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that we hold on to that; because as we grow, we don’t want to overshadow the reason why we’re there.” Dr. Smith-Lewis ended with this thought on the UNITE theme: “UNITE means just that. We fundamentally believe that more resources are likely not coming to the sector, the sector being higher education, given the fact that HBCUs enroll 75% low-income students, 60% first-generation students. They also can’t put more financial pressure on the students that they intend to serve. And so, then the question becomes, what’s the new model for HBCUs as they continue to execute on their mission, and we think it’s uniting. We think it’s coming together, finding places of synergy, forming strategic alliances such that they can deliver from a shared perspective their education to the students in the communities they serve. And so, yes, UNITE is an opportunity to sort of grow, empower yourself, learn and celebrate. But it’s really the fundamental thesis behind what UNCF is trying to do to ensure that HBCUs can not only sustain themselves but thrive in the future. That if we can find ways to partner much more intentionally, to see ourselves not as competition; but through competition, that we work together to execute against our mission, that we unite and how we deliver our services, how we enroll our students, how we support our faculty and staff, that they’re ready that we can take our limited resource nature and continue to punch above our weight. So, I do hope that all of our participants not only see this as a conference for learning, but also perhaps as a vision for our collective future.”
So, what does it mean to be a liberal arts institution in the 21st century? How do we do that? [To answer that question], we got faculty involved. It is very important that we really lift up how we engage the campus community, how we communicate with them, how transparent we are about what we do and how we do it. And always keeping the student central as to why we do anything—why we are raising money, why we are improving buildings, why we’re trying to develop conducive living and learning centers and never sacrificing the quality of the education. If you don’t put those front and center, students don’t understand their why. Why am I here, why am I getting an education, how does that impact [me]? They want knowledge acquisition, but they also want knowledge application.” And the opportunities for knowledge application challenge was dealt with head on in the next plenary session featuring Dr. Lomax and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Mr. Michael Regan. “We have established the first HBCU [Minority Serving Institutions]MSI Federal Advisory Committee in the United States government, and we are announcing the new membership coming this fall. I’ve also created a senior advisor to me as the administrator that will focus on HBCU MSI engagement. We are announcing today a $2.5 million grant just to focus on HBCU community engagement. And we’ve already invested $50 million in Texas Southern University through the Bullard Center [for Environmental Justice] to focus on environmental justice and equity
grants. We’ve given $20 million to Dillard University. And we have technical advisory centers all across the country that are made up of HBCUs. There’s a special connection to our communities, to this justice and equity work that we’re doing. But we also know our HBCUs thrive in the medical field—Howard, technical schools, legal aptitude and HBCUs like North Carolina Central University. So, at [Environmental Protection Agency] EPA, I’ve had a number of conversations with the Vice President [Harris] about this, and this agency is heavily investing in the infrastructure and the resources to flow to our HBCUs.” In his thanks to Mr. Regan, Dr. Lomax stated the administrator as well as the Biden-Harris Administration has done and is doing “an extraordinary job to engage and listen to and invest in and activate all of the potential we have in the HBCU community.” Upon conclusion on Thursday, most attendees left to implement all they had learned, and Ms. Saskia Christian of SanPete Financial Group best summarized the feeling of those departing: “This UNCF Conference 2024 is just absolutely amazing. The wealth of knowledge is just breathtaking, in the room at one time. I can’t wait to do this again next year!” From a summit coordinator perspective, UNCF Senior Vice President of Strategic Partnerships Dr. Ed Smith-Lewis
was delighted and shared, “HBCUs need and deserve a space like this. We’ve been working extremely hard over the last eight years since I’ve been at UNCF to really provide a conference that created the space to really celebrate our institutions and to do so in a way that we thought was of the highest quality. HBCUs deserve a space that welcomes them, celebrates them and is of the highest quality.” When I remarked on the sessions held on the first day, where attendees were engaged in deep brainstorming sessions in the conference rooms, classrooms and even the hallway, Dr. Smith- Lewis replied, “We have spaces for people to learn in sessions, to network in the hallways, and to really be empowered on the main stage; and trying to think about how we provide content in all those different spaces and ensure that wherever you are, whoever you are, whether you’re a leader at an institution, a new team member at an institution, a funder, a partner, et cetera, that we really give a space and place for each of you, or each of them, to have a space where they can grow more connected to the community. [We worked to] focus on HBCUs and Black colleges more broadly, and we do support PBIs [Predominantly Black Institutions] as well, that we are intentional, that all of our messaging, all of what we do, all of what is discussed really centers on Black colleges and
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