Ernest J. Matthews College Benefit concert to be held at Syracuse University on April 7

Ernest J. Matthews College Benefit concert to be held at Syracuse University on April 7March 30, 2007Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

The Syracuse University and greater Syracuse communities will come together on Saturday, April 7, for an evening of gospel music that will benefit students from Syracuse’s inner-city schools. The Ernest J. Matthews College Benefit Concert, featuring award-winning national recording artists James Hall and the Voices of Citadel, Nikki Ross, Dorinda Clark Cole, Kim Burrell, and Ricky Dillard and New Generation, will be held in the Hildegarde and J. Myer Schine Student Center’s Goldstein Auditorium. Doors open at 4 p.m., and the concert begins at 5 p.m.

Tickets are $15 for SU students and $25 for the general public until April 1 ($30 for the general public after April 1) and are currently on sale at the Schine Box Office, 443-4517. Public parking will be available in the Waverly, Marion and University Place parking lots. For more information on the concert and performers, visit http://www.empoweringmindsmovement.com or contact event organizer Vincent E. Cobb II at 491-2761 or vecobbii@syr.edu.

The concert is hosted by the University’s Black Celestial Choral Ensemble and community partners Evangelical Church of God in Christ and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and is presented by the Empowering Minds Movement (EMM) at SU. Co-sponsors include the Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) and the SU Co-Curricular Fee.

The concert is held in collaboration with the Evangelical Church of God in Christ Charities. Proceeds from the concert will benefit a $5,000 scholarship to be given to a deserving SU student and a $2,500 scholarship to be given to a deserving high school student. The scholarships will be presented in honor of the Evangelical Church of God in Christ founder, Ernest J. Matthews. The scholarships will be announced at a reception earlier in the day, and the recipients will be acknowledged at the concert. For details on applying for the scholarship, visit http://www.empoweringmindsmovement.com .

“This concert is a celebration that memorializes the legacy of a community patriarch and hero, the late Dr. Ernest J. Matthews, through scholarship in action,” says Cobb. “It also celebrates a prominent tradition shared by many through campus and community collaborative partnerships emphasizing and fostering our educational moments through diverse and unique large-scale student programming.”