Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation highlights 

the accomplishments of grantees in OUP’s four minority-serving programs: Historically Black Colleges 

and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting Communities, Tribal Colleges and Universities 

program, and Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian Institutions Assisting Communities.

To view this publication online, visit the Office of University Partnerships website at www.oup.org. 

To request a hardcopy version of this publication, please call the University Partnerships Clearinghouse 

at (800) 245–2691 and choose option 3 from the voice menu. You may request publications by e-mail 

at oup@oup.org

All OUP publications are free of charge.

Opinions expressed in these profiles are those of the authors and do not 

necessarily reflect the views and policies of the U.S. Department of Housing 

and Urban Development.
Foreword • iii

FOREWORD

During the past decade, four grant programs sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban 

Development (HUD) have supported the important work of a special group of colleges and universities. 

These institutions of higher education stand out because of their single-minded dedication to a common 

mission: to ensure that minority students enjoy equal access to knowledge and opportunity through the pursuit 

of higher education.

By remaining true to this central mission over time, minority-serving institutions have played an important 

role in the history of our nation. At critical times in that history, they have offered African-American, HispanicAmerican, Native-American, Alaska-Native, and Native-Hawaiian young people an educational home and a 

nurturing environment where they have gained the skills and the confidence they needed to succeed. Equally 

important to HUD, these colleges and universities have played a critical role in stabilizing and revitalizing the 

communities in which they are located. 

Minority-serving institutions deserve the nation’s gratitude for the contributions they have made to the education 

of some of our most prominent and promising citizens. They especially deserve HUD’s gratitude for the work 

they have done, using funds from the department’s Office of University Partnerships, to revitalize both rural and 

urban communities throughout this country. Within these communities, minority-serving colleges and universities 

have collaborated with local partners to rebuild crumbling neighborhood infrastructures, assist and encourage

new businesses, provide job training for the unemployed and underemployed, offer social and supportive 

services to at-risk residents, preserve the cultural heritage of their ethnic communities, and guide young 

people toward brighter futures. 

HUD regards minority-serving institutions as valuable partners in its efforts to empower local communities and 

the people who live there. We are proud to assist these colleges and universities in their endeavors and proud 

to share, through this publication, the inspiring stories of their many successes.

Contents • v 

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................1

SECTION I: MINORITY-SERVING INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Chapter 1: Historically Black Colleges and Universities...................................................7

Chapter 2: Hispanic-Serving Institutions of Higher Education.........................................13

Chapter 3: Tribal Colleges and Universities ................................................................19

Chapter 4: Alaska Native- and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions................................25

SECTION II: A SAMPLING OF GRANTEE ACTIVITIES

Chapter 5: Creating Opportunities for Economic Development ......................................33

Chapter 6: Creating Opportunities for Small Businesses ..............................................43

Chapter 7: Creating Opportunities for Individuals and Families ......................................57

Chapter 8: Creating Opportunities for Tribal Colleges and Universities............................75

SECTION III: APPENDIX

Minority-Serving Institution Grantees, 1998–2008 .....................................................89

Introduction • 1 

INTRODUCTION

I

nstitutions of higher education (IHEs) that serve minority populations are unique both in their missions and 

in their day-to-day operations. Some of these colleges and universities are located in remote regions of the 

country, while others serve congested urban neighborhoods. Their constituents range from Native Americans, 

the country’s oldest residents, to Hispanic Americans, who count themselves among its most recent arrivals. 

Some minority-serving institutions (MSIs), like Tribal colleges and universities (TCUs), are only a few decades old, 

while historically black colleges and universities have been in existence for more than a century. 

MSIs are both integral and essential to their communities. Through executive orders and special legislation 

enacted over the past 20 years, the federal government seeks to strengthen the prominent role these 

colleges and universities play in their communities and provide a structured means for these institutions to 

access federal funds. As part of this federal outreach effort, the Office of University Partnerships (OUP) in the 

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) administers four grant programs for MSIs. This 

publication highlights the accomplishments of those four programs:

l The Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) program.

l The Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting Communities (HSIAC) program.

l The Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP).

l The Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian Institutions Assisting Communities (AN/NHIAC) program.

