KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Latisha Power’s son Devan Mathis earned a $2,000 scholarship by participating in the Urban League of Greater Kansas City’s “Project Ready” ACT test prep course.
With Devan's participation, the family thought he would receive the scholarship.
“You’ve got a house payment, a car payment, you got everything else, and it comes from one budget. So it’s challenging,” said Latisha Power, a single parent.
Oracle, which purchased Cerner, committed to donating $10,000 to the Urban League for the scholarships back in September.
Over the past month, the company told Gwen Grant of the Urban League that any payments were on hold “until further notice.”
Grant shared emails and text messages with KSHB 41 News between her organization and Oracle. They show Oracle canceled “all sponsorships until further notice of review by the attorneys due to DEI.”
The final message, sent Friday, April 4, said there is “still no funding for KC.”
“I’m in Kansas City, I’m asking for funding, and it said no,” explained Grant.
After KSHB 41 News and other outlets reached out to Oracle, the company called Grant Thursday to tell her it will keep its pledge to the scholarship funding.
“Oracle remains committed to funding the scholarship,” a spokesperson emailed KSHB 41 News.
Grant said Oracle told her it will send the $10,000 for scholarships. But the company did not recommit to an additional $10,000 it had previously promised for other Urban League initiatives.
“In all of my years doing this work in the nonprofit sector, never have I had a funder or corporate partner rescind a commitment for any reason,” Grant said.
Power is thankful her son will receive the scholarship as he prepares to attend Kansas University next year.
“That’s wonderful news. You just took a load off my shoulders,” Power said when KSHB 41 News broke the news to her.
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KSHB 41 reporter Charlie Keegan covers politics on both sides of the state line. If you have a story idea to share, you can send Charlie an email at charlie.keegan@kshb.com.