The HBCU Transformation Project is a collaboration between the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF), and Partnership for Education Advancement. Forty HBCUs are currently working with the project and additional campuses are expected to join this year.
The Transformation Project has several core goals:
- Increasing enrollment and retention at HBCUs, improving graduation rates and better preparing students for successful careers.
- Further improving institutional performance and capacity and accelerating the pace of innovation at HBCUs.
- Creating opportunities for HBCUs to work together as a network, leveraging collective knowledge and power, and demonstrating the value of a networked approach.
- Reversing historic funding inequities, so HBCUs have the resources they need for long-term growth and success.
The HBCU Transformation Project recently received a $124 million investment from Blue Meridian Partners a group of philanthropic organizations that pool resources to invest more efficiently and effectively than any single funder could alone. Blue Meridian’s goal is to transform the philanthropic marketplace in order to improve the life trajectories of millions of young people and families across America. A list of Blue Meridian partners can be viewed here.
Most of the $124 million will be invested in high-return initiatives at individual HBCUs, such as building technology infrastructure, developing and testing transformative curricular and administrative strategies, and piloting platforms to work together on staff development, shared procurement, and related approaches.
“HBCUs have always been an express train to the Black middle class, and to keep that going, we need to accelerate our collaborative work and identify solutions that help maximize our students’ path to success. We’re thrilled that major donors and philanthropies are showing a new interest in HBCUs, and we welcome their support. It’s long past time for HBCUs to get the resources they deserve,” said Harry L. Williams, president of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.
