Local HBCU Students Receive Scholarships

Non-profit makes awards to McKeesport area graduates for second year

By Yousuf Lachhab Ibrahim
The Tube City Almanac
August 04, 2025
Posted in: McKeesport and Region News

Miracle Kelley, Jurnee Murphy and Safiyah Allen-Crane are recipients of this year’s scholarships from McKeesport HBCU Vision. The non-profit supports local students who attend historically Black colleges and universities. (Yousuf Lachhab Ibrahim photo for Tube City Almanac)

Three local students with plans to attend historically Black colleges and universities got a little boost on Saturday with help of a McKeesport-based non-profit.

During a ceremony in Wilkins Twp., McKeesport HBCU Vision presented $700 scholarships to McKeesport Area High School graduates Safiyah Allen-Crane, Miracle Kelley and Jurnee Murphy.

McKeesport HBCU founder and chief executive officer Denise Sinkler, an alumni of Clark Atlanta University, awarded a $700 scholarship to Allen-Crane, who will be a sophomore at the same school in the fall.

Kelley is a senior at Coppin State University in Baltimore and Jurnee Murphy will be a freshman at Xavier University in New Orleans.

U.S. Rep. Summer Lee also provided congratulations letters to each of the winners.

Sinkler founded McKeesport HBCU Vision last year, and awarded seven girls with scholarships at the time.

Sinkler said it took her until 26 to graduate from Clark Atlanta due to financial reasons. “Today, my degree is sitting right on my wall. Nobody can ever take that away from me,” she said. “So be inspired. And when you are inspired, come back and pay it forward to the city of McKeesport. Pull someone else up.”

Shannon Watson, a graduate from North Carolina Central University and executive director at Forbes Road Personal Care Home, shared inspirational words designed to help the recipients of the scholarships — by talking about her mistakes.

“One of the mistakes I made was that I rushed home every time I could,” she said. “Don't come home all the time. I know your parents are like ‘What?’ Do not do that.”

Instead, she encouraged the students to get involved in campus life, and not to remain in their comfort zones.

Allen-Crane, a business and management major, is the first member of her family to attend an HBCU, but said Clark Atlanta was always her first choice.

Safiyah’s mother, Quinn Allen, attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh before it closed down in 2019, and received a degree in fashion management. She was determined that her daughter exceed her in education.

“When she said she wanted to go to an HBCU, I was so proud of her,” Allen said. “I didn’t know what she wanted to do because she never talks about it. But when she did, I said, ‘Whatever you want to do, I'm behind you 100 percent.’ And I'm so proud of her. She's very smart and intelligent. She loves science, and that's my baby.”

Yousuf Lachhab Ibrahim is a freelance writer from Pittsburgh and a Penn State University graduate. He won a Golden Quill award for his work at the Penn State Greater Allegheny Gazette.

Originally published August 04, 2025.

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