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 Louisiana HERO collaboration was recently informed that it would receive about $250 million from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Grid Innovation Program. Historically Black Xavier University in New Orleans will receive $5 million of the grant money. The Grid program aims to enhance grid flexibility, improve the resilience of the power system against growing threats of climate change, and ensure American communities have access to affordable, reliable, and clean electricity. Ouloide Yannick Goue, an assistant professor in the department of physics and computer science at Xavier, is the principal investigator for the university’s HERO-funded project.
The National Institute for Student Success at Georgia State University received a grant from the Carol and Gene Ludwig Family Foundation to fund pilot programs of one of the university’s most successful initiatives, Keep Hope Alive, at three higher-ed institutions in Georgia, including Albany State University and Fort Valley State University, two historically Black institutions. The partner institutions will provide eligible students with modest financial support on the condition that they attend a suite of advising, academic, and financial wellness supports.
Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, received a $100 million grant from the Duke Endowment, a nonprofit based in Charlotte. It is the largest contribution ever received by the university. More than $60 million will be earmarked for financial aid to attract low-income undergradute students from North and South Carolina and for graduate students who attended HBCUs. Some $25 million f the funds will be used to renovate s building on csmpus nsmed for Wilhelmina Reuben-Cooke, one of the first Black undergraduate students at the university.
