Posse Atlanta Marks 5th Anniversary, Honors Blank Family Foundation President
In October, Posse Atlanta celebrated its fifth anniversary at the annual Power of 10 fundraiser held at the Capital City Club at Brookhaven. The event raised over $225,000 and honored The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation President Penelope McPhee for her leadership in supporting the opening and continued success of Posse Atlanta.
“We are truly grateful for the support from The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation,” said Zenith Houston, the director of Posse Atlanta. “Their generous initial grant of $860,000 has helped Posse Atlanta recruit more than 237 Scholars who have received over $29 million in merit scholarships from our partner colleges and universities.”
“We believe so strongly in Posse’s mission,” said Penelope. “It is more than just a cause; Posse is a movement that is changing the face of leadership in this country.”
The Posse Atlanta alumni in attendance drove home that idea. Eni Adedokun, a Boston University Posse 1 alumna with a biomedical engineering degree, shared her journey and the significance of the Posse program for her and the other members of her cohort.
“What Posse did … was take leaders and simply lift them, support them and help them grow, so that we never had to just cope,” said Eni. “We could strive and achieve, time after time.”
Phil Pead, the chair of the Posse Atlanta Advisory Board, rounded out the evening by announcing a personal gift of $50,000—a contribution that will support one Posse for one year. Other guests generously joined in, raising an additional $65,000.
Posse Atlanta would like to thank the corporate sponsors who made this year’s Power of 10 possible: Merrill Lynch, King & Spalding, Ernst & Young, Georgia-Pacific, Goldman Sachs, Alston & Bird, IBM, UBS Financial Services, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Agora Group and Belk, Inc. We are grateful for their sponsorship and commitment to diversity in higher education and the workforce.
