The American Humanist Association is proud to support Black Skeptics Los Angeles’s first annual “First in the Family Humanist Scholarship” by sponsoring one of four $500 scholarships, to be awarded to a college-bound Los Angeles Unified School District student in South Los Angeles.

“Because our communities are under siege from the insidious effects of the school-to-prison pipeline, we are pleased to announce our first annual ‘First in the Family Humanist Scholarship,’” said Sikivu Hutchinson, executive director of Black Skeptics Los Angeles (BSLA).

Students applying for the “First in the Family Humanist Scholarship” must have a record of service and participation in school and/or community-based organizations. Preference will be given to students who are in foster care, homeless, undocumented and/or LGBTQ. Hutchinson continued, “These youth are historically under-represented at four-year colleges and universities, and face some of the steepest barriers to admission, retention and graduation.”

Black Skeptics Los Angeles (BSLA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing humanist public education, media representation and cultural resources for African American nonbelievers and their allies. BSLA’s programming and initiatives seek to promote greater awareness and understanding of African American secular humanist, freethought, and atheist traditions, beliefs and practices in Los Angeles communities of color and beyond.  Since 2010 BSLA has hosted roundtables on secular social justice, sponsored interfaith dialogues, conducted Humanist professional development trainings, and published articles on a broad range of issues pertaining to gender equity, racial justice, economic justice, and progressive education.

For more information on the “First in the Family Humanist Scholarship” or Black Skeptics Los Angeles, visit blackskepticsscholarshipfund.chipin.com.