Page 8 - TMCF 2024 Annual Report

report documented how HBCUs continue to face challenges securing funding to maintain and improve campus infrastructure, “potentially jeopardizing
their long-term sustainability.” Seventy of 79 HBCUs surveyed reported that 46% of their building space needed repair or complete replacement with some campuses reporting that more than 75% of building space needed repair or replacement.
State and federal leaders must help make sure their students have the resources they need to improve institutional facilities, increase broadband access, provide access to cutting-edge technological resources, decrease environmental hazards and establish or enhance centers for innovative research.
In September, we were proud to announce a historic $124 million investment from Blue Meridian Partners in our HBCU Transformation Project, which is a collaboration with United Negro College Fund and Partnership for Education Advancement that will support infrastructure improvements. In 2021,
Congress took a critical first step to help address this disparity by introducing the IGNITE HBCU Excellence Act, which has yet to be re-introduced in this session.
We can also support our HBCUs by making college more affordable for students of lesser means who these institutions disproportionately serve. Congress should dramatically increase the maximum Pell Grant award, which is the primary vehicle to make college affordable for nearly seven million low- and middle- income students, including 75% of HBCU students.
Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall said
that none of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. We got here because somebody bent down and helped us pick up our boots. Today, we must strive to continue his legacy by helping the next generation of Black leaders pick up their own boots. There is still far more work to be done, and there is perhaps no way better to help achieve that mission than by supporting our HBCUs.
8 2024 ANNUAL REPORT