The African American Leadership Council (AALC) and Hallie Q. Brown Community Center (HQB) are proud to present the “Brother Kwame McDonald & Sister Mary K. Murray Boyd AALC Youth Education Scholarships”, established by AALC Youth & Education Committee, and supported by the AALC, HQB and donations from the community.
The $1000 scholarships are to honor the achievements of two (one male and one female) outstanding students currently enrolled in an accredited two-year or four year college or university to be used for books or other incidental expenses related to their education.
The scholarships are named in recognition of Brother Kwame McDonald and Sister Mary K. Murray Boyd for the passionate and dedicated work in Education for African American students in Minnesota.
Eligibility Requirements:
- Applicant must be a Saint Paul resident
- Applicant must have a 2.5 grade point average or higher
- Applicant must be a returning student attending an accredited two-year or four-year College/University in the fall of 2022
Application must include:
- Scholarship application form
- School transcript from 2021/ 2022
- An essay stating your personal, academic and career goal, please indicate how achievement of
your goals will impact the African American Community (1000 word maximum) - Two letters of reference
Apply on line here: 2022-23 AALC Youth & Education Scholarship: Brother Kwame McDonald & Sister Mary K. Murray-Boyd
Please contact: AALCSaintpaul@gmail.com with any questions.
Sister Mary K. Murray Boyd
Mary K. Murray Boyd is President and CEO of MKB & Associates, Inc., an education and human services consulting business. Ms. Boyd has extensive experience in management, leadership, communications and coalition building, serving in a variety of roles professionally and in the Saint Paul community.
She held several positions in the Saint Paul Public Schools beginning as a teacher’s aide and retiring in 2001 as an Area Superintendent. Since retiring from Saint Paul Public schools, Boyd has served in three interim positions, Manager of Ramsey County Child Protection, Director of Ramsey County Community Human Services Department’s Family and Children’s Services Division and Dean of the Graduate School of Education at Hamline University. She has served as an adjunct faculty member at the University of St. Thomas and at the University of Minnesota.
Sister Mary K. has been a staunch advocate for students and positive education reform to support youth in our community. Her tireless efforts have made an indelible imprint on educational landscape of Minnesota, and she is one of the most respected voices in the field. She is also one of the most well know elders in the community and attributes the relationship to her community tantamount to her formal educational training. Reflecting on her own childhood in the Rondo neighborhood of Saint Paul, Sister Mary K. maintains that while her formal education was helpful, her community taught her the greatest lessons and “shaped who I am.” She believes that the link between community, family, and a formal education was essential to her success.
Brother Kwame McDonald
Brother Kwame McDonald was a long-time Minnesota civil rights activist, who organized community athletic opportunities for young people and was a pioneer in covering women’s sports for local minority newspapers, passing away in 2011.
In 1961, he came to Minnesota to run the state’s Commission Against Discrimination, working with Gov. Elmer L. Andersen and Attorney General Walter Mondale. Among his efforts was integrating the Minnesota Twins spring training facility in Florida.
In the years that followed, he held jobs at colleges in North Carolina, New York and Washington, D.C. In 1977, Minnesota civil rights activist Katie McWatt persuaded him to move back to St. Paul.
Back in Minnesota, he undertook a number of roles. Among them: work on the Summit-University Crime Prevention Council; host of a cable TV show; service on Gov. Arne Carlson’s Council on Youth; director of St. Paul’s Inner City Youth League, and teaching at Minneapolis and St. Paul schools. He was a fixture at high school and college events and wrote about sports for Insight News, the Minneapolis Spokesman-Recorder and the Twin Cities Courier, including pioneering pieces on women’s sports; McDonald was also a community columnist for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. His final job, from 2008 to 2011, was mentoring students at St. Paul’s Johnson High School, where his son is a teacher
In his farewell message to friends, McDonald directed his final words to young people.
“Basic thing that I think young people need is self-love and self-confidence,” McDonald said. “If you love yourself you will never let you down. Be who you are and it will all come together.”
