Chicago State University and three City Colleges of Chicago institutions are among the recipients of a multi-million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Education to the nation’s predominately Black schools.
Chicago State University and three City Colleges of Chicago institutions are among the recipients of a multi-million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Education to the nation’s predominately Black schools.
The federal government announced Friday that the schools – 62 in total – would each receive a portion of the $24.6 million given to help “enhance their capacity to serve low and middle-income African American students.”
“Strengthening these schools is critically important to increasing student completion and meeting President Obama’s goal of being first in the world in college graduates by 2020,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said Friday.
CSU and the CCC’s Kennedy-King, Olive-Harvey and Malcolm X colleges, along with the others nationwide, get the funds under formula and competitive grant programs that both support predominantly Black institutions with an undergraduate enrollment that is at least 40 percent African American and at least 50 percent low-income or first-generation college students.
All of Chicago’s grant recipient schools received formula grant money and are expected to receive $250,000 per year for five years, for a total of $1.25 million. Additionally, Kennedy-King and Malcolm X received competitive grants of $599,000 per year for four years, totaling $2.4 million.
“These awards translate into tremendous opportunities for our students,” said City Colleges of Chicago Chancellor Cheryl L. Hyman. “This funding will assist us in meeting our Reinvention goals to ensure more students earn college credentials of economic value, and leave us ready to transfer into bachelor’s degree programs or successfully move into the workforce.”
The money will also be a boost for Chicago State, which had been under fire this summer for its enrollment numbers and audit findings that pointed to fiscal mismanagement.
The federal grant, CSU officials told the Defender, will help the South Side state school continue on its path of revitalization.
"We’re really excited to receive this grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Our students are already doing the hard work of getting into CSU and committing themselves to studying and preparing for greater things. As our graduation numbers for first-time, full-time freshmen and our traditional body of older, working transfer students continues to improve, CSU students need every incentive – every dollar – that can push them over the finish line,” said Provost Sandra Westbrooks, Ph.D. She serves as vice president of Academic and Student Affairs for the school.
Formula funds help pay for academic instruction in disciplines in which Black Americans are underrepresented; tutoring; counseling service programs designed to improve student success; upgrading libraries, laboratories and other instructional facilities, and establishing or enhancing a teacher education program, to name a few, according to the Dept. of Education.
The competitive grant money can be used to establish or strengthen programs in specific areas: science, technology, engineering and mathematics; health education; internationalization; teacher preparation, and improving educational outcomes for African American males.
Also receiving grants are two south suburban schools: Prairie State College in Chicago Heights and South Suburban College in South Holland.
Copyright 2011 Chicago Defender