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.
A group of technical colleges and HBCUs within the South Carolina Coalition for Higher Education in Prison has received a $1.3 million grant from Ascendium, a Wisconsin-based philanthropic organization, to support incarcerated students as they study in prison and after their release. The funds will be used to hire four academic coordinators through Healthy Routines, a Columbia, South Carolina-based nonprofit. The coordinators will help students with their educational pursuits and re-entry into their communities. The four participating HBCUs are Benedict College, Morris College, Claflin University, and Voorhees University.
Stillman College, a historically Black educational institution in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, has received a $250,000 grant from the Pfizer Multicultural Equity Collective to create the Black Belt Health Equity Initiative, a project aimed at reducing health disparities across Alabama’s Black Belt region. The program will include integrating educational opportunities, workforce development, and community health interventions that promote health equity throughout the region.
Historically Black Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida, has received a $100,000 donation from the U.S. Tennis Association to construct the HBCU’s first on-campus tennis courts. The school currently has a varsity women’s tennis team who must practice and compete off-campus.
Norfolk State University, a historically Black educational institution in Virginia, has received a $400,000 gift from TowneBank to create the TowneBank Endowed Athletic Success Fund. The endowment will be used to provide scholarships to current and future student-athletes.
Terrell Strayhorn, distinguished professor of education and psychology at historically Black Virginia Union University has been awarded an Engineering for One Planet grant from the American Society for Engineering Education and the Lemelson Foundation. The grant will be used to integrate environmental, social, and business sustainability into the HBCU’s curriculum and research endeavors.
