HBCUs as Engines of Black Economic Mobility
“HBCUs as Engines of Black Economic Mobility’’, an article by McKinsey Consulting, which is a management accounting firm established by a University of Chicago profess in 1926, lists five activities that HBCUs can provide to accelerate black economic mobility.
HBCUs were and are still engaged in performing the five activities the McKinsey article list as required to promote black economic mobility. The articles also, support the conclusion that the majority, if not all, of the economic mobility achieved by the black community, is directly attributable to the work performed by HBCUs to promote economic growth.
Nevertheless, social and economic disparities, while decreasing, still exist between the black community and the non-black US communities in the following categories: health, education, housing, income, and wealth. The main reason for these disparities, as the article points out, is HBCUs are doing all this work with endowments that are seven times smaller, on average, than those of non-HBCUs. And even with the current increase by philanthropists and large corporations to donate to and partner with HBCUs, the endowment gap will probably continue.
Therefore, HBCU Community Development Corporation (HBCUCDC) is recommending the following activity be added to the list of activities HBCUs are doing to foster the black economic mobility responsible for eliminating social and economic disparities and to close the endowment gap, (6) Developing mixed-use residential, retail, and commercial projects that incorporate the HBCU campuses and the surrounding communities, to generate revenue by increased student enrollment and local economic growth.
The funding for these projects is sort of like an endowment, but only available to HBCUs located in census tracts possessing a specific set of economic characteristics. HBCUCDC can help your HBCU tap into these resources.
If your HBCU needs assistance getting started contact us at www.hbcucdc.com.
