RICHMOND — Governor Terry McAuliffe announced on Friday the appointment of Joan Johns Cobbs, of Farmville, and Joy Cabarrus Speakes, of Cullen, to the Brown v. Board of Education Scholarship Awards Committee. Cobbs, retired, is a former seizure and forfeiture specialist with the U.S. Marshals Service, Department of Justice; Speakes, a member of the Moton Council and Board of Trustees, is president and owner of Friends Inc.

The education scholarship awards program was established to provide public education to those denied an education in Virginia public schools between 1954-64 in places where public schools were closed to avoid desegregation. Scholarship awards can assist in a multitude of educational areas including a GED program, career and technical education and training, two-year college degree program and a four-year undergraduate degree program.