Here before, welcome back. I would like to say hello to those who are watching this through live stream and through cspan2. This is a great day to have a great conversation about Higher Education, particularly the role of historically lack colleges and universities. In 1997 i have the opportunity to work on a project with a gentleman named Samuel Dewitt proctor. Many of you know him as a former president , some of you know him from virginia university. He actually spent time here in washington d. C. As a kennedy appointee to the peace corps, but a number of you know him through his work as the pastor at the baptist church. In 1997 we had opportunity to sit in a very lovely room with a donor who owns a very large and Famous Family foundation. The head of that walked into the room and we exchanged niceties and she said can i ask one question and he said yes. Is there a need for black colleges today . He leaned back in his seat, having heard this question for most of his life and he said maam, if you make, can i restructure the question. The question is not whether there is a need for hb c used today, the question is where would america be today without them. She nodded and he returned returned the nod and the conversation began. It made an impact on me for two reasons. Number one it showed 142 years after the conclusion of the civil war the question about black Higher Education in the question of black people in the American Social order was still on the table for conversation. Number two, the conversation was about hbcus but it was also about the importance of america Higher Education and its imprint domestically and on foreignpolicy, foreign economic systems and foreign governments. Fastforward may 2017 and were having a conversation today about the road ahead. Why is that important . For over 150 years hcb use have been an important part of the Higher Education landscape. Like many other postsecondary institutions, they have challenges in the regulatory scheme as well as with School Finance and other things. Because on average they educate more students who are firsttime college goers, lower income and others theres a special role they play and lawmakers should keep that in mind. While weve seen great things from our institutions, the large number of people who we produce who go on to earn phds and those in a number of professions including those who become schoolteachers, there are a number of challenges. We had the closure of st. Paul college in virginia, we have a number of schools on the brink of bankruptcy and a number of students leaving colleges with debt. This is a conversation about Higher Education and the role of hbcus and we have for people who are wellversed in this conversation. For those of you watching via lives dream or cspan the for this event is future state of hbcus. Number two we will have four speakers who will, pier one of the time. They will provide an overview and remarks for about ten minutes. After the conclusion will make our way over here for a dialogu dialogue. We will talk for 20 or 25 minutes and open it up for audience q a. I will invite my first speaker. Its Michael Lomax he is the president of the 9yearold college fund. He represents 37 private hcb use in the United States. Not only does he know this issue as a president of nonprofit but hes also a graduate of moore college, former graduate of dillard university. I am by doctor womack to the podium. [applause] thank you very much. I want to thank you for your leadership in bringing this very important conversation to the American Enterprise institute. I live in the neighborhood so im also going to welcome you. Up watch this renovation occur and said when are they going to invite me inside, im glad to be here. I think we often do talk about this as we look in the rearview mirror. Its important to take this occasion to talk about the road ahead, to talk about the future and talk about innovation and change. We recognize the importance of institutional change through our advocacy and work to build Institutional Capacity we understand Higher Education is at a crossroads where institutions need to be, to reorient the Business Model to be more student ready. Weve been providing scholarships for students for nearly 75 years. We award hundred Million Dollars annually to over 10000 students. Since our founding we have assisted nearly half a Million Students earn college degrees. During that time we have witnessed a significant shift in student demographics and expectations. Todays students are radically different from those of yesteryear. Todays students grew up with the world at their fingertips and 140 characters or less, Technology Connects this generation in a way i could not have imagined back in the dark ages of my youth. Technology is moving at a pace significantly faster than Higher Education. Underscore, faster pace than Higher Education requiring most to reimagine what it means to effectively teach and learn and very importantly, prepare students for careers in the 21st century workforce were Education Matters more than ever before. By 2025, 65 of all new jobs will require postsecondary training. Within the Fastest Growing fields, stem and healthcare, 92 and 95 respectively of all new jobs will require postsecondary training credentials. Today the pipeline of graduates to fill these jobs across all demographics is insufficient. 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. I wont talk much about it but i want you to know i have a visual. [laughter] this is why we are excited with the longterm supporter and we are working with a longterm supporter, the Lilly Endowment inc. Of indianapolis to assist 24 Higher Education institutions including 23 historically black colleges and university and one predominantly black institution as they seek to ensure our institution graduating students are ready to throw and thrive in the 21st century workplace. We are doing that with a 50 million grant from lily, an investment and forward thinking and innovation. Other institutions are pursuing a threepronged approach to improving outcomes for their respective institutions. I will go over those quickly and if you want more detail, go to our website or ask me a question, but the first thing we are doing is we are trying to change that experience from being opaque for the student to being transparent, from being all over the opportunity landscape to being more narrowly focused. We call that creating intentional, guided pathways for students. In order to create those pathways, we have to take on some of the sacred cows on the institutional campus and gerard noted im a former faculty member as well and i can tell you the hardest thing to do is change curriculum, but for students who are spending an awful lot of money to get an education and all too often not finding Employment Outcomes at the end of the rainbow, we cant keep doing what we are doing. We have to do things differently and it has to begin by building foundational tenants, not just of a liberal education, but reimagining content that is delivered to ensure what we are teaching in the classroom is applicable outside the classroom and it leads to not just a degree but meaningful employment and careers. Finally, we are increasing expectations to ensure students have the necessary experiential opportunities as well through integrated Co Curricular engagement. I will tell you internships are not nice to have anymore. They are absolutely essential. Employers are looking earlier and more often and more carefully at talent and they want to see how that translate what ive learned in the classroom to what i learned in the workplace. We see that particularly in the technology, but they are just leaders in this. We all have to be. While the primary outcome of this work is gainful employment for 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. The shorter we can make this, the less expensive we can make it in the more efficient, the better