MUL ACADEMY STUDENT TO RECIEVE $500 SCHOLARSHIP
Robert G. Powell, a senior at the Minneapolis Urban League Academy High School in south Minneapolis, has been named the local winner of TV One’s “Live the Dream” essay contest, receiving a $500 scholarship from TV One and Comcast. Representatives from Comcast will present Powell with the scholarship award Friday, May 30, during graduation ceremonies, which begin at 6:30 pm at the Minneapolis Urban League, Glover-Sudduth Center, 2100 Plymouth Ave. N., Minneapolis.
TV One’s “Live the Dream” essay contest was implemented as part of the network’s “Our History Month” initiative in February 2008. The announcement was made jointly by TV One and Comcast.TV One joined with Comcast, Cable in the Classroom, and other local cable affiliates around the country to sponsor the national “Live the Dream” essay contest. Building on the theme of TV One’s documentary special MLK: A Dream Deferred, high school students were invited to write an essay commenting on the progress that has been made on Martin Luther King’s Dream – Are we living the Dream today? Essays from participating students were evaluated by an independent panel of judges based on the following criteria: relevance to the MLK: A Dream Deferred special, originality/creativity, clarity of expression and grammar. The top scoring entries were then reviewed by a TV One committee for final selection.
“I can’t believe I won,” said Powell, 18, who titled his essay Does the Dream Still Live On? and questioned if enough progress has been made in 40 years towards improving race relations nationally and globally. “On one hand, we’ve made great strides towards racial equality,” says Powell, “but on the other hand, we’ve been standing still for 40 years. Black communities still experience high rates of crime and violence, and our children still suffer from an inadequate education. Moreover, we’re at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, Israel and Palestine are at war, and nations are at war in Africa. If we looked beyond what makes us different, we’d see that the content our character is the same in every one of us.”
Forty years after the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., MLK: A Dream Deferred evaluates the current state of race relations in America through the words and dreams that the legendary civil rights leader. Noted celebrities, including Academy Award winning actress Halle Berry, Sanaa Lathan, Regina King and Hill Harper, speak excerpts from Dr. King’s most famous speeches throughout the special. “Live the Dream” is the latest in a series of partnerships between Comcast and the Minneapolis Urban League. Last September, The Comcast Foundation provided a $12,000 grant to the organization’s Community Empowerment Program, which offers services to help prepare low-income families, African Americans and other minority groups for the workplace through job readiness training. Most recently, dozens of Comcast employees volunteered at Minneapolis Urban League Academy High School and the After Today Group Home as a part of Comcast Cares Day 2008 on Saturday, May 3.
“We are delighted to join with TV One in presenting Robert Powell with this scholarship award,” said Bill Wright, Comcast Twin Cities Region vice president. “His thoughtful essay makes it clear there are many young people who, like Robert, are concerned about extending Dr. King’s dream to the least fortunate American citizens and to those who suffer injustice throughout the world.” “We thank Comcast’s Twin Cities Region operation for participating in this essay contest,”said TV One Vice President of Affiliate Marketing George Lima. “We were very impressed with the passion of Robert Powell and the other young people who clearly feel that the principles Dr. King stood for are as relevant today as they were 40 years ago.”
About TV One
Launched in January 2004, TV One (www.tvoneonline.com) serves 43.4 million households (Nielsen May 2008 estimate), offering a broad range of lifestyle and entertainment-oriented original programming, classic series, movies, fashion and music designed to entertain, inform and inspire a diverse audience of adult African American viewers. TV One’s investors include Radio One [NASDAQ: ROIA and ROIAK; www.radio-one.com], the largest radio company that primarily targets African American and urban listeners; Comcast Corporation [NASDAQ: CMCSA and CMCSK; www.comcast.com], the leading cable television company in the country; The DirecTV Group; Constellation Ventures; Syndicated Communications; and Opportunity Capital Partners.
About Comcast Corporation
Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) (http://www.comcast.com) is the nation’s leading provider of entertainment, information and communications products and services. With 24.7 million cable customers, 14.1 million high-speed Internet customers, and 5.2 million voice customers, Comcast is principally involved in the development, management and operation of broadband cable systems and in the delivery of programming content. Comcast’s content networks and investments include E! Entertainment Television, Style Network, The Golf Channel, VERSUS, G4, PBS KIDS Sprout, TV One, ten Comcast SportsNet networks and Comcast Interactive Media, which develops and operates Comcast’s
Internet business. Comcast also has a majority ownership in Comcast-Spectacor, whose major holdings include the Philadelphia Flyers NHL hockey team, the Philadelphia 76ers NBA basketball team and two large multipurpose arenas in Philadelphia. Comcast serves more than 557,000 customers in 111 communities throughout the Twin Cities, Greater Minnesota and Western Wisconsin. Comcast, whose local headquarters offices are located in St. Paul, employs more than 2,000 local residents. For more information about Comcast’s products and services in the Twin Cities, please call 651-222-3333, or visit the company’s Web site at www.comcast.com.
About the Minneapolis Urban League
The Minneapolis Urban League is a community-based, not-for-profit organization that provides human services and advocacy that will enable African Americans and other diverse group members residing in the Greater Minneapolis Metropolitan area to cultivate and develop their individual and group potential on a par with all other Minnesotans.
The organization provides a continuum of more than 20 programs and services, which operate from seven facilities throughout Minneapolis, and serves approximately 20,000 people each year so that individuals and families in need can have access to quality employment, housing, health care, education and social services. For more information about the Minneapolis Urban League, visit www.mul.org or call (612) 302-3100. The Minneapolis Urban League is headquartered at the Glover-Sudduth
Center, 2100 Plymouth Avenue North, Minneapolis, MN 55411.
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