Cincinnati State, Lincoln Heights officials launch scholarship program

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 13, 2015

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Robert White
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Cincinnati State, Lincoln Heights officials launch scholarship program

Cincinnati State President O’dell M. Owens and Village of Lincoln Heights community leaders have 
launched a new community-based scholarship program.

During a ceremony Monday (Jan. 12) at the Lincoln Heights Municipal Building, they announced the 
award of Cincinnati State scholarships valued at $10,000 each to two Lincoln Heights residents. As with a 
similar program involving Cincinnati State and South Cumminsville, this initiative is designed to involve 
members of the Lincoln Heights community in the academic and social success of the scholarship recipients.

“For far too long the only news most people hear out of Lincoln Heights has been negative,” said Dr. 
Owens, during Monday’s ceremony. “We want to demonstrate how Cincinnati State can change lives, 
anywhere, with the proper support.”

Named as recipients of the Lincoln Heights community scholarships were:

• Kimberly Y. Malachi, a 1983 graduate of Forest Park High School who has long been active in the Lincoln Heights Track Club. As a coach and administrator for the organization, she has helped children ages 5-18 participate in AAU and USATF track and field events, and each year has taken children to the Junior Olympics. At Cincinnati State, Ms. Malachi plans to study early childhood education and business management. 
• Thomas McCloud, a 2014 graduate of Princeton High School. A life-long resident of the village of Lincoln Heights, he is exploring majors in business management, accounting and finance.     “Kim and Thomas represent two generations of Lincoln Heights promise and aspirations for our community’s future,” said Robin Campbell, a Lincoln Heights resident who led a committee of local business owners, religious leaders, and educators that reviewed applications for the scholarships.

The scholarships are part of a program funded by Cincinnati lobbyist and philanthropist Dick Weiland in 
memory of the late Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth. Cincinnati State is providing two $10,000 scholarships to 
students chosen by a panel of community leaders.

Under the model envisioned by Weiland and Dr. Owens, members of the community will assume a 
degree of responsibility for helping the students to succeed at Cincinnati State and in their private lives.

“This scholarship lifts a burden off my shoulders so I can focus on my school work,” said McCloud, 
following Monday’s ceremony. “When I graduate I plan to start several businesses in Lincoln Heights that 
will help my neighbors.”

The scholarship program in Lincoln Heights is similar to one launched earlier by Cincinnati State and 
Weiland in South Cumminsville. Weiland and Dr. Owens have said they expect to add other communities 
to the program in the future as a way of paying tribute to Rev. Shuttlesworth, who helped organize the 
Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Martin Luther King and who was a pivotal figure in the 
Civil Rights battles in Birmingham, Ala. Weiland was active in the Civil Rights movement, and has said 
that Rev. Shuttlesworth viewed education as a vital part of the effort to achieving its goals.

ABOUT CINCINNATI STATE
Cincinnati State (www.cincinnatistate.edu) enrolls about 10,700 students and offers more than 130 
associate degree and certificate programs in business technologies, health and public safety, engineering 
technologies, humanities and sciences and information technologies. Cincinnati State has one of the 
most comprehensive co-op programs among two-year colleges in the U.S. 

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Editors: The attached photos show scholarship recipients Kimberly Y. Malachi and Thomas McCloud, 
holding ceremonial checks, along with others during Monday’s ceremony at the Lincoln Heights Municipal 
Building. The photo labeled Cincinnati State Lincoln Heights A shows Audra Bester (a granddaughter of 
Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth), Kimberly Malachi (scholarship awardee), Cincinnati State President Dr. O’dell 
M. Owens, Ruby Bester (a daughter of Rev. Shuttlesworth), and Thomas McCloud (scholarship awardee).