Feds Give $7.4M To HBCUs

To qualify for funding under HUDÂ’s HBCU grant program, institutions must meet the definition of a Historically Black College and University as determined by the Department of Education. HUDÂ’s grants will help these institutions undertake a wide variety of activities, particularly those that benefit low-income persons. These activities may include:

Ø Acquiring property;
Ø Demolishing blighted structures;
Ø Rehabilitating homes, including cleaning up lead-based paint hazards and making modifications that improve accessibility;
Ø Improving public facilities;
Ø Providing downpayment and closing cost assistance to low- and moderate-income homebuyers;
Ø Offering assistance to small businesses, including minority-owned enterprises;
Ø Assisting community-based development organizations to carry out neighborhood revitalization; and
Ø Supporting public services such as job training, child care, fair housing, and housing counseling.

The Historically Black Colleges and Universities Program is one of several initiatives administered by HUD's Office of University Partnerships (OUP). Established in 1994, OUP is a catalyst for partnering colleges and universities with their communities in an effort to address pressing local problems.

HUDs mission is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all. HUD is working to strengthen the housing market to bolster the economy and protect consumers; meet the need for quality affordable rental homes: utilize housing as a platform for improving quality of life; build inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination; and transform the way HUD does business.



Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU)
Program Summaries

ALABAMA

Tuskegee University – $800,000

Tuskegee University intends to use its Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) grant for: clearance and site preparation of six vacant lots adjacent to the Tuskegee University campus in the Old Montgomery Road/Franklin Road (OMR/FR) Corridor to support the development of the new university/community housing complex; assistance to eight business and property owners with exterior façade and landscaping improvements, as well as business counseling and technical assistance; short-term training program to prepare a minimum of 20 individuals for immediate employment in the field of energy conservation repair, weatherization, and construction; monthly training on entrepreneurial development, personal finance education, and homeownership counseling; and continuation of the Revolving Loan Program to increase micro loans by 50 percent.


ARKANSAS

University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff – $800,000

University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) intends to use its Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) grant for its Community Revitalization Initiative Phase IV. The primary mission of this phase is to continue the university’s efforts to improve the neighborhood that surrounds UAPB—known as University Park—and to assist the City of Pine Bluff by engaging the resources of the university through the Economic Research and Development Center in collaboration and partnership with identified community-based organizations. The project goals are to: partner with Targeting Our People’s Priorities with Service (TOPPS, Inc.) and Family Community Development Corporation (CDC) to carry out job/employment training and placement to youth, young adults, disadvantaged, and low- and moderate-income persons; utilize funds to support the Jefferson County CDC in rehabilitating single-family owner-occupied homes; and provide technical assistance and training to a minimum of five residential and building trade firms interested in participating in the University Park Neighborhood Housing Rehabilitation Program.


LOUISIANA

Southern University and A&M College – $800,000

Southern University and A&M College intends to use its Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) grant to implement the following activities through its Southern University-Community Economic Security and Sustainability (SU-CESS) project: provide homeownership and counseling assistance for low- to moderate-income (LMI) persons through construction of affordable homes, first-time homebuyer training, mortgage buy down assistance, and referrals to matched savings accounts; implement an economic development plan to assist locally owned businesses through matching funds for operations, marketing, and/or building improvements to businesses providing services to LMI residents; and planning and capacity building for community-based development organizations (CBDOs) through training, mini-grants, and development of an integrated vision and strategic plan.


NORTH CAROLINA

Fayetteville State University – $499,602

Fayetteville State University (FSU) intends to use its Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) grant to facilitate the long-term transformation of the southern Murchison Road Corridor of Fayetteville, North Carolina, through activities that will strengthen the adjacent community in order to lure economic investment and promote both economic and environmental sustainability. To ensure that future development is part of a holistic plan and is in the best interest of the area, FSU will lead the community in seeking a neighborhood conservation overlay district that protects the residential nature of the neighborhood, promotes controlled growth of a viable mix of businesses that will provide jobs, products, and services that residents currently have to leave their neighborhood to access, and is pedestrian-friendly, and creates linkages to greenways and parks in neighboring communities. Simultaneously, FSU plans to create a redevelopment master plan for an existing blighted area with a large vacant school. As FSU leads this planning process, it will conduct a community asset mapping project to identify resources and assets currently available at the neighborhood level to address the challenges faced by residents in an area of Fayetteville hardest hit by poverty, crime, arrest, and incarceration and prisoner reentry.


North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University – $800,000

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NCA&TSU) intends to use its Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) grant to implement four Community Development Block Grant eligible activities. The first activity; “Energy Efficiency and Weatherization Program” consists of three subtasks designed to: perform energy audits for low- to moderate-income (LMI) homeowners in the target area; conduct weatherization activities in the target area; and educate LMI persons on energy conservation and minor home repairs. The second activity, “Workforce Development for Sustainable Careers in Green Construction,” will: recruit and train LMI persons to perform weatherization and maintenance tasks; provide education and training on green construction practices; provide energy audit and weatherization certification training; and provide job placement assistance. The third activity, “BEST Center Facility and Program Enhancement,” will: provide direct assistance and specialized training to small and minority-owned businesses; and stabilize small and minority-owned businesses by implementing a concentrated technical assistance program and other resources offered to entrepreneurs and small businesses through the BEST Center. By collaborating with the Interdisciplinary Center for Entrepreneurship and E-Business, this activity will also provide service learning opportunities for student entrepreneurs. The fourth activity will address human service needs through a partnership with a grassroots, community-based organization by: providing a sub-award to Joseph’s House Inc., an organization that offers transitional housing for homeless high school students and young adult males; increasing the capacity of a grassroots organization assisting an underserved population; and creating employment opportunities for disadvantaged and hard to place males in the target area through education, job readiness and skill development.


Saint Augustine’s College – $498,682
Saint AugustineÂ’s College intends to use its Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) grant for its East College Park Redevelopment project. The major activities of this project will include: providing homeowner training and supportive services to low- to moderate-income participants, assisting them with supportive childcare and transportation services to enable participation in the training, assisting them to set up IDA accounts and matching their contributions to these accounts, and providing mentoring/tutoring to neighborhood children to increase opportunities for educational success; increasing the capacity of community organizations through awareness building, leadership training, and development of a neighborhood leadership council; and redeveloping the neighborhood by buying 10 deteriorated properties and redeveloping them with energy-efficient, affordable, Wi-Fi equipped, universally designed homes, and selling them to low- to moderate-income homebuyers who have successfully completed the collegeÂ’s homebuyer institute.