Meet Our BLHF 2023 Scholars

Scholarship Website Highlight by Dimensions

The Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation takes pride in investing in our community. Nurturing our young adults is a top priority. Our Mental Health Scholarship program is incredibly important to us because it provides academic opportunities and serves as a vital resource to assist and empower African American students from anywhere across the U.S. pursuing careers in the mental health field with their educational expenses.

 

Both scholarship categories; Legacy and Heritage, help create an impact on generations to come and can be named annually or in Perpetuity.

Legacy Scholarship (Annual) 10k

Heritage Scholarship (Endowed) 500K

Our vision is to eradicate the stigma around mental health issues in the Black community. Statistically, African Americans are the least likely population to seek mental health treatment. We are committed to changing the history of silence and stigma surrounding mental health in our communities by encouraging and enabling those who suffer from this debilitating illness to get the help they need.

One of our founding pillars is to increase the number of culturally competent therapists by offering scholarships to African American students interested in pursuing a career in the mental health field. Studies show that the psychology workforce is 85% white and only 2% Black. These numbers are daunting and often deter Black people from seeking care, simply due to the lack of Black providers.

The Legacy or the Heritage scholarship can be a memorial scholarship in the honor of a loved one to address awareness of the suicide epidemic in our communities.

● Suicide death rates for Black girls ages 13 to 19 increased by 182% from 2001 to 2017
● Suicide is the second leading cause of death among Black children ages 10 to 19. (Source) 
● In 2014, 80% of suicide deaths in the Black community were men


Having a ‘Name Scholarship’ will also help create mental health awareness and can continue the legacy of a deceased community member by becoming an ongoing celebration of life and healing, bestowing JOY to our future mental health practitioners. This incredible memorial gift can help turn loss into JOY.

PRIMERICA

 &

 Kyle-Pierre Issac Johnson Scholarship Fund

In Celebration of Kyle-Pierre Isaac Johnson
In 2021, a young, gifted Black man — Kyle-Pierre Johnson — unexpectedly passed away as a result of his struggles with Bipolar Disorder I. In the interest of supporting those with mental differences, grow a culturally competent pool of professionals, and help expand the education and skills of BIPOC students in the mental health profession, KP’s family and friends raised money to award scholarships to two students to assist with their graduate studies in mental health.


About KP

Kyle-Pierre (KP) Johnson was born and raised in Chicago, IL. He was an intelligent and multi-talented young man with interests in physics and the arts. KP’s professional career began in 2016, as a high-school senior, when he was signed with a top modeling  agency in Chicago. He was cast in ads for Nike, East Bay, Meijer, Puma, and other national brands. KP had a creative spirit and a mind for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). In addition to modeling, he created several oil and acrylic paintings, pen and ink drawings, as well as decorative textile and shoe designs.  KP was musically talented; he played violin, clarinet, and sang. A keen interest in producing and recording music led him to enroll in Columbia College, where he studied Sound Engineering to hone his skills. He was gifted, loving, selfless, and an inspiration to all who knew him.

&

 

Kyle-Pierre Issac Johnson Scholarship Fund