In 1997, i had an opportunity to work on an educational project with a gentleman named doctor samuel proctor. A number of you know him as a form present of North Carolina a t, hbcu, former president of Virginia Union university, private hbcu. He spent time in washington, d. C. , as a kennedy appointee to the peace corps but a number of you know him to his work as a pastor of the baptist church. In 1997 when opportunity to sit at a very lovely room similar to this with a donor and a donor who owns a very large and Famous Family foundation. The head of the walked into the room and made exchange niceties she said and ask you one question . He said yes. Is there a need for black colleges today . And doctor proctor leaned back in his seat having her discretion of most of life and he said maam, if you make him can restructure the question . The question is not whether there is a need for hbcus today. The question is, what would america be today without the hbcus . And so she nodded to dr. Proctor, and the conversation begin. It made an impact on me. I was in my late 20s then. For two particular reasons. Number one, it showed 142 years after the conclusion of the civil war the question about black Higher Education, hbcus and, frankly, the question of black people in the American Social order were still on the table for conversation. Number two, the conversation was about hbcus but also about the importance of american Higher Education and its imprint not just domestically but on foreignpolicy, on foreign economic systems and on foreign government. Our role these institutions have played. Fast forward to may 2017 and we are having a conversation about hbcus and the road ahead. Why is that important . For over 150 years hbcus has been an important part of the american Higher Education landscape. Like many other post secondary institutions that challenges in the regulatory scheme as well as with School Finance and other things. But because hbcus on average educate more students are firstgeneration, maybe for low income, students of color but, frankly, all students from different races, backgrounds and creeds, there a unique role that the plate in American Education and particularly are lawmakers should keep that in mind. While we seem some great things from our institutions, the large number of people tha reproduce t go on to earn phd is in those and number professions going goes to become schoolteachers. There are a number as well. We had the closure of st. Paul college in my state of virginia. We have a number of the schools that are on the brink of bankruptcy and number of our students are leaving colleges saddled with a and so this is accomplished by Higher Education and particularly the role of a hbcus in it. Today we have four people who are wellversed in this conversation. For those of you are watching via aei live stream or cspan, the hashtag for this event is stateofhbcus. Send a question, oftentimes i will read a question i receive on my phone. Number two, we are going to have four speakers. They will come appear one at a time. It will provide an overview and some remarks were about ten minutes. After the conclusion of the last week were all going to make our way over here for a dialogue. We will talk about 2025 minutes and then we will open it up for question, audience q a. I will invite our first speaker to the lectern is dr. Michael lomax, the president United Negro College fund. He represents 37 private hbcus in the united states. Not only does he know this issue aas a president of the nonprofit but also is a graduate of morehouse college, former president of Dillard University and sent as he is ready to get up your i will not steal any more of this fund and i will invite dr. Lomax to the lectern. [applause] thank you very much, gerard. I want to thank you for your leadership in bringing this i think very important conversation to the American Enterprise institute. I live in the neighborhood some also going to welcome you. Ive watched this renovation occurred and said when are going to bite me inside. Glad to be here. You know, i think we often to talk about hbcus looking in the rearview mirror. Its very important now to take this occasion to talk about the road ahead. To talk about the future, to talk about innovation, to talk about change. We recognize the importance of institutional change to our advocacy and work to build institutional capacity. We understand the Higher Education is at a crossroads where institutions need to be to reorient the Business Model to be more student ready. Uncf is providing scholarships for students for nearly 75 years now and we award about 100 million of scholarships annually to over 10,000 students. Since our our founding we have assisted nearly half a Million Students earn college degrees. And during that period we have witnessed a significant shift in student demographics and expectations. Today, students are radically different from those of yesteryear. And todays students grew up with a world at their fingertips. And 140 characters or less. Technology connects this generation in a way i could not imagine back in the dark ages of my youth. So technology is moving at a pace significantly faster than Higher Education. Underscore, faster pace than Higher Education, requiring most institutions, not just hbcus to reimagine what it means to effectively teach and learn and very importantly, prepare students for careers in the 21st century workforce where Education Matters more than ever before. By 2025, 65 of all new jobs will require post secondary training. Within the fastestgrowing fields, stem and healthcare, 92 and 95 respectively of all new jobs will require postsecondary training. Credentials. Today, the pipelines of graduates