PHILADELPHIA – The 2026 Mayor’s Masked Ball, a major fundraiser and awards ceremony organized by the United Negro College Fund, began Saturday night with organizers emphasizing its recordbreaking fundraising.
The annual event seeks to generate $1 million to support local students pursuing higher education. Organizers said the money helps young people access opportunities that might otherwise be out of reach.
Kyra Williams, a scholarship recipient, said the support has been transformative. “UNCF has really changed my life,” she said. Williams is among thousands of students who have earned scholarships through the organization. “This scholarship is allowing me to become the first doctor in my family,” she said.
UNCF awards about 230 scholarships each year to students in the Philadelphia region who need financial assistance. Richard Lee Snow, the organization’s regional development director, said most recipients come from households earning less than $45,000 annually.
“It’s important that organizations such as UNCF give back and help out students get to and through college so they can reach their educational aspirations,” Snow said.
Another scholarship recipient, Kahmar Robinson, said the support made his education possible. “My parents didn’t have a lot of money for me to attend school so being able to get the scholarship from UNCF helped me a long way,” he said.
Saturday’s event was hosted by UNCF and Mayor Cherelle Parker, with 6abc’s Tamala Edwards serving as emcee. About 900 people attended.
“Access to economic opportunity is predicated on the quality of education that you receive so for me this is about economic mobility and self-sufficiency,” Parker said.
Snow said he hopes students will one day return to support others. “My hope is that they can get to school, through school, get the job they want and get into the career they like, but after that come back and give to someone that they could help,” he said.
Many UNCF alumni are already doing that as educators in the region. Robinson, who works with young children, said early support matters. “I work with kindergarten and first grade, and when you start with them first it goes a long way later on in life,” he said.
Williams said she now works with students in the same school system that shaped her. “It’s been really cool to now work with the very students who are in the schools and in the Philadelphia education system that I was in that I’m a product of,” she said.
Several groups received special awards during the event, including The Roots and the Michael Ann and Saquon Barkley Hope Foundation.
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