NNPA, National Newspaper Publishers Association, was granted $1.5 million by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. NNPA is a network of 211 black-owned media companies. They were granted that amount of money because the foundation supports the three-year, multi-media public awareness campaign. They focus on the challenges and unique opportunities of ESSA, Every Student Succeeds Act. NNPA held an event at the Hyatt Regency Pier Sixty-Six in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. It was their mid-winter conference. The purpose of the conference was to invite different high school publications from across Broward County to discuss the social climate facing the African-American community through journalism