CHICAGO (AP) — Several historically Black colleges and universities will receive more than $650,000 in grants to preserve their campuses as part of a new initiative announced Tuesday. The funding for the HBCUs comes as leaders of the colleges and universities continue to advocate for additional funding nearly a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, which has threatened the survival of many already chronically underfunded schools. Details about the initiative were shared with The Associated Press ahead of the announcement. Brent Leggs is executive director of the National Trust’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, which is supplying the grants. He says HBCUs have long been underfunded as a result of decades of structural racism and lack of equitable public funding.
