TMCF FEATURE

POP CULTURE, POLICY & PARTNERS: HBCUs HAVING THEIR MOMENT

BY DR. HARRY WILLIAMS

We are currently witnessing an exciting cultural moment for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). There is a renewed level of public interest, fundraising, and corporate partnerships within the HBCU community from a diverse host of people and organizations.

In the 1980s, HBCUs had a major cultural moment. For the first time, these institutions were showcased in popular culture withA Different World, the first TV show to focus on the HBCU college experience, and several popular movies. Today, we are experiencing a renewed pop-culture focus on HBCUs.

In November 2019, through its #Change4Change Radiothon, the syndicated morning show The Breakfast Club raised over $708,000 to benefit the newly created Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) | The Breakfast Club HBCU Scholarship which will be awarded through TMCF for students attending both publicly and private HBCUs.

Donors for this successful radiothon included The Breakfast Club’s incredibly generous listeners, as well as Cardi B, Andrew Yang, Fabolous, Lena Waithe, Atlantic Records, Columbia Records, and Epic Records. Major donations came in from Michael Rubin ($125,000), Byron Allen ($100,000), Chadwick Bozeman ($100,000), Robert F. Smith ($100,000), and many more celebrities and companies, who all believed in the importance of preserving access to HBCUs and supporting the next generation of HBCU students. We all remember the now iconic way in which Beyoncé paid homage to HBCUs in her 2018 Coachella performance and 2019 documentary Homecoming. Kanye West brought his Sunday Service to Howard’s homecoming, giving even more global attention to the rich HBCU homecoming tradition. TV and movie characters are donning HBCU apparel more often as seen in the hit movie Us. And, alumni are singing the praises of HBCUs, giving back, and creating scholarships and partnerships with their alma maters like never before. Even black fraternities and sororities are supporting HBCUs in a major way as seen in the AKA sorority’s day of giving raising $1 million for HBCUs in 24 hours.

Congressional leaders, through the Bipartisan Congressional HBCU Caucus, and the White House value the work that HBCUs do to educate millions of Americans every year and are showing that through meaningful legislation. In December 2019, Congress passed and President Trump signed into law the FUTURE Act, critical legislation to provide funding support for HBCUs. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) signed by President Trump, includes provisions from the HOMECOMING Research Act, which requires a national study to review defense research at HBCUs with the goal of increasing engagement and research partnerships between the Department of Defense and HBCUs. There are 101 HBCUs across the nation. Nine percent of all African American college students attend HBCUs, and these TMCF

institutions are responsible for 22 percent of current bachelor’s degrees granted to African Americans. HBCUs have a rich history in America, and today they are producing a pipeline of talent for our nation’s most competitive industries and top companies.

At TMCF, we have seen the immense value of the intersection between culture, policy and partners seen in the work we do with our 47 member-schools. Our National Ambassador, Terrence J has lent his time to many of our signature programs and events such as our entrepreneurial and innovation competition called The Pitch and our annual gala. Corporate partners, like Ally Financial, Inc. have teamed up with Big Sean, his Sean Anderson Foundation and TMCF for our entrepreneurial business competition called Moguls in the Making, and Nas is a spokesperson of our Hennessy Fellows program for HBCU graduate students.

HBCUs are cultivating students interested in designing the future. The colleges and universities have created partnerships with industry partners to strengthen and enhance their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics curriculum and programs. They are recruiting top faculty and experts to train students in the latest technologies and prepare them to graduate college-ready to innovate. Looking forward there is no doubt the HBCU community is on a bright and upward trajectory with all eyes on us. America and the world are wanting to know more about who we are, what

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we do, and how we over produce amazing talent. TMCF will continue to lead, provide training, scholarships, internships, and employment to HBCU students and graduates while the students

continue to shine. The positive attention and cultural integration are welcomed. The best is yet to come for all of our nation’s vitally important HBCUs.

Harry L. Williams is the president and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, the largest organization exclusively representing the black college community. Before joining TMCF, he spent eight years as president of Delaware State University.

Follow him on Twitter at @DrHLWilliams.