Office of University Partnerships

HUD created OUP in 1994 to help colleges and universities solve local problems at the local level through partnerships that engage all stakeholders. During the past 15 years, HUD’s support has helped OUP grantees and 

their partners leverage millions of dollars in cash and in-kind resources to revitalize communities and establish 

campus-community relationships that continue to develop and mature. Grantees use OUP funds to:

l Create opportunities for community development. OUP grantees typically have a long history of involvement in the neighborhoods where they are located. For this reason, they are committed to revitalizing their 

neighborhoods so that local residents can live in decent, affordable housing; work in thriving commercial 

districts; feel safe and secure; and enjoy an ever-improving standard of living.

l Create opportunities for small businesses. OUP grantees work hard to provide local entrepreneurs with 

the skills and training they need to start and maintain their own businesses. These MSIs firmly believe that 

the economic health of their communities depends on the health of small businesses, and that economic 

opportunity often comes to individuals who can parlay their skills and talents into creative and sustainable 

enterprises. 
2 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

l Create opportunities for individuals and families. Residents of low-income communities often face 

daunting challenges as they try to provide adequate education for their children, prepare themselves for 

better paying jobs, maintain their health, and enhance their cultural life. MSIs play a unique and vital role in 

community coalitions that are addressing these issues and, in the process, transforming communities by 

strengthening individuals and families.

l Create opportunities to serve more students. OUP grants help Tribal colleges and universities address 

one of the major challenges they face: improving the quality and number of their physical facilities. TCUs use 

those funds to build libraries and classrooms, health centers, technology centers, administrative offices, early 

childhood development centers, student housing, tribal museums, job training centers, and bookstores. They 

also carry out essential upgrades to such basic campus facilities as fire alarms, heating and air conditioning 

systems, sewage treatment plants, and parking.

Grant Activities 

OUP grant activities must meet at least one of the Community Development Block Grant’s national objectives, 

which are: benefit low- or moderate-income individuals, aid in the prevention of slums or blight, or meet other 

community development needs having a particular urgency because they pose a threat to the health and 

welfare of the community and other financial resources are not available to address them.

MSIs have used their HBCU, HSIAC, or AN/NHIAC funds for a variety of activities, including, but not limited to 

the following:

l Constructing and rehabilitating affordable housing.

l Constructing, rehabilitating, and expanding public facilities, including recreation centers, multipurpose 

centers, daycare facilities, computer centers, parks, and playgrounds.

l Improving community infrastructure, including water and sewer lines, streets, and sidewalks.

l Constructing and rehabilitating commercial buildings for the purpose of promoting economic development.

l Creating and expanding small business incubators and other 

programs that help establish or expand microbusinesses.

l Creating Community Development Corporations (CDCs) and 

providing technical assistance to those CDCs.

l Promoting homeownership through downpayment assistance, homeownership counseling and training, Individual 

Development Accounts, and other assistance programs. 

l Establishing and implementing adult education initiatives, 

including literacy, job training, vocational training, General 

Educational Development preparation, and self-improvement 

programs.

UTB interns from the School of Health and Science
Introduction • 3 

l Establishing and implementing daycare, health/wellness, and substance 

abuse counseling programs.

l Establishing and implementing crime prevention and public 

safety programs.

l Providing services for homeless people.

l Providing energy conservation counseling and testing.

l Establishing and implementing tutoring, mentoring, and educational 

enrichment programs for young people.

l Assisting local communities by developing and implementing 

comprehensive, housing, land use, conservation, historic preservation, 

environmental, and economic development plans.

Unlike other OUP grantees, TCUs can also use TCUP funds to build, 

renovate, expand, and equip their own campus facilities, including 

but not limited to:

l Classrooms.

l Administrative offices.

l Health/wellness and cultural centers.

l Gymnasiums.

l Technology Centers.

l Libraries.

l Utility and infrastructure upgrades.

For more information about OUP grant programs, visit www.oup.org.

About This Publication

This publication illustrates the important role that MSIs play in improving their local communities and the 

nation as a whole. 

Chapters 1 through 4 provide background about MSIs, their unique history and mission, and the challenges 

they face as they serve their target populations.

Chapters 5–7 highlight the important work that 18 MSIs are doing to revitalize their communities, support 

local businesses, and help at-risk individuals and families build better lives for themselves.

Chapter 8 illustrates how OUP funds are helping five TCUs enhance their infrastructure and expand their 

campuses so they can serve more students.

Lolana Medeiros of Wiwo`ole Bakey, Hawaii.

