Here is this week’s news of grants or gifts to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.
The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff has been awarded a three-year, $600,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The historically Black university will use the funds to train beginning farmers and ranchers. The grant is targeting 20 counties in Arkansas that have a large number of farmers and ranchers who have been underserved because of such barriers as limited access to credit, lack of knowledge of land acquisition and transition, limited access to existing and viable markets, and lack of skills in financial planning and production. The small farm program at the university is directed by Dr. Henry English.
Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, received a five-year, $999,823 grant from the National Science Foundation to support its curriculum development initiative targeted towards increasing recruitment of women and students of color into STEM-related programs.
Historically Black Morgan State University in Baltimore received a $999,999 grant from the National Science Foundation to conduct research to study the impact of microplastics on marine ecosystems, particularly Chesapeake Bay.
Columbia University in New York City received a three-year, $5 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to develop a model curriculum —“Racial Justice and Abolition Democracy”— to address racial inequality in the criminal justice system. “Racism is our nation’s foundational sin and, in 2021, remains the defining challenge the United States must overcome to fulfill the promise of our democracy,” said University President Lee C. Bollinger.
