Sen. Ossoff shines spotlight on new funding for HBCUs

Atlanta’s historically Black colleges and universities are set to receive just under $32 million combined in grants from the American Rescue Plan, part of the $3 billion set aside for HBCUs in the $2 trillion relief package signed by President Joe Biden in March.

“HBCUs are gems in our nation’s system of higher education,” U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff told a group of Clark Atlanta University staff and students during a campus visit Friday. “HBCUs provide a vital service not just to the Black community here in Georgia and across the country, but to the entire nation and to the entire world. Please count on me as a friend and an ally and a staunch advocate for Georgia’s HBCUs and HBCUs nationwide.”

Under the plan, Clark Atlanta University will receive $16.4 million, Morehouse College will receive $7.8 million, Morehouse School of Medicine will receive $358,000 and Spelman College will receive $7.4 million.

Ossoff said the money will reach the private schools in the coming weeks. Half of the money is to be set aside for student assistance, including emergency financial aid to students experiencing financial hardship because of the pandemic. But school leaders will have “significant discretion and flexibility” for how to spend the balance, Ossoff said.

Read more: https://georgiarecorder.com/2021/05/10/sen-ossoff-shines-spotlight-on-new-funding-for-hbcus/