Applications are open for college-bound Bronx high school seniors for the Annual $20,000 Brandon Hendricks (College) Scholarship, sponsored by Oyate Group through Monday, March 31. The Bronx-based nonprofit, on a mission to alleviate poverty across NYC, is inviting as many college-bound, high school students as possible to apply to avail of the opportunity.

 

As reported, Hendricks, a young, rising basketball star was fatally shot in crossfire at 1726 Davidson Avenue in Morris Heights on June 28, 2020. The scholarship was eponymously named after Brandon, who was set to attend college with a full-ride scholarship when he was tragically gunned down that year. Oyate Group launched the scholarship the same year “to ensure Bronx youth have financial access to higher education while memorializing Brandon’s legacy.”

 

The Group‘s representatives say The Bronx has long faced systemic barriers that make higher education an uphill battle for many students and it is working to change that. Since its inception in 2020, the Brandon Hendricks Scholarship has provided vital support to exceptional students from The Bronx in honor of Brandon, a Bronx native. They said the scholarship provides graduating seniors the opportunity Brandon never received, and creates a pathway for students to continue pursuing their educational and professional dreams.

Applications for the annual scholarship are now open for two college-bound high school students from The Bronx, for $20,000 over the course of four years, going to each of two successful applicants. Oyate Group officials said Brandon Hendricks Scholarship recipients are also mentored during their first year of college before becoming mentors themselves to the next scholarship recipients, with the aim of establishing a sustainable cycle of leadership development among Bronx youth.

 

As reported, Najhim Luke, 22, was sentenced to 25 years after he was found guilty for killing Hendricks, who was fatally shot in crossfire at just 17 years of age in June 2020. As reported, he was arrested and charged in September 2020 in connection with the incident, and was later found guilty on one count of manslaughter and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon.

 

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 borough, she said, “I still refuse to believe that my boy was taken from me like that – prematurely.”

She continued in part, “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. 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.

 

Year to date, as of March 2, according to NYPD data, there have been 34 shootings in The Bronx, down 29.2% from the same timeframe last year when there were 48 year-to-date shootings recorded as of the same date. Meanwhile, 39 victims have been shot year to date across the borough as of the same date, compared to 63 during the same period last year, a drop of 38.1%.

 

During the 28-day period ending March 2, there were 16 shootings compared to 24 during the same timeframe last year, a drop of 33.3%. Meanwhile, during the 28-day period ending March 2, 17 victims were shot, compared to 34 during the same period last year.

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

According to the NYPD, as of March 10, and since Jan. 1, 2022,  20,700 guns have been removed from New York City streets, 1,000 of those since Jan. 1, 2025.

 

During a press conference in Brooklyn on Monday, March 10, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said, “In the first two months of 2025, New York City saw the fewest number of shooting incidents in the city’s history, a 14.5 percent decline compared to the same period in 2024, and a major victory in our campaign to keep New Yorkers safe.”

 

The mayor, who, as reported, still has a federal criminal charges hanging over him related to the financing of his 2021 mayoral campaign as he once again enters primary election season, continued, “Every day, the brave men and women of the NYPD are out there doing this dangerous work, working to protect New Yorkers against violent, armed recidivists, and this year alone, they have already removed more than 1,000 illegal guns from city streets. When you deploy well-trained officers to the right areas, New Yorkers can see and feel the difference, and because of our steadfast focus on eradicating gun violence, New York City continues to be the safest big city in America.”

 

Last month, as reported, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) dropped, for now, the referenced (bribery and other) charges against the mayor, leading to allegations that this makes him beholden to the Trump administration since the charges could be brought up again in the future. Adams has consistently denied any wrongdoing and has sought through his attorneys to have the federal charges dropped permanently on more than one occasion.

 

Pix11 News recently reported that a hearing on the case which was due to be held Friday, March 14, has since been canceled.

For her part, in terms of the decline in gun crime statistics, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said, “Across the city, we continue to break crime records and make our communities safer. We saw the lowest number of shootings in recorded history for the first two months of the year combined, and we’re down double-digits in major crimes.”

 

She added, “Today [March 10], we surpassed another milestone – seizing more than 1,000 illegal guns so far this year from our streets and subways. Each of these guns represents a potential tragedy averted and life saved. This is what relentless, targeted enforcement looks like, and it’s all because of the tireless work that the men and women of the NYPD do every day to keep us safe.”

 

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

 

They said 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.

 

NEW YORK CITY Mayor Eric Adams makes a public safety announcement in Brooklyn on Monday, March 10, 2025. Video courtesy of the Mayor’s Office via YouTube.

They said the program supports the educational journey of students while also developing mentoring skills to uplift future recipients. Below are the biographies of the 2023 and 2024 Brandon Hendricks Scholarship recipients:

 

• Jennifer Agbanyo (2023 recipient): Jennifer is an undergraduate student at the State University of New York at Albany studying to become an obstetrician-gynecologist and provide affordable and high-quality healthcare for hundreds of women in the Bronx.

• Briyant Boakye Frimpong (2023 recipient): Briyant is a computer science major at Brandeis University who aims to make the online community a safer place for its users.

• Isabella Reyes (2024 recipient): Isabella is a freshman at Cornell University and studies plant science and hopes to conduct research that boosts agriculture and food accessibility in urban areas like the Bronx.

• Richard Lloyd (2024 recipient): Richard is a freshman at Savannah State University, where he is an environmental activist, public speaker and marine science major with a passion for nature and environmental science. He has helped restore the Bronx River wetlands as an environmental scientist at the local nonprofit Rocking the Boat in the South Bronx.

 

*David Greene contributed to this story.