HOPE alumni group starts scholarship fund to honor Zell Miller

ATLANTA — The inaugural class of the Miller Leadership Academy has launched the #ThankYouGovMiller campaign to honor late Gov. Zell Miller by raising scholarship funds for the Zell Miller Foundation, formerly the Miller Institute Foundation.

The Miller Leadership Academy Class of 2018 is asking current and former HOPE Scholarship recipients to join them in saying #ThankYouGovMiller by donating $25 to the Zell Miller Foundation to celebrate 25 years of HOPE.

Money raised through this campaign will fund scholarships for future Miller Leadership Academy participants. The academy is a nonpartisan program that helps emerging professionals from diverse industries connect and collaborate with like-minded leaders across Georgia who share a commitment to service.

In 1993, the Georgia Lottery began selling tickets to fund then-Gov. Miller’s newest education initiative. Twenty-five years later, more than 1.8 million students have been able to attend colleges through Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship program.

“Zell Miller embodied ‘servant leadership’ in our state. HOPE scholarship empowered my family, and I am truly honored to contribute to this campaign in appreciation of Gov. Miller’s hard work for the future generations of Georgians,” Kathleen Bennett, a member of the 2018 Miller Leadership Academy Class and former HOPE recipient, said.

Anyone wishing to contribute can do so by visiting www.millerfoundation.com. Members of the public are encouraged to share their HOPE story on social media with the hashtag #ThankYouGovMiller.

The Zell Miller Foundation works to preserve Miller’s legacy through programs that promote education, leadership and service. The foundation is a tax-exempt 501 (c)(3) nonprofit designated by the Internal Revenue Service.

When Miller took the oath of office as Georgia’s 79th Governor in 1991, the central purpose of his administration was to prepare Georgia for the 21st Century. Miller served as Lt. Gov. of Georgia from 1975-1991, governor from 1991-1999 and U.S. Senator from 2000-2005. He is the only keynote speaker to address both major political parties at their conventions — Democrats in 1992 and Republicans in 2004.

While a candidate for governor in 1990, Miller had an idea to create a statewide lottery exclusively for the purpose of funding education initiatives in Georgia. Today, the Georgia Lottery Corporation has transferred more than $18.1 billion to students of Georgia.

Over the past 25 years, the lottery money has allowed more than 1.8 million students to go to college in Georgia on HOPE Scholarships and more than 1.4 million 4-year old children to begin their education early in Georgia’s voluntary pre-K program. These programs represent the signature achievements of Miller’s 40-year career in public service.

“The HOPE Scholarship Program is one of our most effective investments for developing Georgia’s growing work force,” current Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal said in a recent statement. “For more than 25 years, HOPE has set our state apart by offering one of the most generous state scholarships for students, allowing us to keep our brightest students in Georgia so that they will thrive here after finishing their education.”

Deal compared the program’s recent milestones with the issues it faced when he took office in 2011.

“When I took office, the HOPE Scholarship and Grant programs faced looming bankruptcy,” he said. “In response, the General Assembly and I worked together to reform and save one of the country’s most generous scholarship programs for our students well into the future.”

State officials said the program now offers six different scholarships to eligible Georgia students regardless of what they are studying. Those scholarships include the HOPE Scholarship, the Zell Miller Scholarship, the HOPE Grant, the Zell Miller Grant, the HOPE Career Grant and the HOPE GED Grant.