25th Anniversary

Celebrating 25 Years of Ron Brown Scholar Impact

Established in 1996 to honor the late Secretary of Commerce Ronald H. Brown’s legacy of service, the Ron Brown Scholar Program (RBSP) aims to advance higher education and improve the lives of service-minded and intellectually gifted African Americans, to accelerate their progress into impactful leadership roles and opportunities. 

Over the last 25 years, the Ron Brown Scholar Program has provided $40,000 scholarships to 584 academically motivated African American students from low-income backgrounds, who have a 99% graduation rate from a range of 200 colleges and universities

The Program currently supports more than 2,000 students annually through its three initiatives: the Signature Scholarship, the Guided Pathway Support Program (GPS) and the Ron Brown – Ruth and Norman Rales Leaders Network.

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The Ron Brown Scholar Program helps poor kids become stars

The program is named for Ron Brown, who became the nation’s first Black secretary of commerce during the Clinton administration in 1993. Three years later, Brown was killed in a plane crash …

Testimonials