2025

Thurgood Marshall College Fund raised nearly $5 million at Leadership Institute and Anniversary Gala 

The Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) recently raised $4.7 million during the 25th-annual Leadership Institute and 38th Anniversary Gala. The Anniversary Gala is TMCF’s largest fundraising event and brings together corporate executives, government officials and philanthropists to honor the organization’s impact in supporting HBCUs while advancing access, opportunity and economic mobility for their students.   “As […]

Leadership Institute concludes with a call to rise to leadership

The Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) Leadership Institute concluded with a call to action: rise into leadership and be the transformation.  The final day began with an interview power hour and led to a morning plenary, sponsored by Ally Financial, about understanding the total value of the offers scholars received from corporate partners.  Following the […]

Scholars focus on career readiness on day three of Leadership Institute

Day three of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) Leadership Institute focused on career readiness for the attending scholars, starting with a morning power hour for interviews, a huddle for career conversations with talent coaches and the continuation of the recruitment fair. Groups not attending the recruitment fair on day three attended speed branding sessions.  […]

GED to engineering degree: the rise of a first-generation Thurgood Marshall College Fund scholar

One Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) scholar attending the 25th-annual Leadership Institute took an unconventional path to higher education and career success.  Marcus McClean, a senior mechatronics engineering major at Morgan State University (Morgan), is a first-generation college student from Atlanta. As a trailblazer for his family, he made his own path to a degree.  […]

From Flint water crisis to fiscal reprieve: a Thurgood Marshall College Fund scholar’s path to success

As one Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) scholar attending Leadership Institute put it, growing up in Flint, Michigan meant that bottled water was often stacked higher than opportunity. Brandon J. Poplar, a senior law studies major at Delaware State University, was born in Pontiac, Michigan and raised in Flint during the water crisis. “It shaped […]

Thurgood Marshall College Fund scholar combines creativity, love of psychology and analytics to give others a voice 

For one Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) scholar attending the 2025 Leadership Institute, the road to her aspirations was anything but a straight path.  Kimi-Lee Knight, a senior applied mathematics major at the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI), was previously more recognized for her abilities in music and writing than math. That didn’t stop […]