Rev. Wayne Clark, President and CEO, (left), and Rev. Mackey Yokem, Director of Leadership Ministries (right) for The Methodist Foundation for Arkansas, delivered the final $50,000 grant award installment to Philander Smith University representative Dr. Charles Donaldson (center) on Wednesday, August 9, 2023.
This grant, totaling $250,000, was announced in 2021, and aimed to improve public health across the state through initiatives developed by the new Dr. Joycelyn Elders School of Allied and Public Health at Philander Smith University in Little Rock.
The grant funds programs for graduate students in allied health professions and aims to create innovative strategies to decrease health disparities across the state. In 2015, the then Philander Smith College Board of Trustees approved establishing the Dr. Joycelyn Elders School of Allied and Public Health.
Elders, an Arkansas native and Philander Smith alumna was the 15th Surgeon General of the United States. She was the first African American and the second female to head the U.S. Public Health Service.
“We are pleased The Methodist Foundation for Arkansas can help with building on the great legacy of Dr. Elders and partnering with Philander Smith University will be a tremendous service to Arkansas and beyond,” said Rev. Clark.
