programs sponsored by Carnival and the HEAT. The scholarship will provide funds for unmet financial need to fund tuition, room and board, books and fees for the college-bound high school graduates.

The scholarships are the result of a $50,000 donation to the UNCF from the Carnival Foundation and the Miami HEAT Charitable Fund. This July, the UNCF awarded 10 scholarships ranging from $4,300 to 5,000 to qualifying students.

As the nation's largest and most effective minority education organization, UNCF's mission is to increase minority degree attainment by providing scholarships to students and financial support to its 38 member institutions, and serving as a national advocate for the importance of education from preschool through college graduation. UNCF supports more than 60,000 students, including 6,199 Florida residents, at over 900 colleges and universities across the country. UNCF Florida member schools include Florida Memorial University in Miami Gardens, Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach and Edward Waters College in Jacksonville. UNCF institutions and other historically black colleges and universities are highly effective, awarding 25 percent of African American baccalaureate degrees.

UNCF has had a profoundly positive impact on the lives of millions of minority students. The organization has helped more than 400,000 minority students graduate from college. However despite these gains, a persistent gap in education remains between African Americans and other students and between low-income students and their more affluent peers. According to UNCF, the high cost of college and the lack of financial assistance are the major reasons that students don't enter or complete college. Graduates of UNCF institutions have made lasting contributions to our nation by building successful careers in such fields as business, politics, health care and the arts. Prominent UNCF alumni include: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, film director Spike Lee, actor Samuel L. Jackson, Clinton administration Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman, The Color Purple author Alice Walker, and Brown University president Dr. Ruth Simmons, the first African American president of an Ivy League university. The UNCF logo features the UNCF torch of leadership in education and its widely recognized motto, "A mind is a terrible thing to waste."® Learn more at www.UNCF.org.