MTM Foundation To Bring 800 Students to HBCU College Fair
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Christina Royster
Big Media Agency
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MTM Foundation To Bring 800 Students to HBCU College Fair;
Organization Touches 1,700 students annually with the help of
Baltimore Children & Youth Fund
(Baltimore, Maryland – Dec 1, 2023)
MTM Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide a multi-layered interactive youth and community development program designed to expose low-income and under-served youth to the essential elements of college readiness and entrepreneurship; will host an HBCU College Fair on the campus of Morgan State University on Saturday, December 2, from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. To be held in the Ballroom of the Student Center, the fair will feature a college tour of the university and students will have the opportunity to enjoy step competitions, a Battle of the Bands program (during which students can also audition for the MSU and Howard University bands), and a financial literacy seminar. High school seniors are encouraged to bring their transcripts as many college recruiters can offer on-the-spot admissions.
MTM Executive Director, James Henderson, is excited to welcome students to the college fair on Saturday as he reflects on how much the program has grown. He has built MTM Foundation from an organization that took 17 Baltimore students on its first HBCU tour in the year 2015 to a thriving organization that impacts 1,700 students each year. The organization now accepts students from across the country and guides them through visits to 13 HBCUs and 7 Ivy League schools across the country.
Mr. Henderson says, “The logistics of doing such a tour are very challenging yet rewarding.” One reward is seeing how the tour gives the students a glimpse of what it is like to be a first-time college student. “We have a large group of kids from diverse backgrounds that don’t know each other, similar to what they will encounter when they go to college, and they’re given the opportunity to build relationships and learn how to navigate in a new setting,” says Mr. Henderson.
Mr. Henderson, who graduated from Morgan State University in the year 2000, says he founded MTM Foundation after taking his son on college visits. His son asked to take a friend, and that friend wanted to take another friend; before he knew it, he had an unofficial college tour with 17 college-bound students. Realizing there was a great need to provide these services in the Baltimore community, he invited his fraternity brothers from the Beta Alpha Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. to join him in his quest. They set out to expose other students and their families to colleges but also to make sure that students had everything they needed to be prepared for college. Currently, the organization offers free SAT prep courses, a financial literacy program called The CEO Club, virtual business training, a college readiness day, scholarship boot camps, FAFSA workshops, and of course the College Fair.
While offering these services and events during the school year, he says he builds strong bonds with parents and their students. “I promise the students that I will attend their college graduation.” He proudly recalls that 78% of the students on the first tour have earned college degrees and some have gone on to earn Master’s degrees. He also sees tremendous leaps forward in students as they master their elevator pitches; skills that MTM teaches its students to prepare them to introduce themselves and make a lasting first impression.
Mr. Henderson believes that his programs have helped increase enrollment at his alma mater. The HBCU has seen record enrollment numbers over the last several years and is now the largest HBCU in Maryland. In fact, the university, in which 9,100 students are enrolled, is projected to achieve that number next year, 3 years ahead of time.
Mr. Henderson is proud to say, “From the beginning, MTM Foundation has done our best to spotlight our HBCUs, especially Morgan State University. We have seen increases in the numbers of students that have participated in all of our programs, and our foundation has played an integral role in ensuring that HBCUs like Morgan State University, get spotlighted.”
Mr. Henderson is appreciative of all who have supported him and MTM Foundation, such as Morgan State University, Montana Ricks (President of the Beta Alpha Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.), Ajah Doswell (CFO of KEYS Empowerment), and especially the Baltimore Children & Youth Fund.
Baltimore Children & Youth Fund President, Alysia Lee, says “I am so impressed with the web of education, communication and forward movement that James Henderson has been able to create through MTM Foundation. His impact on Baltimore City will loom large for many prospective college students for years to come.”
“And when we think about the fact that the MTM Foundation is only one of the 101 grantee organizations to have received 23 million dollars over the last three years, and the 12 grantees who will each receive $250,000 each in Grassroots Funds to be paid over the next five years totaling 3 million dollars, it’s incredible to imagine the collective impact that we can make as we transform the lives of young people in our City.”
To learn more about the BCYF grants available for 2024 go to bcyfund.org.
About MTM Foundation
MTM Foundation is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide a multi-layered interactive youth and community development program designed to expose low-income and under-served youth to the essential elements of college readiness and entrepreneurship. For more information visit mtmcollegetours.org/.
About BCYF
The Baltimore Children & Youth Fund (BCYF) is a public charity stewarding public dollars to build partnerships that support the ecosystem focused on building opportunities for Baltimore youth. The organization amplifies Black and Brown-led youth-centered programs in Baltimore City while providing capacity building, resources, and funding.
BCYF envisions a more just, creative, and abundant Baltimore where all young people live, thrive, and lead. We imagine an ecosystem of sustainable youth programs with full agency, liberated from the harm of structural racism and inequity, and able to thrive in abundance. Since 2020, the Baltimore Children & Youth Fund has awarded $23M dollars to primarily youth-serving organizations thanks to generous donations and the tax dollars of Baltimore City residents.
The effort to create a dedicated fund to support programs for Baltimore’s young people was launched in 2015 by then-City Council President Bernard “Jack” C. Young. The fund was a response to the unrest in Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody, an event that sharply illuminated longstanding inequities in public funding in Black communities. BCYF is guided by one central value, Ubuntu (n.) I am because of who we all are. Ubuntu is the Southern African philosophy that describes the interconnectedness of all people. It emphasizes the idea that an individual’s well-being is intricately tied to the well-being of the community. The philosophy promotes humanity, service, sharing, healing, and reconciliation.
