HBCUs, Department of Ed Partnering to Engage Federal Agencies

Officials from the White House President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities are working with senior officials from the Department of Education to engage leadership from federal agencies on HBCU support, an effort that many in and around the Obama Administration are calling a ‘turning point’ for federal support and awareness of HBCUs.

Hampton University President and Advisory Board Chairman William R. Harvey confirmed that a meeting was scheduled between HBCU presidents and cabinet secretaries for tomorrow in Washington D.C., but will be postponed for a date likely to follow the annual HBCU Week conference, slated for Sept. 21-22 in the District.

Dr. Harvey, who requested the gathering in a meeting with Education Secretary Arne Duncan nearly two years ago, praised Duncan for his commitment to creating more equity for historically black colleges.

“Sec. Duncan is absolutely on board with trying to get other secretaries engaged in dialog to better serve historically black colleges,” he said. “I trust him, and I want to thank him for his continuing work on this important issue.”

A 2014 report issued by the Department of Education revealed that HBCU funding awarded by federal agencies fell to a six-year low in 2012, the last year of available funding data. Historically black colleges received just over $1.2 billion, or 3.4 percent, of the total funding awarded to all colleges and universities for research and development, professional training, physical plant enhancement and direct institutional support.

Ivory Toldson, acting director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, says that the meeting will serve as a foundation for dialog on how HBCU can take advantage of funding resources from federal agencies.

“This meeting also supports a range of new efforts by (the Department of Ed) and the White House Initiative on HBCUs to enhance our efforts to work with federal agencies to provide information on funding opportunities that are available to those within the HBCU community,” said Dr. Toldson. “Recently, I published a series of blogs on funding opportunities for HBCUs across three federal agencies.  These blogs were disseminated to more than 2,500 individual who are affiliated with HBCUs.  Last week, the blog for NSF was paired with a webinar at the NSF headquarters, which attracted more than 600 potential HBCU principal investigators.”

Harvey and Toldson confirmed that only one cabinet member, Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, committed to attending the meeting, while others planned to send representatives to deliver reports on how agencies were meeting President Barack Obama’s 2010 executive order for departments to seek ways to support black colleges.

In a letter to Duncan, Dr. Harvey expressed hope that a later date would encourage greater attendance from agency heads, and better possibilities for partenrship.

“…I believe that, like you, Secretary Vilsack “gets it” and is genuinely committed to doing what he can to help HBCUs,” Dr. Harvey wrote. “However, we are most interested in a dialogue that includes those agencies whose records of engagement are abysmal.”

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