Charles Hamilton Houston Foundation, Inc.

06/21/2025

:: We are excited to announce the 2025 Juneteenth Boys of Color Essay Contest - Honoring Our Past, Embracing Our Future. This annual contest celebrates Juneteenth by uplifting the voices, stories, and visions of boys of color as they reflect on racial justice, unity, and their role in shaping a more equitable future.

The essay and entry form must be submitted by 11:59pm Eastern Time on Friday, July 4, 2025.

Eligibility
The Essay Contest is open to boys of color in grades 6 through 12 in public, private or homeschooled who resided in Durham, Wake or Orange County.

Essay Prompts (choose one):
1. Building Bridges: Juneteenth serves as a reminder of the ongoing fight against racial injustice. How can we promote unity and understanding between different racial and ethnic communities. Describe your ideas, initiatives or actions to work toward a more inclusive and equitable society, using Juneteenth as a catalyst for change?

2. Your Vision for the Future: Imagine a future where racial equality is fully realized. How can we collectively work toward this vision? Describe your ideas, initiatives, or actions that can contribute to creating a society that values diversity, equity, and justice, inspired by the spirit of Juneteenth.

Essay Requirements:
Essay submissions must be original work by boys of color - no plagiarism or AI-generated content will be accepted.
Students in grades 9-12 must submit essays between 500-750 words.
Students in grades 6-8 must submit essays between 250-500 words.

Grade level is based on 2025-2026 academic year.
The essay must be typed, double-spaced, in 12-point font. Any sources should be cited in a bibliography or works cited page, which will not count toward the word limit.
The essay and entry form must be submitted via http://www.bit.ly/2025EssayContest by 11:59pm Eastern Time on Friday, July 4, 2025.

Grades 6-8
🏅 1st Place - $100
🥈 2nd Place - $50
🥉 3rd Place - $25

Grades 9-12
🏅 1st Place - $300
🥈 2nd Place - $200
🥉 3rd Place - $100

Winning essays will be celebrated at our Celebration of Excellence Awards Ceremony and may be featured in Foundation publications and community programming.
For questions, please contact the Foundation at 919-937-2115 or [email protected].

09/03/2024

:: We are excited to host the Program Year 2024-25 Information Session for the Young Men of Excellence Program, which will be held on Thursday, September 5, 2024, at 6:00 PM via Zoom.

To register, www.bit.ly/2024-YMOE-INFO-SESSION.

The Young Men of Excellence Program, offered by the Charles Hamilton Houston Foundation, Inc., empowers boys of color in grades 6 through 12 to explore their interests, set career goals, and develop the skills and confidence they need to succeed in the classroom and workforce. Through mentorship and high-quality programming, we bridge the gap between education and career readiness, preparing our scholars for academic excellence and leadership in their communities and career.

Join us to learn more about how our program fosters resilience, community engagement, and personal growth among our scholars, equipping them with the tools needed to navigate their future paths.

We are excited about our continued work to empower the next generation and shape a future filled with success and opportunity!

If a parent is interested in enrolling their son(s) in the Program, the parent must complete the Interest Form, www.bit.ly/YMOESCHOLAR

12/05/2022

:: 🚨MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT 🚨

Excited, humbled and honored to share we were awarded a 2022 Social Justice & Racial Equity Grant from Duke Energy Foundation for $25,000 to advance career exploration and readiness for boys and young men of color.

We are appreciative of the Duke Energy Foundation for its investment of $25,000 to strengthen our critical work to expand our ecosystem, capacity, mission and impact to provide academic support, college preparation and career exploration for boys of color as well as skill development, career planning, and internship and job placement assistance for young men of color.

We plan to use this award to support the Young Men of Excellence Program, Career Pathway Program and Black Wall Street Academy.

Our Programs provide continuous high quality and intensive career readiness programming to facilitate and support scholars and fellows in the long-term goal of developing successful careers with economic stability and mobility to reduce disparate outcomes.

Special thanks to Ronda Taylor Bullock of we are for the support and Indira Everett, Director - East Region for Government & Community Relations at Duke Energy for the presentation.

We Engage. We Educate. We Equip. We Empower.

08/31/2022

:: 🚨MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT🚨

Humbled and honored to shared we were selected as the FIRST Champion STEM RTP Grant recipient by the RTP Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Collective.

