Bipartisan Bill Goes Before Over 30 HBCU Presidents To ‘Streamline Federal Funding Opportunities For HBCUs’ – AfroTech
A bipartisan bill has been introduced to support research at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
Senator Raphael Warnock, D-GA, is a Morehouse College alumnus and the only HBCU graduate serving in the U.S. Senate. In Warnock’s career, he has secured more than $265 million for Georgia’s 10 HBCUs, as part of $17 billion in federal investments that were directed to HBCUs, a press release noted.
On March 24, Senators Warnock and Katie Britt (R-AL) introduced the bipartisan HBCU Research Capacity Act during a discussion attended by over 30 HBCU presidents.
“It was a privilege to be joined by so many HBCU presidents from across the nation. One of my biggest takeaways from the roundtable was our shared passion for ensuring all HBCUs have the resources available to provide their students with the highest level of opportunity – which I’m committed to continue fighting for,” Britt said in the news release.
The current legislation would support the launch of a federally coordinated website that contains information about HBCU-eligible STEM research and development funding opportunities. The purpose is to “streamline federal funding opportunities for HBCUs,” per the release.
The bill is timely as HBCUs account for nearly 18% of Black students earning bachelor’s degrees in STEM fields, the legislation reads. That impact may be even greater, with BestColleges.com estimating the figure is closer to 25%, UNCF reports. However, less than 1% of the 60 billion in federal research funding had gone to HBCUs in fiscal year 2023, according to the bill’s findings. The bill argues that this makes it harder to strengthen research capacity and creates barriers to access and resources, thereby increasing the difficulty for scholars to obtain federal research funding.
“Despite not always having every tool at their disposal, HBCUs continue to make massive contributions to the research and development community,” Warnock said in the press release. “This bipartisan bill will make securing federal dollars for their research efforts that much easier, and I am proud to work alongside another champion of HBCUs in Senator Katie Britt.”
Dr. Harry L. Williams, president and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, commented, per the release:
“The UNCF (United Negro College Fund, Inc.) applauds Senators Raphael Warnock (GA) and Katie Britt (AL) for introducing the HBCU Research Capacity Act. Creating a federal clearinghouse to assist HBCUs is a step toward improving access to research funding and breaking down long-standing barriers. At the same time, more must be done to ensure HBCUs—especially those that will never be R1 institutions, yet contribute immeasurably by supplying the prepared students necessary for other HBCUs to become R1s—are fully included in building research capacity. There is no doubt that this bill should be passed, but it can’t be where the work of modernizing the research capacity of HBCUs ends.”
