The Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) has received a five-year $25 million grant from the Lilly Endowment Inc. to support the organization’s “Project HBCU Capacity Building: Maximizing HBCU Performance Through Investments in Research, Operations, and Innovation.”
The new funds will allow TMCF to work with historically Black college and universities across the country to address infrastructure needs and enhance research opportunities. The project will focus on three key strategies: enhancing administrative systems and processes, facilitating cohorts of TMCF member institutions to share best practices and resources, and providing grants to support faculty research and development, increase student retention and graduation rates, improve career services programs, and upgrade technology for admissions, advising, and financial aid systems.
“Over five years, we anticipate substantial improvements in institutional capacity outcomes across participating HBCUs,” said Dr. Harry Williams, TMCF president and CEO. “While TMCF has chosen to focus some aspects of this initiative on a select group of HBCUs, the impact will extend far beyond those institutions, fostering collaborative learning to increase operational excellence and institutional capacity for the greater HBCU community.”