The Biden-Harris Administration recently announced additional federal investments in Black colleges and universities, totaling $1.3 billion. These new investments and previously announced funding total a record of over $17 billion for HBCUs.
Historically, HBCUs (historically Black universities and colleges) provide twice as much college access to eligible low-middle-income students as PWIs. Moreover, 40% of all Black engineers, 50% of all Black teachers, 70% of all Black doctors and dentists, 80% of all Black judges, and the first Black U.S. vice president are all HBCU alums.
With Vice President Kamala Harris running for president, the spotlight on Howard University, where she graduated, and other Black schools have been prominent in recent weeks. The White House declared the week of Sept. 16 “HBCU Week.”
“Overall, I would say the educational opportunities that are in the HBCUs and the quality of education of what you get … along with the experience for students who can thrive in that type of environment,” said Eric Hudson, who earlier this year was named the Minnesota Twins senior director of community engagement and inclusion.
He talked to the MSR about the team’s sponsored HBCU Night at a Twins home game earlier in September, which is part of the various college nights the baseball team annually sponsors.
“Any chance that we can get to highlight their contributions along with the opportunities for students up here, we definitely want to be a part of that,” added Hudson.
Marketing executive Derek Webber, who started the National Battle of the Bands (NBOTB) event 10 years ago, reported that an estimated $1.7 million in scholarships have been awarded to HBCU students.
The 2024 NBOTB was held in August in Houston and featured eight premier HBCU bands: Bethune-Cookman, Jackson State, Prarie View A&M, Southern, Tennessee State, Texas Southern, Tuskegee Universities, and Miles College. A live concert by Lecrae, an “Emerging Experience Entrepreneur Conference,” an NBOTB team camp, and a feeding the local homeless initiative also took place.
“We’ve been really committed to supporting, and it started off just wanting to support an area that didn’t always get supported in the right way, which is supporting HBCU marching bands,” said Webber, who founded Webber Marketing & Consulting in 2009 in Charlotte, N.C. as a full-service marketing agency that specializes in strategic outreach program development.
Webber, a Hampton University graduate, serves as NBOTB executive director. He has managed over 2,700 events in over 25 years.
“We think that we’re impacting the lives of the students that are going to serve us in the future,” said Webber. “I think that’s what HBCUs help us do—they help us create those moments that really impact our society and impact our communities.”
Although there are no HBCUs in Minnesota, Hudson said his office wants to expand the Twins organization’s relationships with Black colleges and universities, such as creating summer internships with HBCU students “to prepare them for opportunities in sport,” he said. “We want to make a difference in terms of providing opportunities for folks who attend HBCUs to have them see the sport as an opportunity for them that they can make a career in sport.”
Webber pointed out that being in a college marching band isn’t light work.
“It’s just a tremendous amount of work that the students, staff, and band directors put into a work,” he explained. “They’re doing two-a-days and practices and must have certain GPA requirements that they have to maintain beyond just marching on the field.
“Even though you see all the flashiness and being on the field with the dance routines and playing,” said Webber, “ it’s also about just being dedicated to managing your time, being a student-athlete, maintaining your GPA, being active in the community, being disciplined and focusing, making sure that you come to class and practice on time.
“So even though you see all those other things, a lot of things behind the scenes that people don’t generally see,” he noted.
Finally, both Hudson and Webber will continue to support HBCUs and their overall mission and believe Harris’ presidential candidacy also serves as a spotlight on Black schools.
“I think it will help continue to amplify our voice, to tell the story that we don’t always get the tell for young women and boys and girls to see a successful person that you can be by attending an HBCU, how we do as HBCU alums … and for them to see someone on that type of level of potentially being the president of the U.S,” concluded Webber.