We are thankful to the RTP DEI Collective for its investment of $25,000 in our critical work to expand our ecosystem, capacity, and mission to provide academic support and career exploration for boys of color as well as internship and job placement assistance for young men of color, to develop successful careers with economic stability and mobility.

We expect this award to facilitate opportunity to partner with corporations in RTP for sponsorship, volunteers, and work based learning, internship and job placement.

Special thanks to the RTP DEI Collective for the support!

We Engage. We Educate. We Equip. We Empower.

STEM RTP widens its reach by awarding 11 organizations for the competitive STEM grants, eight more than last year. These funds support programs working at the intersection of STEM and diversity…

08/31/2022

:: Congratulations to Board Chair Dr. Charles Iyon Mitchell of the Board of Directors for the Charles Hamilton Houston Foundation, Inc. for being selected as the Volunteer of the Week for August 29-September 2, 2022 by the Triangle Nonprofit & Volunteer Leadership Center.

As Chair of the Board of Directors, Dr. Mitchell provides leadership and management of the Board with 15 professional Black men in establishing our mission and direction, ensuring the Foundation has the necessary resources of funds and leadership to implement the mission and provide legal and fiduciary oversight on behalf of the boys and young men served, our supports and the public. He is also a member of the Executive, Marketing and Program Committees.

He is Director of Special Projects for the North Carolina Department of Health & Human Services.

We Engage. We Educate. We Equip. We Empower.

Shout out to our Volunteer of the Week: Charles Iyon Mitchell from Charles Hamilton Houston Foundation

As a Vice Chair of the Board of Directors, Charles Mitchell provides leadership and works with other board members to establish the mission and direction of the Charles Hamilton Houston Foundation. He helps ensure that the Foundation has the necessary resources of funds and leadership to implement its mission to provide a seamless continuum of programs and services to transform the academic and professional success of boys and young men. He works with other board members to provide legal and fiduciary oversight. Charles also serves on the Executive, Program, and Marketing Committees.

Go check out website to read more about all our Volunteers!

12/25/2021

:: On behalf of the Board of Directors, staff, fellows and scholars of the Charles Hamilton Houston Foundation, Inc., Happy Holidays!

We remain steadfast in our commitment to ensure boys & young men of color gain the skills, experiences and support to empower them to reach their potential to achieve career & economic stability and mobility.

We Engage. We Educate. We Equip. We Empower.

06/05/2021

:: On behalf of the Board of Directors and staff of the Charles Hamilton Houston Foundation, Inc., we would like to wish a Happy Birthday to Jay Jerkins, a member of our Board of Directors.

Thank you for commitment, leadership and service.

We empower. We transform.

06/05/2021

:: Meet Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman.

Officer Goodman led the terrorist mob Trump supporters away from the unlocked Senate Chambers where Senators were hiding.

The quick thinking and heroic act gave security time to lock the Senate Chambers and protect the Senators!

We commend Officer Goodman for his bravery and selfless service in the mist of an insurrection. 

01/12/2021

:: On behalf of the our Board of Directors and staff, we would like to wish a Happy Birthday to Juan Tuset, Secretary of our Board of Directors.

Thank you for commitment, leadership and service.

01/12/2021

:: WE HAVE RESUME FOR 2021!

Our Young Men of Excellence Program held a Virtual College & Career Academy, Tutorial Session.

We provided assistance with homework, projects and/or subject-matter concepts to facilitate understanding and retention.

Our Tutorial Sessions are held on the second and third Saturdays from 10AM until 12 Noon which are open to all of our boys but mandatory for our boys who do not have a B grade point average and/or B in every course.

We empower. We transform.

01/12/2021

:: Adverum, a California-based gene therapy company targeting unmet medical needs in ocular and rare diseases, will invest $82.8 million for a new gene therapy manufacturing facility in Durham County. This investment will create more than 200 new jobs.

Positions at the new facility will include production staff, quality control specialists, and facility engineers.

Our Career Pathway Program will work to be a strategic partner to educate, empower and equip boys and young men of color for these career opportunities.

Let us continue to expose our boys and young men of color to professional career pathways that will allow them to live successful and meaningful lives with career and economic stability and mobility.