News

Today, Dr. Harry L. Williams officially begins his tenure as president & CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF).

There are a number of complexities surrounding our national conversation on immigration, and one of the most visible examples involves the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. TMCF President & CEO Dr. Harry L. Williams unpacks the complexities in the context of HBCUs.

Texas Southern University nabs $2.7 million grant from Koch Foundation-backed, DC-based Center for Advancing Opportunity for criminal justice research.

Texas Southern University in Houston received $2.7 million from the Center for Advancing Opportunity to start the school’s new Center for Justice Research.

Texas Southern University announced plans to established Center for Justice Research through a $2.7 million grant from the Thurgood Marshall College Fund’s Center for Advancing Opportunity, a $26 million initiative established by TMCF, the Charles Koch Foundation and Koch Industries.

Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) and The Coca-Cola Foundation partnered to donate $50,000 to Fayetteville State University (FSU) that will be used for scholarships for first-generation college students.

Texas Southern University and its leadership announced establishment of the Center for Justice Research, which is an initiative supported by funding from the Charles Koch Foundation and Koch Industries to the Thurgood Marshall College Fund

Many of the leaders we honor and recognize are products of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). As the President & CEO of Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF), it is important to me that our HBCUs are also honored not just for the role they played in the past, but the role, impact and influence they have today.

This year, Dr. Harry L. Williams began his tenure as the new President and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF). On January 16th, Dr. Williams and his team visited my D.C. office to discuss their plans to continue to support Historically Black Colleges and Universities and minority serving institutions.

The Thurgood Marshall College Fund is appreciative of the Trump Administration making our nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) a point of emphasis by preserving level funding in the President’s FY 2019 budget. Despite these positive developments, TMCF is concerned about those proposed cuts which could have a detrimental impact on our students’ ability to persist and graduate from HBCUs.

…leaders at advocacy organizations like the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, which represents the nation’s public HBCUs, said changes to the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant and Work Study programs raise concerns about the impact on students at those institutions and their ability to graduate.

For the first time, the Pepsi-owned Ruffles brand takes presenting sponsorship of the NBA Celebrity Game on Friday. The game for the first time will feature a branded four-point “Ridge” line incorporated into the second half of the game, with each shot made earning $4,000 for the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.

I think that one thing people can do is support HBCUs. The Thurgood Marshall College Fund, United Negro College Fund between the two represent financially 99 percent of black colleges and universities. People can can give and think about supporting these institutions, which I think the film shows very clearly have been instrumental in the making of America.

“By preserving level funding, our HBCU’s have fared much better than other higher education stakeholders and federal agencies, relative to the proposed 10.5% cut to the Department of Education’s overall budget,” said Thurgood Marshall College Fund CEO and President Harry Williams.

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