INDIANAPOLIS — Kenyata Moore, David Hamilton, and Matthew Bennett are three financial advisors looking for the next leaders of Indianapolis. They plan to award those leaders with a $2,500 scholarship and one-on-one time with area leaders, going beyond the scope of an internship.
"It's not a GPA requirement, where you have to have a certain GPA, really we are just passionate about helping people who want to help others," Hamilton said.
The Indianapolis natives are extremely intentional about finding future leaders inside the Circle City, that's why they plan to offer the scholarship to two students each from four local schools: University of Indianapolis, IUPUI, Marion University, and DePauw University.
"We're selecting two African American students from each campus and we're going to take them through a 9 month leadership curriculum," Hamilton said.
Applications are being accepted now for students in all fields of study. For example, if a student for plans to go into education leadership, then they'll get one-on-one time with some of Indianapolis' principals and superintendents. If they want to open a business, they'll be connected with Hoosier entrepreneurs.
"We are just trying to give them an example in any field that they are interested in of a strong African-American example of a leader. We want them to be exposed to a leader in that community of that field that they're interested in and also not just for now but to development a relationship and a mentorship and grow with that person," Moore said.
While Bennett, Moore and Hamilton all grew up to be financial advisors, they aren't necessarily looking for students who want to work in finance. Bennett said they are looking to be the next generation of mentors and mentees. He said it's the key that helped the three of them get where they are today.
"For me, I've always had my parents, a couple of different mentors whether it was for business or personally and so it was super important for me to make I was doing the same thing for the young folks who are coming up," Bennett said.
The program will officially begin in August 2021. Applications for the program are being excepted now until June 1.
Visit Lead With NM to learn more.