to fill these jobs across all demographics is insufficient. And for africanamerican students, these concerns are more acute as they are significantly underrepresented in the requisite majors such as Computer Science and engineering. And there is still a penalty for being black. This is my visual. Im not going to talk much about it but it what you do know have a visual. [laughing] this is why we, and im trying to be energetic, are excited with a longterm support of we are working with a longterm support and partner of uncf, the Lilly Endowment incorporator of indianapolis, indiana. To assist 24 Higher Education institutions including 23 historically black colleges universities, and one predominately black institution as they seek to ensure our institutions are graduating students that are ready to survive and thrive in the 21st century workplace. And were doing that with a 50 million grant from lily. An investment in forward thinking and innovation. Other institutions, our institutions are pursuing a threepronged approach to improving outcomes for their respective institutions, and it is going to go over those quickly. If you want more detail go to our website are asked me questions. The first thing were doing is were trying to change that fouryear, fiveyear, secure experience would like to have more of a fouryear experience from being opaque for the student to being transparent, from being sort of allover the opportunity landscape to being more narrowly focused. And we call that creating intentional guided pathways for students. And an order to create those intentional transparent guided pathways for students, we are going to have to take on some of the sacred cows on the institutional campus. And gerard noted on a former president. Im a former faculty members will and i can tell you the last, the hardest thing to do is to change curriculum. But for students who are spending an awful lot of money to get an education, and all too often not find Employment Outcomes at the end of the rainbow, we cant keep doing what we are doing. We had to do things differently and it has to begin by building foundational tenets not just of a liberal education, but reimagining content and its delivery to ensure what we are teaching in the classroom is applicable outside the classroom, that it leads to not just a degree, but meaningful employment and to careers. And finally are increasing expectations to ensure students at the necessary experiential opportunities as well through integrated cocurricular engagement. And i will tell you that internships are not nice to have any more. Internships are absolutely essential. Employers are looking earlier and more often and more carefully at talent and they want to see how that talent translates what i learned in the classroom to what i learned in the workplace. And we see that figure in the technology, but they are just leaders in this. We all have to be fast followers. Followers. While the primary outcome of this work is gainful employment for our graduates, we also seek to improve outcomes along the way focusing on improving overall retention rates, Graduation Rates, and very important, time to degree. Six years is too long and too expensive. Five years is too long and too expensive. And the shorter we can make this, the less expensive we can make it and the more efficient we can make it, the better for our students. Some institutions or even developing stackable credentials whereby it students need to step out before completion of the bachelor degree, they will at least have a credential that they will give them a leg up on the labor market they can be employed meaningful and return mr. Because so many people are episodically now going in and out of Higher Education, and not going immediately to degree attainment. The success of this initiative is not just determined by the outcome of the 55,000 students, the cbi Career PathwaysInitiative Institution serve annually. For uncf success also means we document what we are learning and share that information to ensure that other education institutions can learn from the innovative model that we set forth by our cohort institutions. To do this uncf partners with visitations by providing them with the necessary Technical Assistance to improve their institutions capacity, to execute this work and my documenting what we are learning to develop models that lead to outcomes we seek. The work of these institutions are endeavoring to do now will be critical to the success of the future. I look forward to discussing the details of this more fully with you, but just remember as we think about this, the investment that these young people are making, and not so young people, are making in their education in terms of time and cost are significant. Today, the outcomes dont always warrant that investment. Africanamerican unemployment for college, black college graduate, not just a stroke the black colleges for all graduates is double that of their peers. Unemployment is at a staggering 50 . We have to keep faith with the expectation of these students by delivering to them not just the transformational element of a liberal Arts Education, but also the real and practical returns of career and implement. I look forward to discussing this innovative work that we are doing with you this morning. Thank you. [applause] our next speaker is Lezli Baskerville who is the president and ceo of naeohe, the National Association for equal opportunity in Higher Education. She is its first female president , and in a role she has a unique opportunity to work that only with predominantly hbcus but also but only like institutions which she will share more with you. For arriving to naeohe she had a long career in the Legal Profession