Page 3 - TMCF 2023 Annual Report

LETTER FROM
This year was historic for our organization and the collective landscape for historically Black institutions of higher education.
First and foremost, the Thurgood Marshall College
Fund (TMCF) expanded its membership to include six historically Black community colleges (HBCCs). It’s an honor
to add Bishop State Community College, Drake State Community
& Technical College, Gadsden
State Community College, Lawson State Community College, Shelton State Community College and Trenholm State Community College. These institutions are all located in Alabama and bring our member school membership to 53 in our 36th year as an organization.
The HBCU Transformation Project,
a collaboration between TMCF, UNCF (United Negro College Fund) and Partnership for Education Advancement (Ed Advancement) received a $124 million donation from Blue Meridian Partners to increase its total investment to $184 million. Forty HBCUs are currently working intensively with the project and additional campuses are expected to join this year. Most of the additional $124 million will be invested in high-return initiatives at individual HBCUs.
The Dr. N. Joyce Payne Center
for Social Justice partnered with Gallup to release the inaugural Black Thriving in America report. The study examines the indicators of Black American life experiences drawn from decades of Gallup
research. The report includes items that have been asked across the world as part of the Gallup World Poll, the most comprehensive and farthest-reaching global survey. Black Thriving in America: 2023 is the first annual report in a 100-year commitment between the Payne Center and Gallup to study Black American suffering, struggling and thriving.
This year also saw incredible results from our advocacy efforts that will potentially have a far-reaching impact for our member schools and students. One such initiative resulted in U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack sending letters to 16 governors highlighting the greater than $12 billion disparity in funding between the HBCU land-grant institutions and their non-HBCU land-grant peers
in those same states. TMCF worked closely with the Biden administration for more than two years to encourage this critical step in raising awareness of these massive funding discrepancies.
TMCF advocacy also resulted in the announcement of a new Carnegie Classification methodology more inclusive of our member schools conducting research. The new classification system will include a clearer quantitative methodology
to distinguish between R1 and R2 institutions. Currently there are no HBCUs with an R1 classification.
The new methodology provides a clearer path for institutions hoping to achieve a higher classification.
Unfortunately, there were also historic events this year that
will negatively impact our work.
The Supreme Court ruled that
race should be removed as a consideration in college admissions. The court’s decision in Students
for Fair Admissions, Inc. (SFAI) v. President and Fellows of Harvard and SFAI v. University of North Carolina inexplicably rejects 40-plus years
of precedent, and each college’s, university’s or state system’s individual autonomy to gauge
the inherent educational value of demographic diversity for their respective campus communities.
It’s something our namesake
fought against and something
we’ll continue to battle. The ripple effects of this ruling are already in motion, as HBCUs collectively saw
a surge in enrollment for the fall 2023 semester. We continue to invite partners from across the spectrum to join and invest in our institutions and their students for the betterment of our nation as a whole.
On behalf of the TMCF team,
we express our gratitude to our sponsors, partners and donors who helped propel our work in 2023. It was a monumental year, but much work remains. We will not waver in our duty to our member schools and students.
Sincerely,
Dr. Harry L. Williams President & CEO
THE CEO
THURGOOD MARSHALL COLLEGE FUND 3