Press Release: Dorothy I. Height Education Foundation Announces The Herman Scholars, New Scholarship Program for 2026-2027

Scholarships to Black Women interested in Public and Community Service

(WASHINGTON, DC)  June 2, 2026 — The Dorothy I. Height Education Foundation (DIHEF) announced the formation of The Herman Scholars, an educational scholarship program designed to attract and support Black college women interested in careers in public and community service. The scholarship will offer five students awards of up to $5,000 each.

“This new scholarship program is dedicated to the legacy of Alexis M. Herman, who served as the first Black woman and 23rd United States Labor Secretary,” said Constance Berry Newman, president of DIHEF.       “It will build a new generation of Black women committed to community and public service.”

The Herman Scholars program is dedicated to Ms. Herman and her career spanning 50 years of coalition-building and policy initiatives to improve the social and economic sustainability of historically underrepresented communities. The program will launch this fall with a fundraising event on Sunday, September 13, in Washington, DC. More details about the event and the Herman Scholars program will be released in the summer. 

DIHEF continues to carry on the vision of Dr. Dorothy I. Height and has grown since its founding in 2004. This year, in addition to naming Ms. Newman as its new president, succeeding Alexis Herman, the Foundation welcomed two distinguished new board members. They include Bishop Leah Daughtry, who is Principal of On These Things, LLC and National Presiding Prelate of The House of the Lord Churches; and businessman Jarvis Stewart, Founder and CEO of Highland Poe.

“All of us on the board step into our roles thinking of every young person who will walk through a door that Dr. Height and Secretary Herman helped open,” said Bishop Daughtry. “We are committed to making sure that door stays open, wider than ever, with The Herman Scholars program.”