Collins Brothers Establish Family Legacy through Endowment

When it comes to brotherhood, the Collins brothers truly live by that word.

Victor ‘07, Chantin ’11, and Daniel Collins ’17 attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University with their ambitions set to become engineers. On top of that, the brothers are members of the same divine nine organization, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc.

In December 2020, the trio accomplished a major goal for their family by establishing The Collins Brothers Endowed Scholarship. The $25,000 scholarship is for students in the College of Engineering with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better, and who also reside in their hometown, Durham, North Carolina, or graduated from Hillside High School. The scholarship will be made on a financial need basis annually through the Office of Financial Aid.

“It was important for us to establish a scholarship for students at North Carolina A&T because when we were growing up, our parents worked really hard and we didn’t have a lot of resources to go to college,” said Victor. “I was a first-generation college student paving the way for my brothers and I experienced first-hand what students need to make it at a university.”

The Collins Brothers are also co-founders of a nonprofit, The CNOTE Foundation based in Durham, that focuses on creating a pipeline for underserved youth to attend historically black colleges and universities through financial support. The organization has been instrumental in raising funds for its endowment and bringing more African American culture and diversity to the city of Durham through art, music and live events.

“We have a goal to establish a scholarship at more HBCUs to help students who have similar backgrounds such as ours,” said Chantin. “We were fortunate to have mentors, the Salvation Army’s Big Brother, Big Sister program, and our older brother, Victor.”

To support the fundraising commitment for their endowment, The CNOTE Foundation partnered with several organizations such as the A Plus Group, Durty Bull Brewing, The Durham Bulls Baseball Organization, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc., Durham Hillside High School, and many others.

“I look up to my brothers because they continue to help me strive to be a successful black man and walk in their footsteps of making an impact in other people’s lives,” said Daniel.

This contribution of a new endowment at A&T aligns with the direction for the university’s capital campaign, The Power of Do.

Victor is an international and residential real estate broker located in Atlanta. Chantin is a full-time entrepreneur and business owner of A Plus Group, a natural cleaning business based in Durham, and Daniel is an engineer with the N.C. Department of Transportation in Henderson, North Carolina.

To learn more about the CNOTE Foundation to serve as board members or to support HBCU Endowments, please contact Victor Collins at vic@thevjrgroup.com or visit www.cnotefoundation.com.