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.
Adrian Christopher, assistant professor of special education at historically Black Alabama A&M University, has been awarded a $1.25 million federal grant from the Office of Special Education Programs to launch Project TEACH (Training Educators for All Children with Handicaps). The project aims to address the shortage of special education teachers in Alabama by supporting students who are pursuing degrees and certificates in special education.
Fayetteville State University, a historically Black educational institution in North Carolina, has received a $500,000 gift from the estate of James M. Boyd, an alumnus who passed away in 2022. The gift will be used to continue the James M. Boyd and Wilma F. Boyd Scholarship Fund, a $25,000 endowed scholarship initially established by Boyd in 2012 that supports junior students studying education or sociology.
Delaware State University has been awarded a $1.48 million grant from the National Science Foundation to support the “Advancing Research Capacity at HBCUs through Exploration and Innovation” program at the NSF. As the project’s lead institution, Delaware State University will support HBCU leaders in assessing their research capacities and strengthening their strategic planning.
Dillard University, the hitorically Black educational institution in New Orleans, Louisiana, has received a $289,920 grant from the United States Department of Homeland Security to address targeted violence and violent extremism towards law enforcement, faith leaders, community leaders, K-12 schools, and college students in the local New Orleans area. The funds will be used to create a targeted violence and terrorism prevention team on campus, conduct training sessions with the campus police department, and conduct training programs for students on targeted violence prevention.
The University of Houston has been awarded a $1.2 million grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to expand diversity initiatives in STEM and aerospace engineering fields. The grant will support historically underrepresented students through developing customized experiential learning and research experiences, fostering an inclusive campus and community, and creating professional development and mentoring programs.
The Kresege Foundation has awarded $500,000 each to the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and the United Negro College Fund to provide scholarships for Detroit Public Schools graduates pursuing a postsecondary education at HBCUs. The foundation has pledged to award an additional $500,000 to each organization if they can raise matching funds.
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois Chicago has received a $100,000 grant from the Chicago Community Trust to establish the Become a Strategic Learner Program. The initiative aims to close the equity gap in higher education retention for Black, Latinx, and first-generation students, thereby creating a more inclusive academic environment.
The Philadelphia Writing Project in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania has received a two-year research-practice partnership grant from the Spencer Foundation to support an initiative aimed at promoting stories of Black youth in Philadelphia. In partnership with Independence National Historic Park and The Colored Girls Museum, scholars from the university will work to create a living archive of these stories.
