The following is excerpted from the Church Newsroom. To read the full report, CLICK HERE.
Photo: President Russell M. Nelson shakes hands with Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, in the Church Administration Building in Salt Lake City, May 17, 2018. Photo credit: 2018 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.
In a news conference one year ago, leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints joined representatives from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the United Negro College Fund to announce three educational and humanitarian initiatives to benefit the Black community.
In honor of the United States federal holiday Juneteenth (which marks the end of slavery), an update on each initiative is provided below.

Scholarships
In June 2021, Church President Russell M. Nelson pledged US$1 million per year over three years to fund scholarships for Black students. Each scholarship is a $5,000 award for college sophomores that is renewable for three years (a total of $15,000 per student).
Thirty-seven of the first year’s 58 awardees attended historically black colleges and universities. Other students chose a variety of public and private schools.
Applications are now open until July 12, 2022, for the second year of scholarships for incoming sophomores.
The Rev. Dr. Amos C. Brown Fellowship to Ghana
President Nelson also pledged $250,000 for the Rev. Dr. Amos C. Brown Student Fellowship to Ghana. The fellowship, named after the renowned civil rights leader and senior pastor of Third Baptist Church of San Francisco, goes from July 30 to August 11, 2022.
Forty-five students (15 Latter-day Saints, 15 chosen by the NAACP, and 17 from Dr. Brown’s congregation in San Francisco) will travel to Ghana to learn about the origins of the transatlantic slave trade and become ambassadors of racial harmony. These students come colleges and universities throughout the United States.
U.S. Humanitarian Efforts
Finally, President Nelson promised $2 million per year for three years to fund joint humanitarian projects in the United States. In 2022, these will be carried out in Houston, Memphis, Minneapolis, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. Details are being planned with local NAACP leaders in each city to bless God’s children in the most meaningful ways.
“These efforts represent an ongoing desire of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to teach and live the two great commandments — to love God and neighbor,” President Nelson said last June.
To read the full report, CLICK HERE.