During Black History Month, our organization wanted to honor and celebrate both past and current members of the Black community with a scholarship for Leadership McKinney, the Chamber of Commerce's premier leadership training program. We established the Ruby Gross Hines Babers Scholarship. Ruby Babers was the beloved grandmother of MADC Board member Tonya Dangerfield.

From among the Chamber's current class, we had four very qualified applicants, so it was a tough decision for our scholarship committee. The person we selected graduated with her Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Stanford University; is a local real estate broker; is currently on the Visit McKinney Board for our City; and has completed the University of Texas LBJ Women's campaign school. We are pleased to announce our Babers scholarship recipient: Deidre Woodard.

If you'd like to learn more about our scholarship opportunities, please visit us at mckinneydemocrats.org.