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OPA News Release: [09/10/2004]
Contact Name: Dirk
Fillpot
Phone Number: (202) 693-4676
U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao Receives Community
Leadership Award From Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund
WASHINGTON - The Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund this week
honored U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao for her support of Historically
Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The award was presented during the
organization's 2004 Community Leadership dinner.
"Education is critical to accessing opportunity," said U.S. Secretary of
Labor Elaine L. Chao. "Eighty percent of all new jobs require some kind of
postsecondary education or training, and college graduates earn twice as much
over their lifetimes as workers who stopped with a high school diploma. We must
all ensure that the promise of equal opportunity remains a reality for every
generation."
The Community Leadership Award is presented to an individual or
organization whose work and support to the mission of public Historically Black
Colleges and Universities has raised the profile and national understanding of
their role in educating America's future leaders. The award is presented
annually on behalf of the 45 member schools.
The Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund was established in 1987 to carry
on former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall's legacy of equal access
to higher education through support of exceptional merit scholars attending
America's HBCUs. Marshall successfully argued the 1954 landmark case Brown v.
Board of Education case before the U.S. Supreme Court, which resulted in the
desegregation of public schools.
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