Friend,

This holiday season, we’d like to introduce you to Shermaine Scipio, a recent graduate of Dillard University in New Orleans, LA, a UNCF-member HBCU. She first went to community college in 2007, but paused to focus on being a single mom. So when her daughter entered college, she decided to pursue a degree in criminal justice with a focus on social justice reform, starting at Dillard in 2022.

Before graduating summa cum laude and debt-free, Shermaine was inducted into the criminal justice honors society and interned with a local nonprofit helping people transition back into society after prison. She even became a UNCF ambassador, discussing her experiences and scholarships in webinars with high school students. 

Now, Shermaine’s working at the New Orleans Family Justice Center while pursuing her graduate degree at Southern University at New Orleans (SUNO)—another HBCU. And she credits all these achievements to the support provided by the Gayle and Tom Benson Endowed UNCF Scholarship Fund award, funded in part by generous donors like you. 

And your gift this holiday season will make a tangible difference for exceptional college students as they work toward their degrees:

$35 helps a student with fees.
$50 helps a student with textbooks.
$100 helps a student with a laptop or tablet.
$200 helps a student with a food plan.
$500 helps a student with room and board.
$1,000 helps a student with tuition.

In 2026, cuts to federal financial aid will jeopardize the ability of many of our students to complete their degrees or even go to college. To ensure talented and deserving students can keep their eyes on the prize, we need to be ready to fill larger-than-ever funding gaps that will begin in just a few months.

You have the power to help students like Shermaine enter the spring semester with the resources to graduate college and go on to have fulfilling careers, no matter the challenges 2026 may bring. So please, make a tax-deductible gift to UNCF before the end of the year.

Thank you, and happy holidays to you and yours,

UNCF

P.S.: If you have already made a gift to UNCF this season, please accept our sincere gratitude and appreciation. Happy Holidays!