Dontay Brown kept kale salad in the school lunch mix during COVID-19 pandemic
In March of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic turned the world upside down. Nearly everything closed — churches, businesses, stores, and most devastatingly, schools. Our literal futures were suspended and while there was worry about whether our children would be able to handle remote learning there was an even more pressing question: How do we ensure […]
Lakeyshia Cunningham hasn’t had a day off in 3 years
Lakeyshia Cunningham has been working in the cafeteria at Maynard Jackson High School for 18 years. She didn’t set out to provide school meals to students and certainly not for this long, but they were hiring when she needed a job. She stayed because she fell in love with the work and the students. Cunningham […]
President of University of Houston Downtown has big plans for the 1st 18 months
Loren J. Blanchard is a Louisiana native who frequented Houston, TX with his family as a child. His father looked forward to celebrating the Astros games while Blanchard enjoyed trips to Astroworld. After many years and a 6-year stint in California, Blanchard is now the President of the University of Houston Downtown. Blanchard opened his […]
Atlanta 8th graders prepare for high school with dining etiquette training
So much can be learned by simply dining in a restaurant. Kindezi West and Kindezi Old Fourth Ward eighth graders took a field trip to Mulan Asian Cuisine off Cascade Road in Atlanta on Oct. 27 to learn proper dining etiquette. The trip was made possible by True World Link, an organization focused on exposing […]
Monique Debi of Concentric Education Solutions is helping kids in the community
Monique Debi is the chief academic officer of Concentric Education Solutions, a Detroit and Baltimore-based organization dedicated to helping mentor and tutor students who may have been displaced for a variety of reasons. Debi spoke with rolling out about the organization and how it helps kids through support and understanding. Tell us about Concentric Education […]
The Elite Traveling Tutors are focused on student growth in the Black community
The Elite Traveling Tutors develop individualized learning plans according to each student’s specific needs. They have been highly successful with students who are experiencing “test anxiety,” as well as emotional and behavioral issues. It is a part of their mission to ensure that each student feels connected to their academic experiences. Karina El Bey and […]
US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona wants to relieve your student debt
On Oct. 17, President Joe Biden announced the formal launch of the federal application for Americans seeking student loan forgiveness, as the plan is expected to provide debt relief for as many as 43 million borrowers. The U.S. Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, spoke with rolling out to discuss the process, when people will be […]
Prairie View A&M now offers African American studies program
Prairie View A&M University now offers students an African American studies major and minor program. The program launched after a $1M contribution was made to the Enhancing the Humanities initiative at Prairie View, an anonymous donation and grants. The program carries out the vision of President Ruth J. Simmons as she prioritized creating this African […]
Justin Williams shares how Roc Nation supports the next generation of creators
The Roc Nation School of Music, Sports, and Entertainment is a part of Jay-Z’s mission to educate the next generation of industry makers. The program offers academic opportunities, scholarships, and a summer academy, as their mission is to close the college completion gap by providing high-achieving students with financial needs access to high-quality education at […]
Benjamin Banneker High School awarded $10K for Great Atlanta Band Challenge
On Sept. 7, Benjamin Banneker High School in Union City, Georgia, was awarded $10,000 from the Witherite Law Group for their second annual Great Atlanta Band Challenge. In a historic move, they also awarded $2500 each to the other 7 schools in the top ten for a total of $47,500. During the presentation of the check, […]
Jay-Z and his mom are helping to send young people to college
Jay-Z and his mother have been helping send students to college for nearly two decades now. The Shawn Carter Foundation was co-founded by Gloria Carter and her son Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, and was recognized as a public charity in 2003. The foundation had a table at the 2022 Made in America festival in Philadelphia, and […]
Legendary poet and professor Nikki Giovanni retires from Virginia Tech
Nikki Giovanni, the legendary and world-renowned poet, is retiring from Virginia Tech after 35 years of professorship at the esteemed institution. Giovanni has stepped down from her throne in the English department, which took effect on Sept. 1, 2022. “In all fairness, I’m getting old,” Giovanni, 79, told Virgina Tech News. “I hope that I’ve done […]
Mister and Miss Howard reflect on significance of representing their university
A great deal of responsibility comes with representing one of the premier HBCUs in the country. For Howard seniors Cecily Davis and Rashan Schoffner, the honor is never taken for granted, especially when they’re back in their hometown of Atlanta. In-between waving to Howard fans, students and alumni at the 2022 Cricket MEAC/SWAC Challenge, Mister […]
Delaware State president discusses significance of canceled student loans
College students and graduates alike are celebrating around America thanks to the latest news coming out of Washington, D.C. Following up on a campaign promise he made in the 2020 General Election, President Joe Biden announced he would relieve up to $20,000 of student loans for current and former students. Recently, Tony Allen, Delaware State […]
Terrence J partners with Chevrolet’s ‘Discover the Unexpected’ program
Chevrolet and the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) concluded their sixth year of “Discover the Unexpected (DTU),” a 10-week immersive internship and scholarship program for 11 HBCU students. The 2022 DTU program was amplified by notable industry mentors and esteemed alumni. Program ambassador Terrence J, American actor, model and entertainer, accompanied the students in New […]
White people banned from student housing’s common area near UC Berkeley
A private housing unit near the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, has banned White people from its common area, the media reports. Fox News reported that a student housing collective called “Person of Color Theme House” just outside of the UC’s flagship university — which is also called “Cal” or “UC Berkeley” — […]
HBCU enrollment up significantly since 2020
The rapid enrollment rise at HBCUs in the past couple of years can be traced to several seismic sociopolitical and historical occurrences. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, “the percentage of Black students enrolled at HBCUs fell from 18 percent in 1976 to 8 percent in 2014 and then increased to 9 percent […]
How HBCUs are finding a way for incarcerated people to get an education
On Aug. 17, NPR released a story about HBCUs building a prison-to-college pipeline. Stanley Andrisse shared his experience of being a 21-year-old sitting in a courtroom about to face 20 years to life in prison. He was convicted on three felony counts and spent the next few years in a Missouri prison. Andrisse is now an […]
Mother sues LA school district after daughter involved in picking cotton
A Black mother is suing the Los Angeles United School District after her daughter allegedly suffered trauma and anxiety for partaking in a class’ cotton-picking exercise to renact the days of slavery. Rashunda Pitts said her daughter, who is only identified as “S.W” in legal documents, told her that her social justice teacher at Laurel […]
Minneapolis school district defends laying off White teachers before minorities
Many Republicans and conservative activists are in an uproar after the Minneapolis Public Schools defended its decision to lay off White teachers before minority teachers with less seniority. The MPS stated that they were enacting this controversial measure in order to remedy “the effects of past discrimination,” according to The Washington Times and the New […]