Applications are open for high school students for the Annual Brandon Hendricks (College) Scholarship. The news comes as Najhim Luke, 22, was found guilty for the fatal shooting of the late Brandon Hendricks, who was fatally shot in crossfire at just 17 years of age in June 2020 in the Morris Heights section of The Bronx. Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark’s office announced on Monday, Jan. 30, that Luke, who, as reported, was arrested and later charged in September 2020 in connection with the incident, was found guilty on one count of manslaughter and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon.

 

As reported at the time, Hendricks, a young rising basketball star was fatally shot in crossfire at 1726 Davidson Avenue on June 28, 2020. Oyate Group, a Bronx-based nonprofit on a mission to alleviate poverty across NYC, has once again reopened applications for its fifth annual $20,000 Brandon Hendricks Scholarship for two college-bound high school students from The Bronx. Applications are open now until March 31. An award of $20,000 over the course of four years goes to each of two successful applicants.

According to Oyate Group officials, the scholarship provides graduating seniors the opportunity Brandon never received, and creates a pathway for students to continue pursuing their educational and professional dreams. Oyate Group officials say the organization works directly with students and families to end the cycle of poverty and gun violence through holistic solutions like the Brandon Hendricks Scholarship and its Beyond Rising Internship program for undocumented youth.

 

The scholarship was eponymously named after Brandon, who was set to attend college with a full-ride when he was gunned down in 2020. Oyate Group launched the scholarship the same year “to ensure Bronx youth have financial access to higher education while memorializing Brandon’s legacy.”

 

Oyate Group officials said Brandon Hendricks Scholarship recipients are also mentored during their first year of college before becoming mentors themselves for the next scholarship recipients, with the aim of establishing a sustainable cycle of leadership development among Bronx youth.

Last year’s scholarship winners were Jennifer Agbanyo and Briyant Boakye Frimpong. Agbanyo is an undergraduate student at the State University of New York at Albany and is studying to become an obstetrician-gynecologist, and aims to provide affordable and high-quality healthcare to hundreds of women in The Bronx.

 

Boakye Frimpong is a computer science major at Brandeis University who aims to make the online community a safer place for users. The two will be training the 2024 Brandon Hendricks Scholarship recipients after the summer, once they complete their first year of college.

 

Eve Hendricks, Brandon’s mother, continues to work as an activist to promote anti-gun violence movements in The Bronx. Speaking at a previous anti-gun violence event in The Bronx, Hendricks said, “I still refuse to believe that my boy was taken from me like that – prematurely.”

 

Eve Hendricks, heartbroken mother of aspiring basketball prospect Brandon Hendricks, who was shot and killed on Davidson Avenue in Morris Heights in June 2020, interacts with a rapper on the topic of gun violence, before breaking down. Video by David Greene

She continued, “Someone who’s headed somewhere, so if you’re such gangsters, come out! Face us! Face me! Let’s have a one-to-one. Tell me why you have people killed. If you want to kill someone – kill yourself. You walk with guns? Walk with a pen, walk with a book. Give kids books, give kids pens, give kids hope.”

 

In the attached video, she can be seen confronting a rapper, not connected to her son’s death, on the topic of gun violence at Belmont Playground.

 

Oyate Group’s programs and initiatives focus on youth development, small business empowerment, food accessibility, gun violence prevention and more.

According to its representatives, it has been nationally recognized for vaccinating over 40,000 New Yorkers at the height of the pandemic, its one-of-a-kind paid internship program for undocumented youth, a small business incubator offering up to $50,000 to local entrepreneurs, a $20,000 scholarship for Bronx youth headed to college, a leadership program for high schoolers, annual turkey giveaways, backpack giveaways and gun buybacks.

 

There have been 24 year-to-date shootings in The Bronx as a whole, as of Feb. 4 according to NYPD data, up from 22 during the same period last year. Meanwhile, 29 victims were shot year-to-date across the borough compared to 27 during the same period last year.

 

For the last 28-day period, as of Feb. 4, there were 20 shootings compared to 18 during the same period last year. Meanwhile, during the last 28-day period, as of Feb. 4, there were 24 victims were shot, compared to 23 during the same period last year.

According to the NYPD, as of Feb. 8 and since Jan. 1, 2022, 14,218 guns have been removed from New York City streets, 628 of those since Jan. 1, 2024.

 

Sentencing for Luke is scheduled for March 2024.

 

*David Greene contributed to this story.