Honorary Chairs and Award Recipients<\/h2>\n
Honorary Chairs for the gala, Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton and Toni Preckwinkle, Cook County Board President, sent video messages. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson was present and delivered welcome remarks to the more than 500 guests.
\nUNCF Chicago recognized two extraordinary supporters, presenting Ariel Investments with the \u201cA Mind Is\u2026\u201d Corporate Award. Nadia Rawlinson, Co-owner and Operating Chair of The Chicago Sky, received the \u201cA Mind Is\u2026\u201d Trailblazer Award. Recipients both received praises and thank yous for their tireless dedication, working to ensure that students not only enter but graduate college.<\/p>\n
Impact and Mission<\/h2>\n
\u201cLooking at the meaning behind our 81st year, these honorees uphold the mission of UNCF of investing in Better Futures through our students,\u201d said Rollins. \u201cIt is appropriate so that we proudly recognize them. They help make a difference in the lives of deserving students. We are so grateful for their level of support and to have them as best allies.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Photo Credit: Powell Creative Services<\/span><\/p>\n Additionally, auctioneer Gee Scott led a paddle raise and live auction. Auction items included a Timeless Tuscany Escape, a seven-night stay in the heart of Italy; L\u2019Escape Paris, a five-night stay for five guests in Paris\u2019s Le Marais neighborhood; Los Arcos Sights, a cliffside villa for eight guests, four nights, overlooking the sea; a Private Island Retreat, five-night stay, private island on the shore of Lake Nicaragua; Bella Espana, a romantic getaway for two in Extremadura, Spain; and Tulum Allure Getaway, an exclusive designer villa in the Aldea Zama community, four nights, six guests. Auction monies will help provide college scholarships for deserving students of all ethnicities. Gala Chair Sherina Edwards said, \u201cAs an alum of two Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Howard University and Spelman College, I feel honored to serve as the Gala Chair. It is such a worthy calling. In these times of the new administration\u2019s cuts to funding in education, schools and universities, I saw the necessity \u2026for we must work harder, dig deeper in our pockets to help the next generation of young people to get to college, to have resources while in college, and to graduate.\u201d<\/p>\n Photo Credit: Powell Creative Services<\/span><\/p>\n Entertainment for the evening was the R&B group After 7. The group was formed in 1987 by the older brothers of the songwriter and singer Babyface and originally consisted of Melvin and Kevon Edmonds, along with a third member, Keith Mitchell. Present group members are Kevon Edmonds, Wil Robinson and Jeremy Keith. They performed many of their platinum-selling hits, such as \u201cHeat of the Moment,\u201d \u201cReady or Not\u201d and \u201cCant Stop\u201d. Introduction to the Gala The United Negro College Fund\u2019s 25th annual \u201cA Mind Is\u2026\u201d Gala in Chicago raised over $1 million to support scholarships for students. The event honored Ariel Investments and Nadia Rawlinson and featured performances by After 7 (Photo Credit: Powell Creative Services). The Event The United Negro College Fund\u2019s 25th Annual \u201cA […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-22962","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/chicagodefender.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/06\/UNCF-A-Mind-Is-2025-Photo-Powell-Creative-Services.jpg?w=1200&resize=1200,675&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22962"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22962"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22964,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22962\/revisions\/22964"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Auction and Entertainment<\/h2>\n
\nMoving testimonials were given by Cori\u2019 Anne White, Spelman College and Morehouse College graduate Jamal D. Chambers. From 2022 to 2023, UNCF awarded 541 scholarships to students in Illinois.<\/p>\nPersonal Perspectives<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nConclusion<\/h2>\n
\n<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-618968" src="https:\/\/chicagodefender.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/06\/UNCF-A-Mind-Is-2025-Photo-Powell-Creative-Services-6.jpg<\/a>" alt="" width="750" height="527" srcset="https:\/\/chicagodefender.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/06\/UNCF-A-Mind-Is-2025-Photo-Powell-Creative-Services-6.jpg<\/a> 750w, https:\/\/chicagodefender.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/06\/UNCF-A-M<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"