Pleasure of serving as congresswoman alma adams first legislative director and help get the hbcu caucus started and amazing to see all that the congresswoman and staff have done since then. Today you all are joining us for a really important conversation about the ways at that government, philanthropy and business can support our hbcus and sustaining them into the future and with that im going to invite the congresswoman up to get us started. [applause] good afternoon. Good afternoon. Im still hbcu strong. Thank you all for being here today and thank you shaniqua and thank you all for joining us. Im congresswoman alma adams and it is my pleasure to represent the 12th Congressional District in North Carolina, charlotte, mecklenburg, and cabarras county. Give it up for the queen city. [applause] i want to thank especially our same guests who will participate on todays hbcu brain trust. Id like to thank the members of the first bipartisan hbcu tour here. When i started this caucus eight years ago, i had no idea that wed grow to have more than 104 members across both Political Parties and both chambers of congress. But now eight years in, i know that the strength of the caucus is a testament to how much support we have and last year, we were about to get ignite funding for our hbcus through appropriations. Because of the work we did, 50 million in grants is now available to our schools all right. To make transformative investments and Research Structure and of course, this includes research productivity, faculty expertise, graduate programs, physical infrastructure, Human Capital development and partnerships leading to increases in external funding, which is what were here to talk about today. The investments made in our schools today are an investment in the future and so, i just use myself as an example. I am a living testament to the necessity and the importance of hbcus. My mother raised me. She did the domestic work, she was not formally educated, but understood the value of education and the importance it would be in my life. She did domestic work. She cleaned other folks houses so i wouldnt have to. I need to clean my own sometimes though. But like many of the young people i taught at Bennett College for four decades of my academic career. My story is a lot like theirs and probably a lot like many of yours here today. First generation student, North CarolinaState University gave this poor black girl who walked those ghetto streets of newark, new jersey a chance because they believed in an opportunity, and the fundamental importance of an education that web deboise talked about. Of all the civil rights, and struggled for 400 years the right is learn to undoubtedly the most fundamental. So were still fighting for that fundamental right. Around this country, political leaders are eliminating history from our classrooms. Three months ago, the Supreme Court struck a huge blow to the education of black students when they struck down affirmative action. So its clear that despite all of the work that weve accomplished, we still have a lot to do so its imperative that we work across industries and sectors to ensure the sustainability of our hbcus so that our students always have a place to call home to get the education that some people seem to be hell bent on keeping them from getting. So with that, id like to invite our first speaker, the honorable miguel cardona, our u. S. Secretary of education to the stage and we are going to open up this conversation. [applause] how about a round for her and what shes listen, when i came into town the first meeting i had, i knew hbcus had a fearless champion and youve lived up to it and i thank you. I want to thank you publicly for the advocacy on behalf of hbcus. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Secretary. Thank you for being here with us because the importance of hbcus and the impact that infrastructure funds has on them, as you know, is not only critical, but its certainly very, very important to me and so, when you get a chance, youve been to my district and i invite you to come back again and we can spend another day. Let me start by asking you a couple of questions. First of all, a few weeks ago, you launched a Grant Program for infrastructure in our nation historically black colleges and our tribal colleges and our minority serving institutions, based on the ignite process and the package. What is the importance of this funding and exactly how is it going to help our hbcus . Thank you for that question. Look, thanks in large part to your advocacy and the work that youve done to really bring this issue to the forefront. We first have to acknowledge that historically black colleges and universities have been underfunded for decades. Weve got to start there. Lets acknowledge that theyre punching above their weight while not getting the funding that they should have gotten. [applause] so, you know, that funding that you speak to primarily, and when i talk to hbcus president s, students, faculty, they say look, we want to make sure that our infrastructure is at the level where we could compete with other colleges for some of these large contracts, right . So we need to make sure we can do the research. We make sure we have the labs that we need. So for me by not funding at the level that is needed, were setting were not allowing hbcus to compete for some of the major grants and you know, during the pandemic, there were six, seven from the beginning of the president s administration, there were 7. 