SECTION I:

Minority-Serving Institutions

 of Higher Education

C hapter 1

Historically Black

 Colleges and Universities

C hapter 1: Historically Black Colleges and Universities • 7 

Higher education for young African 

Americans was virtually nonexistent 

until 1837 when philanthropist Richard 

Humphrey bequeathed one-tenth of his estate—

about $10,000—to help his Quaker community 

design and establish a school in Philadelphia “to 

instruct the descendents of the African Race.”

As a result of that bequest, the Institute for 

Colored Youth soon became the first historically black college and university (HBCU) in the 

nation. The institute served the Philadelphia 

community until 1902, when it moved to a farm 

outside the city and became Cheyney University. 

Now a part of the Pennsylvania State System of 

Higher Education, Cheyney today claims 10,000 

alumni, who work in such fields as education, 

journalism, medicine, science, law, communication, and government service. 

Throughout its 170-year history, Cheyney has 

remained true to its original and singular purpose: 

to educate the nation’s African Americans. That 

mission is shared by all of the 105 institutions of 

higher education designated (IHEs) as HBCUs. These 

colleges and universities, located in 19 states, the 

District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, 

continue to fill a critical need for education among 

African Americans, says Dr. Leonard Haynes, executive director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. According to 

Dr. Haynes, the need for HBCUs has not diminished 

in recent years, in spite of the abolition of slavery and 

the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. 

“If historically black colleges and universities did not 

exist today, they would have to be created, and there 

would be a major movement to create them,” says 

Haynes. “These institutions of higher education were 

established because no one else was interested 

in educating African Americans, either because of 

legalized segregation, neglect, ignorance, or arrogance. They have played a major role in the education of African Americans, and they continue to meet 

an unmet need. Until our society decides that every 

institution bears a responsibility for educating those 

who call themselves American citizens with equity and 

parity, these schools have to exist.”

Early History

Only two HBCUs besides Cheyney University existed 

before the start of the Civil War. Lincoln University 

in Chester County, Pennsylvania, was established 

as Ashmun Institute in 1854 and renamed Lincoln 

University in 1866. It was originally intended to 

(3)

(2)

(2)

(6)

(2)

(2)

(2)

(2)

(2)

(2)

(2)

(2)

TX

NM

CO

IL

KS

WY

IA

NE

SD

OK

FL

MT

WI

MO

AL

MN

GA

AR

LA

MI

IN

PA

NY

NC

MS

TN

VA

KY

ND

OH

UT

SC

AZ

WV

MI

ID

ME

VT NH

MD

NJ

MA

CT

DE

RI

DC

PR

VI

Location of Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
8 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

provide education in the arts and sciences to young 

African-American males but opened its door to 

women in 1866. Ohio’s Wilberforce University, which 

opened in 1856, was named to honor the 18thcentury abolitionist William Wilberforce.

With the abolition of slavery in 1865, freed slaves 

began to enjoy greater access to higher education, 

but that access was provided almost exclusively 

through HBCUs. Despite their singular role in educating former slaves, however, HBCUs struggled to 

obtain the financial support they needed to carry out 

their missions. For example, when the 1862 Morrill 

Land-Grant Act gave federal lands to the states for 

the purpose of opening colleges and universities, only 

one HBCU, Alcorn State University, was included in 

the program. It would be almost 3 decades before 

the second Morrill Land-Grant Act, which became law 

in 1890, specified that states using federal landgrant funds had to open their schools to both blacks 

and whites or set aside money for segregated black 

colleges. Sixteen HBCUs received land grants as a 

result of that legislation. 

Most of the public institutions certified as HBCUs 

were established by state legislatures between 1870 

and 1910. Prior to 1870, however, the majority 

of HBCUs were private institutions established by 

African Americans with support from such organizations as the American Missionary Association (AMA) 

and the Freedmen’s Bureau. After the Civil War, 

the AMA founded 11 schools and colleges for freed 

slaves: Berea College in Kentucky; Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta University) in Georgia; Fisk 

School (now Fisk University) in Tennessee; Hampton 

Normal and Agricultural Institute (now Hampton 

University) in Virginia; Tougaloo College in Mississippi; 

Straight College and New Orleans University (now 

Dillard University) in Louisiana; Swayne School (now 

Talladega College) in Alabama; LeMoyne Normal and 

Commercial School (now LeMoyne-Owen College) 

in Tennessee; Huston-Tillotson University in Texas; 

and Avery Normal Institute, which is now part of the 

College of Charleston in South Carolina. Together, the 

AMA and the Freedmen’s Bureau established Howard 

University in Washington, D.C. These schools would 

thrive over the next decades, supported primarily 

by the generosity of such philanthropists as John D. 

Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie. They would also 

gain important credibility in 1928 when the Southern 

Association of Colleges and Schools began formally 

surveying and accrediting them.

HBCUs were not immune to the hardships brought 

on by the Great Depression and World War II, 

which seriously affected their budgets at a time when 

philanthropic support was diminishing throughout 

the nation. At the urging of Dr. Fredrick D. Patterson, 

president of the Tuskegee Institute, presidents of 

private HBCUs banded together in 1944 to establish

the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), which became an effective fundraising vehicle for the colleges. 

Today, UNCF helps more than 65,000 students 

attend college each year by providing operating 

funds to its 39 member colleges, administering 300 

scholarship and internship programs, and serving as 

a national advocate for the importance of minority 

higher education.

Since World War II, a number of legislative initiatives and judicial decisions have helped to strengthen 

HBCUs. In 1954, the now-famous Brown v. The 

Board of Education decision took issue with “separate 

but equal” schooling and forced states to increase 

their funding of HBCUs and open their other universities to African Americans. Ten years later, the 

Civil Rights Act of 1964 gave the federal government greater power to enforce desegregation. The 

Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, provided 

enhanced public funding for HBCUs and, for the first 

time, defined an HBCU as any accredited college or 

university that was established prior to 1964 and 

whose principal mission “was, and is, the education 

of black Americans.” 
C hapter 1: Historically Black Colleges and Universities • 9 

Four presidents have signed Executive orders aimed 

at ensuring that designated HBCUs have access to 

their share of federal resources. The first Executive 

order, signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1980, 

established a federal program “to overcome the effects of discriminatory treatment and to strengthen 

and expand the capacity of historically black colleges and universities to provide quality education.” 

Subsequent Executive orders established the White 

House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and 

Universities to reinforce educational excellence in 

the nation’s HBCUs and the Presidential Advisory 

Board on Historically Black Colleges and Universities 

to advise the President and the Secretary of Education on ways to strengthen HBCUs. The most recent 

Executive order, signed by President George W. Bush 

in 2002, transferred the White House Initiative on 

Historically Black Colleges and Universities to the 

Office of the Secretary within the U.S. Department 

of Education. The order also required federal departments and agencies to establish clear goals for how 

they will “increase the capacity of historically black 

colleges and universities to compete effectively for 

grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements.” The 

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 

(HUD) is one of those agencies. 

Extraordinary Accomplishments

Despite their humble beginnings and their perennial 

financial struggles, the nation’s 105 HBCUs can point 

to an extraordinary list of accomplishments during 

their nearly 200 years of existence. Although HBCUs 

represent only 3 percent of the nation’s IHEs, they 

graduate nearly one-quarter of African Americans 

who earn undergraduate degrees, according to 

UNCF. In addition, these colleges and universities 

graduate more than half of African-American professionals. They award more than one in three of the 

natural science degrees and half of the mathematics 

degrees held by African Americans. 

Given these statistics, it is not surprising that HBCUs 

count some of the most prominent Americans among 

their alumni. That impressive list includes:

l Early leaders of the African American community, 

including Booker T. Washington (Hampton University) and W.E.B. DuBois (Fisk University).

l Civil Rights leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, 

Jr. (Morehouse College), Rosa Parks (Alabama 

State University), and Medgar Evers (Alcorn State 

University).

l National leaders, including former Supreme Court 

Justice Thurgood Marshall (Lincoln University), 

former Legislator Barbara Jordan (Texas Southern 

University), and former United Nations Ambassador 

Andrew Young (Howard University).

l Literary giants such as Nikki Giovanni (Fisk University), Langston Hughes (Lincoln University), and 

Ralph Ellison (Tuskegee University). 

