Amanda Morrall has been accepted into the Obama Foundation’s sixth cohort of Obama Scholars, making her the first Tulsan and just the fourth American to be admitted since the program’s inception in 2018.
The Obama Scholars Program strives to develop leaders who are already making a difference in their communities by providing them with academic, skills-based, and hands-on training opportunities. The course is taught at the University of Chicago and Columbia University in New York City. Candidates from all over the world are being considered for admission to the program.
“It’s a really big deal here to represent Tulsa,” Morrall, who previously worked as the Executive Director of the Coretz Family Foundation, told The Black Wall Street Times in an interview. I don’t take it lightly as a young African American leader.”
Morrall, who was raised in Kansas City, has made substantial contributions to Tulsa as the city’s first African American to operate an endowed, private foundation. Her goal is to turn charity into a trust-based, community-driven system.
In 2022, she managed the Coretz Family Foundation’s strategic planning process, which included talks with over 350 community leaders and 100 organizations to determine the needs of local NGOs and the areas they serve.
The trailblazer was also the founding president of Blueprint 918 and a Tulsa Young Professionals Foundation Trustee, where she worked to promote racial fairness.
Morrall has created programs and events for prestigious organizations such as the White House, Duke University, The Aspen Institute, the University of California-Los Angeles, and the United Way.
She hopes to inspire others, regardless of their financial situation, to become philanthropists and make a difference in their communities.
“It’s never about you. It’s always about community and the people you can support and help,” Morrall said.
Morrall earned a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy from Duke University, where she was named an Alice M. Baldwin Scholar and served on the Sanford School’s Ex-Officio Board. She also holds a Master of Public Policy from the University of California, Los Angeles, where she was a Luskin Ann C. Rosenfield Fellow.
