National News - Page 40

Community rallies to replace a Jackie Robinson statue after it was stolen from a Kansas little league park

By Greg Rosenstein and Morgan Chesky Jaimarius Barnes, an 11-year-old in the Wichita, Kansas-based League 42 baseball organization, planned on suiting up for games this season just feet away from a Jackie Robinson statue. “He really inspires me because he played baseball and I now play baseball,” Jaimarius said in an interview. “It means a lot. He’s a person you can look up to.” Standing 6 feet tall and weighing 265 pounds, the bronze monument outside the McAdams Park backstop represented hope for Jaimarius and other Black children looking to learn the game. But back in January, those dreams were dashed. The statue of the

Biden-⁠Harris Administration Announces Historical Record Of Over $16 Billion In Support For HBCUs

By Quintessa Williams The Biden-Harris Administration announced a new record in Federal funding and investments in Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) totaling more than $16 billion from Fiscal Years (FY) 2021 through current available data for FY 2024. This new reported total is up from the previously announced over $7 billion and captures significant additional actions already undertaken. The total of more than $16 billion includes over $11.4 billion between FY2021 and FY2023 through Federal grants, contracting awards, and debt relief for HBCUs; over $4 billion between FY2021 and FY2023 for HBCU-enrolled students through federal financial aid and educational benefits for veterans; and, so

Kamala Harris to speak at SEIU convention set to elect the union’s first Black president

By Monica Alba  Vice President Kamala Harris is set to deliver the keynote address at the Service Employees International Union convention in Philadelphia on Tuesday, one day after the group is expected to elect its first Black president. April Verrett, who is secretary-treasurer of the 103-year-old union, is running unopposed but has received the support of leaders who represent 89% of SEIU’s membership, according to a letter they wrote earlier this year. The massive union, which represents nearly 2 million workers in health care, property service and the government, has pledged to spend $200 million to help President Joe Biden and Democrats in key

Chicago teen who started college at 10 earns doctorate degree at 17

Courtesy of Arizona State University Dorothy Jean Tillman II’s participation in Arizona State University’s May 6 commencement was the latest step on a higher-education journey the Chicago teen started when she took her first college course at age 10. In between came associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s degrees. When Tillman successfully defended her dissertation in December, she became the youngest person — at age 17 — to earn a doctoral degree in integrated behavioral health at Arizona State, associate professor Leslie Manson told ABC’s “Good Morning America” for a story Monday. “It’s a wonderful celebration, and we hope … that Dorothy Jean inspires

Nikole Hannah-Jones Calls Out UNC For Holding Back Millions In Fellowships For Black Journalists

By Stacy Jackson The founder of a program for Black students pursuing journalism says the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill owes her foundation millions of dollars. Nikole Hannah-Jones told NC Newsline that UNC-Chapel Hill owes $3.8 million to the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting. She said it could no longer do the work it set out to do. Hannah-Jones said, per The Messenger, “It’s all of our operating funding, all of our grant money, our quasi-endowment.” She continued, “Without it, we can’t work toward our mission, we can’t do any of our work.” According to Hannah-Jones, the program was

Massachusetts Proposes Tuition-Free Community College for All Residents

By Evan Castillo Massachusetts wants to make community college tuition-free for every state resident, regardless of the student’s family income. On May 6, Massachusetts senators announced MassEducate, a program that would give every state resident a tuition- and fee-free education at any state community college. The proposal, included in the fiscal year 2025 budget, has yet to be approved. MassEducate builds on MassGrant Plus, a tuition-free program for Pell Grant-eligible and middle-income college students. If the $75.5 million program is approved, MassEducate will begin in fall 2024. Thanks to the state’s Tuition Equity Law, non-U.S. citizens and undocumented students who earned a high school diploma or

Rev. William Lawson, civil rights leader who worked with Martin Luther King Jr., dies at 95

The Rev. William “Bill” Lawson, a longtime pastor and civil rights leader who helped desegregate Houston and worked with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement, has died. He was 95. Lawson’s longtime church, Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church in that Texas city, announced on its website that he had died on Tuesday. “He has completed his time of service here on earth and is now enjoying eternal rest,” the church said in its announcement. Lawson founded Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church in 1962 and served as its pastor for 42 years before retiring in 2004. He was

Biden Admin Launches $50M FAFSA Completion Initiative

By Matthew Arojas The Department of Education (ED) launched a multimillion-dollar effort to increase the number of FAFSAs completed before the next academic year. ED announced Monday that it would invest $50 million over the coming months as part of its FAFSA Student Support Strategy. The program will provide grants so organizations can offer extended resources to students and families still struggling to submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form. This comes after repeated delays and issues have plagued the rollout of the 2024-2025 FAFSA. The FAFSA typically drops on Oct. 1 each year, but ED didn’t soft-launch this year’s FAFSA until

A Georgia beach aims to disrupt Black students’ spring bash after big crowds brought chaos last year

Thousands of Black college students expected this weekend for an annual spring bash at Georgia’s largest public beach will be greeted by dozens of extra police officers and barricades closing off neighborhood streets. While the beach will remain open, officials are blocking access to nearby parking. Tybee Island east of Savannah has grappled with the April beach party known as Orange Crush since students at Savannah State University, a historically Black school, started it more than 30 years ago. Residents regularly groused about loud music, trash littering the sand and revelers urinating in yards. Those complaints boiled over into fear

White House Awards $93M In Grants for R&D at HBCUs, Tribal Schools, Other MSIs

By Nigel Roberts Five historically Black universities are on a list of 20 institutions serving students of color to receive federal education funding for research and development and to improve completion rates for underserved students. The Education Department announced $93 million in grants to the HBCUs, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), and Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) on Friday (Dec. 8). U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said the Biden-Harris administration recognizes the urgency of creating opportunities for students of color and other underserved students to succeed in cutting-edge fields. “These grant awards will help many of our nation’s most inclusive and diverse colleges and

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