These Americans, and thousands of other HBCU 

graduates like them, have helped to create a legacy 

that distinguishes HBCUs from other IHEs. Through 

their accomplishments, these alumni have underscored the chief characteristics of HBCUs: they are 

highly supportive learning communities that offer 

students the knowledge and skills they need to succeed, instill in them an appreciation of their potential 

to accomplish great things, and provide an historic 

perspective on the African-American experience. The 

keys to student success, says Haynes, are dedicated 

faculty members, many of whom are HBCU graduates, who understand the singular mission of their 

HBCUs, have benefitted from the student-centered 

focus of these institutions, and are committed to 

doing everything in their power to ensure that their 

students receive the encouragement and support 

they need to be successful.
10 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

“Even if you spend only one semester at a Black 

college, something is different about you when you 

leave,” says Dr. Haynes, who received a bachelor’s 

degree in history from Southern University at Baton 

Rouge in 1968, and a doctorate in higher education 

administration from Ohio State University. “You have 

a more focused orientation about what your potential 

is, what the possibilities for you are, and the fact that 

you can make a positive contribution to improving the 

quality of life for all citizens. These institutions are 

dedicated to the betterment of their students and 

you can document that historically. Other institutions 

often find this difficult to do.”

HBCUs as Engines of Community 

Development

While student educational success is the primary 

mission of HBCUs, says Dr. Haynes, these colleges 

and universities also take a keen interest in the wellbeing of their communities. “Since their inception, 

HBCUs have been like the oasis or the beacon of 

hope in many of the communities in which they are 

located,” he says. 

In fact, says Dr. Haynes, HBCUs are often economic 

engines in their local neighborhoods. His assertions 

are backed by research. Economic Impact of the 

Nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities, 

a 2006 study by the National Center for Educational 

Statistics, showed that HBCUs spend a total of $6.6 

billion in their communities. According to the report, 

these colleges and universities also generate a labor 

income impact of $4 billion by bringing a total of 

180,000 total full- and part-time jobs to the communities in which they operate.

“These colleges are reaching out to their respective 

communities to do whatever they can to help improve 

them,” says Haynes. “In some cases, if the colleges 

didn’t exist, those communities would die.”

Dr. Haynes credits HUD’s HBCU program with helping 

HBCUs nationwide carry out community and economic development activities and projects in their 

communities and surrounding area. Since 1991 

HUD’S HBCU program has provided $146.6 million 

in grants to help HBCUs in 16 states, the District of 

Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands play active roles 

in revitalizing their local communities and has made 

more than 263 grants to HBCUs. HUD also provides 

technical assistance to HBCUs to help them conduct 

projects that fulfill HUD’s goals and help apply for 

funding from other agencies. 

HBCU grantees have used HUD HBCU grant funds 

to revitalize their neighborhoods, many of which have 

deteriorated gradually over many years and generally 

been ignored by the larger community. Rather than 

ignoring local challenges, HBCU grantees have established and supported community development corporations that are carrying out ambitious plans to build 

and rehabilitate local housing, promote homeownership, and bring economic development opportunities 

to distressed areas. Grantees have also worked with 

local partners to create strategic plans for neighborhood growth and development; establish community 

centers that provide adult education, job training, 

and computer classes to the unemployed and the 

underemployed; and offer training and support to 

local residents interested in starting and maintaining 

small businesses. 

“Grantees have also invested heavily in building the capacity 

of local residents of all ages so they can become responsible 

citizens and community leaders.” 

— Dr. Leonard Haynes, executive director of the White House 

 Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities
C hapter 1: Historically Black Colleges and Universities • 11 

Grantees have also invested heavily in building the 

capacity of local residents of all ages so they can 

become responsible citizens and community leaders. 

In that effort, many grantees use HBCU funds to 

offer academic enrichment activities—including 

tutoring, afterschool programs, and recreational 

programs—to young people in preschool through high 

school. Older neighborhood residents look to HBCU 

grantees for help in earning their General Educational Development diploma and for financial literacy, 

counseling, parent training, and heath and wellness 

programs. In addition, HBCU grantees have beautified 

their communities by building new parks, sponsoring 

neighborhood cleanups, improving building facades, 

and breathing new life into historic districts. To 

ensure that grant activities are sustainable over 

time, grantees have also provided training and 

assistance to neighborhood associations and other 

community partners so that local residents can take 

responsibility for improving their communities and 

guiding their future growth. HUD HBCU grantees 

have carried out all of this work in partnership with 

financial institutions, nonprofits, faith-based organizations, and state and local government officials.

A close working relationship with the community is 

central to the mission of HBCUs. These colleges and 

universities have made a commitment to their neighborhoods because they realize that they are part of 

the surrounding community—and that the health of 

the community affects the health of the institution. 

“If you go to an HBCU and you look around at the 

surrounding community, you will see that the college 

is making a difference,” says Dr. