Duke Media Foundation Receives $10,000 Grant From NAACP And Ford Motor Company Fund

LOS ANGELES - Feb. 26, 2014 - PRLog -- On the heels of his NAACP Image Awards nomination for the documentary “Dark Girls,” co-produced and directed by D. Channsin Berry, Award-winning Actor and Director Bill Duke was honored with a $10,000 NAACP Ford Motor Company Fund grant to continue his work with the Duke Media Foundation. A 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization, the Foundation aims to usher today’s youth into the emerging global economy by preparing them with tools for the rapidly changing new media environment.

Presented by Angela Polk, program manager-community development at the Ford Motor Company Fund, before the Foundations’ board of directors, NAACP Image Awards committee members and a few hundred entertainment industry professionals during The 10th Annual NAACP Hollywood Bureau Symposium, the grant will be used to offer media and financial education to inner-city youth ages 14 through 18, in South Los Angeles.  “We congratulate the award-winning Bill Duke and the Duke Media Foundation for their work in developing media and financial literacy programs to prepare inner-city and gifted high school students for the new digital media age,” comments Pamela Alexander, director of community development, Ford Motor Company Fund.

From the official 45th NAACP Image Awards Dark Girls nomination for Outstanding Television Documentary to Bill Duke’s participation as a panelist at the NAACP Hollywood Bureau Symposium and the presentation of the $10,000 NAACP Ford Motor Company Fund grant, 2014 is shaping up to be a phenomenal year for Duke Media and the Duke Media Foundation.  “As an entertainment industry veteran, I am committed to producing culturally relevant films and I am excited Dark Girls was nominated for Outstanding Documentary Television by the 45th NAACP Image Awards,” states Bill Duke, Founder of Duke Media Entertainment and the Duke Media Foundation.  “We are blessed to receive the NAACP Ford Motor Company Fund $10,000 grant, which will support the Duke Media Foundation’s mission to expose our youth to specific new media and financial literacy enabling them to compete, survive and thrive in the ever-changing twenty-first century educational landscape.”

About Duke Media Foundation
Duke Media Foundation is a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization with a distinct emphasis on offering media and financial literacy to inner-city youth ages 14 through 18, in South Los Angeles, California. The combined focus of these two disciplines is what separates Duke Media from all other programs. The organization was founded in 2008 by actor, director, producer and humanitarian, Bill Duke. The Duke Media Foundation’s mission is to seek to train and empower under served and gifted high school students in the disciplines of media literacy, financial literacy, the science of branding and entrepreneurship in preparation for careers in the new digital media age.

About Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services
Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services works with community partners to advance driving safety, education and community life. For more than 60 years, Ford Motor Company Fund has operated with ongoing funding from Ford Motor Company. The award-winning Ford Driving Skills for Life program teaches new drivers through a variety of hands-on and interactive methods. Innovation in education is encouraged through programs that enhance high school learning and provide college scholarships and university grants. Through the Ford Volunteer Corps, more than 25,000 Ford employees and retirees work on projects each year that better their communities in more than 30 countries. For more information, visit www.community.ford.com.

About NAACP Hollywood Bureau
Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, the NAACP Hollywood Bureau opened officially in October 2002. The NAACP Hollywood Bureau is a satellite of the National office that deals with issues of diversity programming and minority employment in Hollywood, and oversees the production of the NAACP Image Awards. Recognizing the national and international influence of power of the entertainment industry, the Hollywood Bureau was established as part of the follow-up to the NAACP Diversity Initiative started in 1999.

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For information regarding Duke Media http://www.billduke.com or to interview Bill Duke, contact Yolonda Brinkley yolondabrinkley@yrbinternationalexposure.com (mailto:ybrinkley@hotmail.com) and for information regarding the Duke Media Foundation http://www.dukemediafoundation.org contact Paula Bethsebe paulabethsebe@dukemediafoundation.org.