3 billion dollars directed toward hbcus and some of the dollars, as you know, with grants. There are specific things you can use them on only. We heard from hbcus early on to soften up, loosen up some of the guidelines with hbcus so they could use some of the emergency relief dollars to help with some of the infrastructure and we were able to do that because of their advocacy, because of your support. So for me, making sure hbcus have the dollars that they need for infrastructure will allow them to compete where they should be competing. Well, thank you. Thank you for that and weve got a number of president s and other folks from these colleges and universities who certainly support what youve said and who know what youre talking about is absolutely the thing, so im sure that you are aware, most of us are, of the recent unfortunate Supreme Court rulings regarding affirmative action and the Biden Administrations Student Loan Debt program. First of all, can you talk a little bit about the ways that you forsee or have you already seen the these rulings and how theyre impacting our schools, hbcus in particular . Well, the Supreme Court got the affirmative action wrong and set us back decades in this country and our resolve and strategy around making sure were working harder across the country to bring diversity into all of our campuses. Were telling College President s, you know, recruit differently. Make sure youre connecting with students. We are going to be releasing a report of some of the findings that weve gotten in conversations not only at the department of education when we held it convening, but in regional convening. So thats coming out very soon. Looking forward to sharing that, but what ive also heard from hbcus is, you know, what were finding is, black students are saying, now what . This is nonsense. I want to go to an institution that really sees the black excellence that i bring to the table. Now . Where they value me as a student. So we recognize that there are increases in enrollment in hbcus and we need to plan accordingly with funding for hbcus. [applause] im glad that theyre going to be getting more students, but im going to be very honest here, look, earlier this week, we sent out a letter to 16 governors reminding them of the morale act. There was a onetoone dollar for the land grant university, a dollar for the hbcu. That hasnt happened. And weve my next question. Good. We put it out there saying this is how much that hbcu should have if you followed if your state followed the morelle act when it was done. Millions and millions of dollars, that would have given them an opportunity to compete so theres state funding, but at the federal level, you know better than i do, i learned on the way here to this conversation that the House Speaker just gave his team the recess for the weekend. We are a week and a half away from a potential shut down ments nine days. And giving them recess . Look, you want to talk about, we proposed initially over 100 million for hbcus. The debt ceiling they held funding in hostage. Their latest proposal was like a 26 cut to the department of education. Guess who is going to suffer the most with that. So weve got to call out the nonsense, call out the drama. We are going to keep pushing for infrastructure and hold states accountable, too, to make sure theyre paying their fair share. Listen folks, we need to say this is nonsense. We need to do double, not less. Let me move just a little bit on the question about the 1890s and the oneone match. What had as not been said much and i read your letter and thank you so much for doing that and sending it to all of the governors, but one of the things that i found out was that or that i know, weve got 1862 schools as well in the same states and theyre being funded four, five times what these the 1890s are getting. So weve got to do something about that, as well. I think where am i . Ive got like three minutes and i want you to make sure we look at that. I agree with that. You know, we have a responsibility to put out on the table the cards. Be honest, be transparent. Im not telling the governors that are there now that they had anything to do with that, but we are leaders today with so much divisiveness, if we have governors that dont mind stepping up against dei, lets have governors step up. Were running out of time. Let me ask you about the Biden Administration on saving on education, we call the save act. Its going to help students in terms of looking at their income as they pay off the loans. Can you speak briefly to that. You know students that rule out college in middle school because of the cost. To me, Student Debt Relief is critical, the longest acting is the save plan, income driven repayment plan so it takes about 10 minutes to sign up. Its a new plan that we roll out. It could reduce undergraduate loan bills, loan payments in half for students that qualify. If youre making less than 32,800 a year, your payment will be zero until your salary goes up. What were trying to do here is open the door to Higher Education to students. We know graduates on average earn over a Million Dollars in their lifetime and race should not be in their place of life. Thank you, secretary, for your discussion. We know you have to move on. Thank you. Dont forget, you can come back to my district anytime. So lets give it up for secretary for that thoughtful discussion. [applause] let me just say, were getting ready to bring our next our next speaker on and i want to tell you a little about kwanzaa jones. She is a philanthropist, shes a nonprofit leader. She, along with her life partner and Business Partner founded the kwansa jones and initiative, which is a philanthropic grant making and Investment Organization that strategically partners with nonprofits and forprofits to ensure maximum impact. Ladies and gentlemen, help me welcome to the stage, ms. Jones come on up. Got a bad hat on, too, right . [applause] she wasnt told me yet her hat maker. And you havent told me yours. But she told me 1400 hats, is that it . Ive got 114 hats so youve got me by 10x. Thats all right. Youve done some great things. Thank you for joining us and coming all of this way today. Inks that are for having me. We heard from secretary cardona about the types of investments that government can make to sustain our hbcus so i want to get some ideas from you about what role you think philanthropy is in hbcus and youve been involved in hbcus. What are some of the examples of the work that youve engaged in to support our institutions . Well, thanks for that question and ill say