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.
Historically Black Delaware State University received a three-year, $622,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to investigate the effects of collective action and collective efficacy on health literacy through surveys, statistical analysis, and interviews. The grant program is under the direction of Raymond A. Tutu, chair of the sociology department at the university.
The Women’s Business Center at historically Black Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina, received a grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration. The grant will fund projects that aim to improve service delivery, training, and support provided to women-owned businesses impacted by COVID-19. Recipients of these grants are required to provide counseling, technical and financial skill development, comprehensive business assessments, and mentoring services to women interested in starting or growing a small business.
Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, received a $214,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to develop and run a three-week, residential institute about abolitionism and the Underground Railroad for 25 middle- and high-school teachers.
Jackson State University, a historically Black educational institution in Mississippi, received a five-year, $1.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The grant funds will be used to assist unemployed adults, low-wage workers, and returning high school and college students to enter or continue a program of postsecondary education. Services provided will include academic and personal counseling, tutoring and mentoring, career workshops, information on postsecondary education opportunities, student financial assistance, and help in completing applications for college admissions.
Historically Black Virginia State University has received a three-year, $430,000 grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to study the relations between cannabis use and heart rate variability in college students. The grant will provide funding for seven undergraduate students to participate in biomedical research, generate data for conferences and manuscripts, and inspire other undergraduate students to participate in research via lab workshops. The grant program is under the direction of Larry Keen, an associate professor of psychology at the university.
A $250,000 gift from an anonymous donor will create the Macon Bolling Allen Civil Rights and Transitional Justice Program at Pennsylvania State University‘s Dickinson Law School. The program will support civil rights and transitional justice activities, particularly those that serve juveniles from underrepresented populations, including children of color, children in the foster care system, and immigrants. In 1844, Macon Bolling Allen became the first African American person licensed to practice law in the U.S.
