Maintaining Connection WITH THE HBCU MISSION
BY ZERLINE HUGHES SPRUILL
Stacey Lee Spratt . Stacey Lee Spratt . Stacey Lee Spratt . Stacey Lee Spratt . Sta
While this was not a CAU homecoming, it was a work trip ode to HBCUs that took place on her old Michigan stomping grounds, the state where she honed her speaking and leadership skills to win the Miss Michigan USA 2004 crown. She returned home in 2025 to lead the UNCF’s Empower Me Tour for prospective college students. “It was a very high-energy event,” said Spratt, Director of UNCF’s Empower Me Tour and Special Programs. “We execute the Empower Me Tour in places where there aren’t HBCUs so we can educate the community about them. We had about 535 students in attendance. The students were locked in to the conversations about financial Last year, Stacey Lee Spratt experienced a homecoming very different from her annual Clark-Atlanta University jaunt.
aid, scholarships and types of job opportunities there are depending on majors. Being back in Detroit was just the cherry on top.” UNCF HBCUs offered $2 million in scholarships to students, and UNCF awarded merit scholarships and students received full four-year scholarships. During the 2023-24 tour, UNCF offered more than $10 million to students. "For more than 80 years, UNCF has raised more than a billion dollars for education," said Spratt. She has been with the organization for 12 years and leads the Empower Me Tour, a free, roving college interview, scholarship and financial education fair for high schoolers, their families and educators created 17 years ago by founding sponsor Wells Fargo. “UNCF is a beacon of hope for some young people who don’t know how they’re going to pay for college,” said Spratt. “At the core of me, community and service is so important. The original
goal and purpose was to always help students understand how to apply to college. It evolved into bringing admissions counselors to admit students on the spot and to offer scholarships on the spot. Another goal has been to educate young people and parents on how to apply and to get into – and through college. Sometimes you can get into college, but it’s important not only to get there, but to graduate.” In addition to the strategic expertise she executes for UNCF, Spratt is a serial entrepreneur with nearly a dozen businesses under her belt. She, along with other HBCU alumni, own Harlem Hops, a James-Beard Semi-Finalist Award-Winning Craft Beer Bar. She also is a partner at Haute Behavior, LLC, her events and public relations firm, and has employed more than 100 HBCU students to work around the country. Her business acumen and competitive nature can be attributed to her humble beginnings as a beauty queen. Spratt first won her first beauty pageant at age 8 when she was crowned Lil Miss
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