thank you and starting with thank you because thats the foundation of the work that ive done for hbcus. Its coming from a place of gratitude and i have to have frat gratitude to my family, to my ancestors that attended hbcus and makes me feel a deep and strong connection to hbcus. I have an Honorary Degree from a hbcus, but i went to an ivy league school, but i would not have been able to do some of those things or to give back had it not been for the roots of hbcus. So ill talk to you a little about the role of philanthropy and specifically some of the things that i and my business in life partner Jose Feliciano through the initiatives, the first million that we ever gave to a college, we gave to a hbcu because thats where the commitment was for us. We gave later, 20 million to pwi, and got a lot of flak about it. Got a lot of notoriety about it, too because were the first africanamerican and the first puerto rican who ever had dorms named after them 275yearOld Institution, thats princeton university. You give to the pwis, what about hbcus. Thats what philanthropy is important for, its not just the dollars, but its the voice. Folks understand that we have been giving not so silently, but hbcu need more resources and thats the key. It is combining capital with community and connections, thats the power of what philanthropists can do because my goal is to have not an additional effect where you have one plus 10 equals 11. But you have one 10 times 10 equals 100. So if we have philanthropists and doesnt have to be a large number of them, but open their networks and their resources. Resources are what are absolutely critical, not just dollars. Once you get the dollars, how are you going to use the dollars . The people help with that. Right. Okay, so as more people, especially philanthropists like Mckenzie Scott continue to make investments in hbcus. We want to try to give some advice here and maybe some other folks to do some of the things youve done and them as well. What kinds of things or practices can we can you give us in terms of philanthropists and what basically engaging with our hbcus . Its a great question and you bring up Mckenzie Scott and she went to princeton, also, so shes a fellow tiger, too. A little bit older than i am. But i tell you one thing i wished happened, i wish mckenzie and i had a conversation because thats the starting point of what philanthropists can do to help hbcus, communicate with each other. Oftentimes philanthropists, especially when youre doing large dollar, multimillion dollar investments, its not charity, its not a donation, we want a return on our investment and a return on our investment that we want is a social impact return. It doesnt always have to be a financial return. A generational, social mobility return. So you have folks like philanthropists and you can imagine, some rooms and doors, not a lot of people that are looking like me, you, or some of us in the audience are in those rooms and doors, but when you get in through the door and into those rooms and you see folks that have access to capital, but dont have access to connections to folks who have our lived experience, then where and how they give their giving is arms length and at a distance. Oftentimes its using consultants to make the decisions, to use rubrics and which are critical, but you miss the soul, you miss the soul. I think we need to have more convenings in a conversation. Right, one of the things that our schools are almost two centuries old. Yes. The Oldest School goes back to like 185 years, and some of our buildings on our campuses are as old as our schools. Many of them on many of these campuses are closed because of the fact that they have been underfunded so they have not been able to do what they need to do in terms of keeping up with the facilities. But ive seen this year and the theme for me the past couple of years has always been about infrastructure and served on the campus for 40 years and attended a hbcu and ive visited quite a number of them. So, ive seen this year for the brain trust, its more in 24. In other words, while folks have done all that theyve done and we appreciate that, were looking ahead. Because its about not just for our schools to thrive, but that they should survive. Not that they sudden should survive, but should thrive. Sustainability. What new programs or plans do you have planned for next year, more for 24, to advance efforts to sustain our hbcus . So congresswoman adams, what i love about the more for 24 is it underlies really how i operate, how i live and thats a personal motto, own your power, live your purpose and be of service, which means its about taking action. You need services, its action oriented and thats what more for 24 does. Some of the actions are and before i even say it, i often ask the question, the question is this, if you get what you want, will you be ready for what you have . Im going to say it one more time because its critical for hbcus. If you get what you want, will you be ready for what you have, for individuals, for institutions, collectively, hbcus in order for them to be ready for what they have need to have conversations. It comes back to connections with folks like philanthropists with folks that are taking action without waiting to have huge, huge, huge, massive events to do it and understanding, the power starts in starting. One of the initiatives that i have and having been a former of hbcu in greensboro, North Carolina, right across the street from North Carolina a t, your alma mater. The premises is it takes all of us, individually and collectively to move hbcus forward. And what it does, the mission is twofold. What it does first in the mission is to equip hbcu leaders. Equip them with the tools and resources to be investment ready because what happens to your point of philanthropists who may not be doing the investment, sometimes its because they dont think the hbcus and the administration and the leaders are ready for it so the point, if you get what you want, will you be ready for what you ha