In 2015, as told on the Center for Advancing Opportunity website, Johnny C. Taylor Jr., then-president of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, heard libertarian billionaire businessman Charles Koch, in a TV interview, discussing eliminating barriers to opportunity. Taylor reached out to Koch, and the result was a Koch contribution of $25.6 million to the TMCF to establish the Center for Advancing Opportunity.
TMCF appreciates that the House Education and Workforce Committee incorporated provisions into H.R. 4508 (the “PROSPER Act”) which directly benefit TMCF member-schools, but we are equally concerned by language and provisions in the bill which, on its face, appears to hinder the ability of low-income and first generation students – two of the most common demographics among students enrolled at HBCUs today – to access, persist and ultimately complete their course of study at our nation’s HBCUs.
Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) to host “UVI RISE” fundraiser in support of member-school, the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI), Saturday, February 24, 2018, at TMCF headquarters in Washington, DC.
“TMCF is a family made up of 47 member-schools and nearly 300,00 students,” said Dr. Harry L. Williams, TMCF president & CEO. “When one of our member-schools is suffering we all feel it, so there was no doubt that we had to do something tangible to help Dr. Hall and the resilient faculty, staff, and students at UVI.”
Advocate Shares How HBCU Scholarships Are Created, and the Best Ways to Earn Them
While much progress has been made, the promise of equal access to quality education has not been fully fulfilled. Too many public schools are shortchanging children of color, especially in fragile communities with severe socioeconomic challenges.
The Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) will assemble one of the largest development and recruiting conferences of Historically Black College and University (HBCU) presidents, chancellors, faculty, and students at its 17th Annual award-winning Leadership Institute, presented by Wells Fargo, in Washington, DC at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel.