Harvard University is supporting a new coalition of HBCUs with a $1.05 million grant to strengthen research capacity across 15 institutions.
Formally launched April 29, 2026, at Howard University, the Association of Historically Black Colleges and Universities Research Institutions (AHRI) is a coalition that brings together schools working to expand their collective research, innovation, and impact, according to a news release.
The funding, awarded through the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery (H&LS) Initiative, will help build research infrastructure and provide technical support as member institutions work toward achieving R1 status, the highest level of research activity under the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, per the release.
“Through this three-year grant to AHRI, the H&LS Initiative is deepening our commitment to developing enduring partnerships with HBCUs,” said Sara Naomi Bleich, Harvard’s vice provost for special projects, The Harvard Gazette reports. “We are honored to leverage our expertise in research infrastructure and capacity-building to help further HBCU research excellence.”
The grant advances Recommendation Three from the 2022 report by the Presidential Committee on Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery, which called for deeper, sustained collaboration with HBCUs, the outlet notes.
Harvard’s Office of the Vice Provost for Research and its Office for Sponsored Programs will support AHRI member institutions by enhancing research administration and compliance systems, including hosting HBCU staff and providing guidance on grant management from start to finish.
“AHRI marks a powerful new chapter in the HBCU research landscape, bringing institutions that have too often worked in isolation into sustained collaboration with one another and with the country’s leading research universities,” Ruth Simmons, senior adviser to the president on HBCU engagement at Harvard, said via the news release.
Breaking Down AHRI
In addition to the $1.05 million grant from the H&LS Initiative, AHRI receives backing from a strategic partnership with the Association of American Universities, which will share a location with the coalition, the news release states.
The organization aims to elevate HBCUs’ role in leading-edge, interdisciplinary research while expanding policy influence and accelerating large-scale discoveries. Its work also focuses on broadening funding opportunities, enhancing faculty recruitment, and giving students more access to research and career pathways, the release notes.
AHRI’s founding members include Howard University, the only HBCU to hold R1 designation, alongside 13 R2 (high research activity) institutions, including Clark Atlanta University, Delaware State University, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Hampton University, Jackson State University, Prairie View A&M University, and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, among others.
As a collective, AHRI institutions receive half of all federal research funding among HBCUs and play a key role in advancing solutions across health, science, education, justice reform, and economic development, according to the news release.
Howard’s interim president Wayne A. I. Frederick described the launch of the AHRI as a “declaration that HBCUs are not only contributors to research and innovation, but also leaders shaping a new era of discovery, reimagining both the solutions and the systems that drive research.”
