Historically black colleges and universities are at the forefront this week. Charged with educating the ancestors of slaves for more than 150 years, HBCUs have struggled to keep up their commitment, facing financial and accreditation issues.
White House top advisor Valerie Jarrett, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Dr. John Silvanus Wilson, head of the White House Initiative on HBCUs, will meet with most of the presidents of the nation’s 105 historically black colleges and universities for a two-day conference at the Washington, D.C. Marriot Wardman Park, starting Monday.
During the conference, the White House, business and education leaders and the HBCU presidents will discuss President Barack Obama’s goal to bring HBCUs up to speed and help create the most well-educated and diverse workforce in the world by 2020.
The White House initiative on HBCUs – which provides for federal funding to assist HBCUs – was created by President Jimmy Carter in 1980 via executive order and continued and expanded by every president since.
President Obama extended the executive order in February of this year. As a part of renewing that order, $98 million in new money was slated for HBCUs at the Department of Education, an increase in the Pell Grant, which many HBCU students receive; almost $200 million in additional funding for HBCU infrastructure programs, graduate programs and more, and for a comprehensive science and technology program for historically black, Hispanic and tribal-serving schools at the National Science Foundation.
