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 Center of Excellence for Learning Sciences at historically Black Tennessee State University in Nashville received an $11.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for programs to train daycare workers. The grant will support the Tennessee Childcare Online Training System.
Five campuses of California State University will share a $410,000 grant from the College Futures Foundation for programs to increase the graduation rate of male students of color. The universities participating in the Young Males of Color Consortium are Sacramento State University, California State University, Dominguez Hills, California State University, Fullerton, Cal Poly Pomona, and California State University, Bakersfield.
Morehouse College, the historically Black liberal arts educational institution for men in Atlanta, received a $2 million grant from the Mitchell Kapor Foundation to fund scholarships, expand academic programs, and support student recruitment efforts. Kapor is a tech pioneer and venture capitalist who designed Lotus 1-2-3, which made the personal computer a staple of corporate offices in the 1980s. The tech leader also served as founding chair of Mozilla, creator of the Firefox web browser.
Historically Black Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte received a grant from the Duke Endowment for professional development programs for university faculty. The grant will fund the participation of 10 faculty members in leadership seminars with consultants and executive coaching sessions.
Howard University, the historically Black educational institution in Washington, D.C., received a $100,000 donation from the Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia. The funds are earmarked to relieve the debt of 34 students who need to pay off their balances in order to graduate.