Investing In Black Students When Many Others Are Not

2026 Sachs ScholarsChermetra Keys/Sachs FoundationWhen Isejah Hamdorf was in fourth grade, he spent part of the summer trying to fly a stunt kite with his grandfather. They never quite succeeded, but the experience stayed with him and sparked his interest in flight. Hamdorf shared with me, “My fascination with ‘what’ flight was came later, and my first concrete memory of being interested in the science of flight and how it worked is driving along the highway at some point in middle school and putting my hand out the window and playing with the way different hand shapes/motions forced my arm up, down or backward.” Hamdorf’s early curiosity has grown into a commitment to aerospace engineering. He is one of 65 Black students selected as 2026 Sachs Foundation Scholars. Together, the students will receive more than $2.6 million in financial support. Founded in Colorado in 1931, the Sachs Foundation has supported Black students for 95 years. Its work is especially significant now, as race-conscious scholarships and diversity initiatives face numerous legal and political attacks. The Foundation’s history offers an important reminder that these challenges are not entirely new. Its first scholars, Dolphus and Effie Stroud, attended Colorado College in the 1930s, when Black students were often treated with open hostility. Fellow graduates refused to walk across the stage with Effie. Ben Ralston, President of the Sachs FoundationAnslee WolfeBen Ralston, CEO of the Sachs Foundation, connects that history directly to the present. He stated, “We were founded because of political pressure. Not despite it. The same answer we had when the KKK held power in Colorado. The same answer during the Jim Crow South. The same answer through the Civil Rights Movement. That is the same answer we have now. We are going to be here. We are going to do this work. And we are going to celebrate it.”Pamela Roberts-Mora, chief operations officer of the Sachs Foundation, sees both continuity and change in what students face. She noted, “Scholars are actively seeking college campuses that are not only welcoming but diverse. One of our largest scholar cohorts is at Howard University; the history, the legacy, the excellence of that famed HBCU pulls students in.”MORE FOR YOUWhat remains familiar, Roberts-Mora said, is the broader meaning of college for Black families. More specifically, she noted, “We know what higher education does for not just the individual but their entire ecosystem, an entire generation.”Mozan Ahmed – 2026 Sachs Foundation ScholarSachs FoundationThe new class of Sachs Scholars includes students pursuing engineering, medicine, public policy, and other fields. Mozan Ahmed hopes to build a career in international law and refugee policy. Her interests are deeply connected to her family’s experiences in Sudan. She shared with me, “My family’s experiences cause me to ask more personal questions regarding global conflicts. I find myself wondering how displacement changes neighborhoods over time. I ask how war and conflict psychologically affect children or how they drastically impact mental health. These are things I see firsthand but that I don’t often see in the media.”Ahmed began exploring international policy during her junior year of high school, when she started a refugee club and took a global politics class. Her ambitions are both personal and far-reaching. She shared, “Ten years from now, I hope I have successfully helped rebuild Sudan. I want to be able to return and help my extended family return there as well. I hope by that time I am a spokesperson in securing lasting peace in the region.”Students such as Ahmed and Hamdorf arrive at college with talents and ambition, but financial support alone cannot ensure that they will thrive. Since 2023, the Foundation’s emergency assistance has helped scholars with medical bills, travel home, housing deposits, and food storage. The Foundation also provides virtual mental health counseling for students through a partnership with BetterHelp.The need for broader support is vital. In a 2023-2024 survey involving more than 74,000 students at 91 institutions, the Hope Center for Student Basic Needs found that 59% of respondents experienced food or housing insecurity. Nearly three-quarters of the Black and Indigenous students surveyed faced at least one of these challenges. The survey’s findings demonstrate how expenses beyond tuition can interfere with students’ ability to remain in college.Private foundations can provide vital support for students, but Roberts-Mora cautions against expecting philanthropy to repair every inequity embedded in American education. She stressed, “Foundations, at their core, strive to mend a societal problem, but they cannot be expected to fix it in totality. College tuition has not gotten less expensive; therefore, our work has to be more robust. In order to enact real change, systems have to change. Private philanthropic organizations are but one aspect of the change that is needed.”The limits of philanthropy do not diminish the importance of what foundations can do. For students such as Hamdorf and Ahmed, a scholarship provides more than help with tuition. It gives them the support and freedom to pursue their ambitions. Just as importantly, it tells them that their talents, ideas, and futures are worth investing in.