having worked for the naacp, Field Organization including also having served as an appeals administered of judge in the District Of Columbia and also leadership position with the college here in washington, d. C. Would like to bring president baskerville to the lectern and lets welcome her. [applause] thank you so very much, gerard, and to aei, to all of the colleagues who are here. Thank you so much for choosing to be here. I see representatives from the white house, and i need to call out to ron smith was in the office of white house policy. Thank you so much for being here, and i feel the presence of omarosa was in the white house three times hbcu, director of communications whose voice along with that of jurong smith has kept the hbcu community on the mind of this administration. And i believe has something to do with the fact that we are here today. Naeohe is the nations only National Membership association of 106 historical black colleges and now roughly predominantly and 80 predominantly black institutions. Our position is to provide voice to this richly Diverse Community of colleges and to connect all of the colleges with opportunities to enhance their infrastructure and to better serve their goals. Naeohe is a table of which is the first and sometimes Diverse Group of president s and chancellors come together, and they suppress their individual goals for the goals of the whole, for the whole of the committee. And its been my privilege to serve with 20 is as outside pro bono counsel litigating in 18 states with the states have a starkly black, historically public black college in the historically public wh white colleges. We represent this community in judicial fora, before congress and the state legislators and administrative bodies. And it is my humble privilege to serve at this helm and to move this community forward. It is from advantage that i believe that in order for us to move the communities forward, in order for us to take full advantage of the types of opportunities that Michael Lomax pointed out, and those that are on the horizon, in order for us to get the types of supports that we need to move our committee forward, the first thing we have to do is change the narrative. We have to change the narrative so that when you are defining this richly Diverse Community of colleges, we do not accept the designation of these colleges as colleges for educational income firstgeneration students. They do, in fact, do that and her students are disproportionally low income firstgeneration. By definition their mission must be the education of the american site system or African Americans, but these institutions are richly diverse. We have ten institutions that a research intensive here they are graduating 42 of africanamericans that go on to get advanced degrees in the sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics. We have four medical schools and large number of dental schools of Public Health school. These visitations are graduating 60 of africanamericans in health professions. And so the first step to moving on and the first step to being heard and received as the innovators that they are is to change the narrative. I was adding beating saturday, and someone referenced a book, small change, and it talked about the history of involvement and investment in hbcus. And the reality is that as long as we define ourselves as small and underfunded and failing and for firstgeneration low income people will not be inspired and will not invest in us. The narrative is as reality is an data suggest that while we do that and we do an outstanding job, and many of our institutions will continue to do that, we are diverse. And america cannot realize any of its goals for excellence and diversity in the workforce for justice, for leadership at the helms of the multinational corporations without thriving diverse hbcus across the gamut. And so the first step is changing the narrative. Hbcus are a 13 billion shortterm business. Thats important. If people think that were coming hat in hand when members of Congress Called me, they said we want to come and talk about how we can help you, and i said im delighted to come and talk with you about how we can help you. Because if you need to shore up the infrastructure in america, you cannot do that and have an excellent and Diverse Workforce without my institution. If you want a thriving, richly diverse teacher corps and principal core, doctor sanders, you cant do that without hbcus. Because i have 50 of their graduating today 50 of africanamerican Public School teachers. And so the dialogue goes on but the reality is, this is a time for hbcus to tell the narrative about our return on investment. So for example, a question came up about hbcu Capital Financing program that is central to hbcus have been new classrooms, new laboratories, strong infrastructures. And the question was raised about whether or not these institutions need to be reviewed because they are a suspect category because they are for hbcus. Those of you in this room and those of you on cspan2 and others are listening need to be able to tell the story. Hbcus are missionbased. They are not racebased. They are not ethnicitybased. They are not a suspect category. With hbcus that are on average 30 student diverse, faculty, sometimes as much as 40 diverse faculty. With hbcus, five which are predominately white. Hbcus have as their mission from the founding and today educating a black students but have been open to all and theyre doing a better job than many other groups. So we have to tell that story, too. And the reality is, without the racial, base or ethnicity base at all, we are not a suspect category. In order to get new programs into sustained them, we hav