The Freedom From Religion Foundation is pleased to announce the recipients of the First in the Family Humanist Forward Freethought scholarship.
FFRF has awarded $30,000 in total to six students, thanks to the generosity of the late FFRF benefactor Lance Bredvold. Black Skeptics Los Angeles (BSLA), an African American humanist/atheist organization, selected the students. This is the first secular organization to specifically address college pipelining for youth of color and other marginalized students through its ongoing scholarship, college and K-12 youth leadership partnerships. FFRF has proudly partnered with the group for 13 years to provide tuition grants, gradually increasing the funding and number of scholarships.
Both BSLA and FFRF express gratitude to Bredvold, whose generous contributions have helped fund nearly a decade of secular, first-generation-to-attend-college scholars. Thanks to Bredvold’s bequest to FFRF, that help will continue.
The following are the 2026 First in the Family Humanist Forward Freethought scholarship winners and the college they are attending. Each of them was awarded $5,000.
- Heather Buckner, University of California, Berkeley
- Blessings Coly, University of North Carolina-A&T
- Kaylla DaCosta, University of Massachusetts
- Daniel Sierra, University of California, Berkeley
- Mariah Slade, University of North Carolina-A&T
- Kelan Speed, University of Texas-San Antonio
Those who would like to donate toward the Forward Freethought Fund, a needs-based scholarship dedicated to helping freethinking students who might otherwise be unable to attend college, may designate “tuition scholarships” in the https://ffrf.org/get-involved/donate/ dropdown or earmark checks for “Forward Freethought Fund” or “tuition scholarships.” All donations to FFRF remain deductible for income-tax purposes.
“This initiative helps deserving students who are really in need and are the generational vanguard of freethinkers,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “All the contributions we receive assist a truly worthy cause.”
More detailed bios and short essays by the winning students will appear in the upcoming October issue of Freethought Today, FFRF’s lively (almost) monthly paper: https://www.freethoughttoday.com/
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to defending the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters relating to nontheism. With more than 40,000 members across the country, FFRF is the largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics and humanists) in North America. For more information, visit ffrf.org.