for our students. Some are developing stackable credentials whereby students need to stop before completion of their bachelor degree they will at least have a credential it will give them a leg up on the labor market and they can be employed meaningfully and return if necessary because so many people are 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 55000 students the cpi, career path where initiative serve annually. It also means we document what we are learning and share that information to ensure other education institutions can learn from the innovative models that we set forth by our cohort institutions. Too do this we partner with institutions by providing them with the necessary Technical Assistance to improve their institutions capacity to execute this work, and by documenting what we are learning to develop academic models that lead to outcomes we seek. The work 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 remember as we think about things, the investment these young people are making in their education in terms of time and cost are significant. Today the outcome dont always warn that investment. Africanamerican unemployment for College Graduates, not just historically black college but for all College Graduates is double that of their peers. Underemployment is at a staggering 50 . We have to deliver to them not just the transformational elements of a liberal Arts Education, but also the real and practical returns of career employment. I look forward to discussing this innovative work that we are doing with you. Thank you. [applause] our next speaker is the president and ceo of the National Association for equal opportunity in Higher Education. She is the first female president and in her role she has a unique opportunity to work not only with prayer but dominantly hbcus but also black institutions which she will share more with you. Before arriving she had a long career in the Legal Profession having worked for the naacp and other organizations, including having served as an appeals administration judge in the District Of Columbia and a leadership position with the College Board in washington d. C. I would like to bring her to the podium and lets welcome her. [applause] thank you very much to all the colleagues who are here and aei, thank you for choosing to be here. I see representatives from the white house and i need to call out mr. Smith who is in the office of white house policy, thank you for being here. I feel the presence of alma rosa who is in the white house , the director of communications whose voice along with mr. Smith has kept the hbcus community on the mind of this administration and i believe has something to do with the fact that were here today. Its the nations only National Membership association of the 106 historically black colleges and now roughly predominantly, 80 predominantly black institutions. Our provision is to provide voice to this Diversity Group of colleges and connect all the colleges with opportunities to enhance their infrastructure and better serve their goal. This is the table at which this diverse and sometimes divergent groups of president s and actors come together and suppress their individual goals for the goals of the whole, the whole of the community and its been my privilege to serve for 20 years is outside pro bono counsel, litigating in 18 states where they have historically public black colleges and historically public white colleges. We represent this community in judicial fora before congress and in state legislatures and administrative bodies. It is my humble privilege to serve up his home and move this community forward. It is from that vantage that i believe in order for us to move the communities forward and take full advantage of the types of opportunities that Michael Lomax pointed out and those on the horizon, in order for us to get the types of support we need to move our community forward, the first thing we have to do is change the narrative. We have to change the narrative so when defining this we do not accept the designation of these colleges as colleges for educating low income firstgeneration students. They do in fact do that and our students are disproportionately low income. By definition their mission must be the education of the proclamation of the sleep center but these institutions are richly diverse. They are graduating 42 of americans who go on to get advanced degrees. There graduating 60 of africanamericans and health professions. The first step to moving on and the first step to being heard and received as the innovators they are is to change. They talked about the history of involvement in hbcus and the reality is as long as we define ourselves as small and underfunded and failing firstgeneration low income, people will not be inspired and not invest in us. The data suggests while we do that and we do an outstanding job in many of our institutions will continue to do that, we are diverse in america cannot realize any of its goals for excellence and diversity in the workforce, for justice or leadership at the home of the Multinational Corporation without thriving diverse hbcus across the gamma. And so, the first step is changing the narrative. Hbcus are a 13 billiondollar shortterm business. Thats important. If people think we are coming hat and handling members of Congress Call me, they say we want to come and talk about how we can help you, and i say 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 richly diverse core you cant do that tonight without hbcus because they have 50 , there graduating with 50 of africanamerican Public School teachers. The dialogue goes on but the reality is this is a time for hbcus to tell the narrative about our return on investment. For example, the question came up about Capital Financing program that is central to them having 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 cspan2 and others were listening need to be able to tell the story, hbcus our mission base. They are not ethnicity base. We are not a suspect category. We are 30 diverse, faculty sometimes as much as 40 diverse. We have five predominantly white hbcus without the ethnicity bases, we are not a suspect category. In order to get new programs and sustain them we have to show there is a reasonable basis. We put them before congress and legislative bodies every opportunity we get the strong compelling basis with regard to the hbcus Capital Financing program, the data show that it still cost hbcus more to get into the bond market and it cost them more to sell bonds and as long as that continues there will be a need for the Capital Finance program. Another data point i want you to be able to tell so we can get to the specific programs that you heard about and some others youll hear about in the discussion is that the endowments of hbcus are one eighth the size of historically white colleges and universities. This is because the country and philanthropists have not invested in hbcus commensurate with their output. We have to get them to look at us so they see the return is actually higher than others. With that as a background, we are doing a number of things and i will talk specifically about some of the publicpolicy things were doing, but i want to share with you hbcus Endowment Fund. As we continue to get the public to invest in our institution as the best return on Higher Education dollars, we also want to get the africanamerican extended family and broad swath of americans to invest in hbcus to help move our endowments forward. We are launching a social Marketing Campaign to tell the story about hbcus and we have a goal of establishing, through investments from the black community and faithbased organizations come social and civic and fraternal institutions and entertainers and anyone who has dollars they believe in and understand the centrality of hbcus for moving America Forward to invest one tenth of 1 of their net income, collectively we have a 1. 3