September 25th 2023.
This week marks a grand occasion as the 2023 National HBCU Week conference is hosted by the U.S. Department of Education’s White House Initiative on HBCUs. The largest annual convening of historically Black college and university leaders and stakeholders in the United States is set to take place at a pivotal time.
The Supreme Court’s June ruling on affirmative action, and the letter sent to 16 governors by the U.S. Secretaries of Education and Agriculture to address the $12 billion funding disparity between public, land-grant HBCUs and their non-HBCU land-grant counterparts have added a sense of urgency to the conference. “What we’re saying to our governors is that we’re in a global, competitive world and we need everybody at the table, and we need diversity at the table,” said Dr. Deitra Trent, WHI executive director, in an interview with BLACK ENTERPRISE.
Themed “Raising the Bar: Forgoing Excellence Through Innovation & Leadership,” the conference will take place from September 24th to 28th at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City at Reagan National Airport in Arlington, VA. The White House Initiative expects 3,000 attendees, including 101 of the nation’s 103 WHI HBCU Scholars, and more than 25 participating federal agencies. TV host and HBCU alum Terence J. will serve as the event’s emcee and host a fireside chat with Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.
Key conference topics include infrastructure, particularly broadband access on HBCU campuses and surrounding communities, the impact of artificial intelligence on HBCUs, and ways to leverage partnerships to promote the economic wealth of HBCUs and the communities they serve. The Department of Commerce launched the Connecting-Minority-Communities program to deliver $134 million to 43 HBCUs to purchase broadband internet, equipment, and IT personnel, while the Student Freedom Initiative helped HBCUs apply to receive Internet for All grants. Private partnerships such as the one between Cisco and Claflin University have also been established to deploy 5G internet.
The Biden-Harris administration has invested a cumulative $7 billion directly to HBCUs over the past three years. Executive Leadership sessions will explore crisis management, such as the bomb threats made against 30 HBCUs in 2022 for which the White House provided roughly $2.5 million in Project SERV grants. Delaware State University received a $217,000 grant to enhance safety, training, and security through technology. Additionally, CEOs from Thurgood Marshall College and UNCF will discuss the HBCU Transformation Project, which recently received a $124 million investment from Blue Meridian Partners.
The conference will also feature Entrepreneurship sessions, with the White House Initiative working closely with federal agencies, the Small Business Administration, and the Department of Commerce to look at opportunities to provide assets for HBCUs. An example of this is Bowie State University, which has a tech-infused, 176,000-square-foot Entrepreneurship Living and Learning Community, a real-world innovation hub with student housing, retail space, and small business incubator. Bowie State is hosting the third annual HBCU+ Entrepreneurship Conference, which aims to be inclusive by bringing in universities and industry partners from outside the U.S.
The White House Initiative encourages attendees to take something tangible away from the conference. Dr. Trent said, “I want my universities to walk away from this conference with something tangible in hand. I want my students to walk away with an internship or a job, but I don’t want anyone to walk away from this conference empty handed.” The free career and recruitment fair on Thurs., Sept. 28 is open to recent HBCU graduates as well as members of the public, and last year, 200 people walked away with jobs.
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