Introduction:

Wichita African Union, Inc. (WAU), founded on January 28, 2012, is a 501(C)(3) Nonprofit public charity organization by the African Diaspora living in Wichita, Kansas. The following program activities are at the center of its mission: promoting educational excellence through scholarship awards to college and university students, mentorship for elementary school students, the youth and community college students, and promoting outreach activities in the broader Wichita community. All members of the organization, executive officers and Board of Directors are volunteers. Visit our website at www.wichitaafricanunion.org and Facebook page at www.facebook.com/wichitaafricanunion.WAU to see what we have been working on. 

Who is the beneficiary of the scholarships:

The scholarships are mostly given to African students but includes students from the other communities depending on demonstrated need. In 2023 and 2024 among the awardees were a Hispanic and African American students respectively. Local schools are given criteria for selection of recipients.  On average we award four scholarships per year.  On August 31, 2024, four students, one from each of the following colleges were awarded a $500 Scholarship each: Butler Community College, Hesston College, McPherson College and Wichita State University.  

 What else:

Our education efforts do not end with those in higher education. We have started a program to mentor newcomer students at Washington Elementary School and Butler community college. We would like to do more with our outreach programs to include educational seminars for our community to help bring awareness on areas that we can adapt as a community to bring about stability and positive economic outcomes. We also want to hold workshops to help displaced African families and individuals, new to the area, smoothly adapt to life in America, understanding the American systems, especially education. Using these seminars we also want to explore what else we can do to help the youth stay motivated about education and the future. We want to build leaders of tomorrow, educated generations that will access better paying jobs and bring about a vibrant community. A budget of $5,000/year for outreach would get us started.

We are thankful to Kansas Health Foundation for Hunger Free Kansas grant which will take care of food insecurity problem in our community this summer and the fall.

Budget Ask Total is $14,000:

Scholarship Awards: $2,000

Community Educational Outreach: $4,000

Overhead Expenses: $8,000/Year.

The fundraiser duration is ongoing, all year round.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT. WITH YOUR SUPPORT WE ARE ABLE TO MEET OUR GOALS. NO DONATION IS TOO SMALL.