Investing in the future is one of the key components of maintained success. 

Each year, during the annual UNCF Mayor’s Masked Ball event, that is the message often given. Founded in 1944, the UNCF has raised more than $5 billion to send more than 500,000 students to 37 private HBCUs and other colleges and universities, through scholarships, financial support and community engagement. 

During the eighth annual event on March 7, the Philadelphia Foundation was among the organizations honored for its philanthropic work towards that shared mission.

Having served the Greater Philadelphia region for the past 100 years, the Philadelphia Foundation is one of the oldest and largest community foundations in the U.S. Through charity, funding, grants and scholarships, the Philadelphia Foundation has helped foster the economic, civic and social vitality of the region. 

One of the keys to that work was on display during the event. 

“Education has always played a very big part of our work,” Pedro Ramos, President & CEO of the Philadelphia Foundation told AL DÍA.

Over the years, the Philadelphia Foundation has provided support with over $6 million towards scholarships and nonprofit organizations that are supporting children and education. 

Ramos praised the “special time” the city is currently experiencing under Mayor Kenney’s leadership in not only saying education is a priority, but “actually committing historic levels of local support for public education in the city of Philadelphia.”

“It’s great… to celebrate the future of Philadelphia, which is already a diverse future and a diverse present, and what all of us can do individually and as an organization is to invest in that future by investing in education and children and youth,” Ramos added.

The UNCF and the Philadelphia Foundation found that one of the biggest issues that young people face is the affordability of education. 

This is what makes the work that both organizations and various others across the nation are doing - providing scholarships and financial support - so important. It’s to effectively help build the diverse future leaders of the country by advocating for higher education opportunities for students of color. 

“Our role is to be an active participant in policy discussions [and] in the civic arena in terms of philanthropy focused on students,” said Ramos. 

Through these efforts, students are afforded opportunities that otherwise would have been much more difficult to obtain.

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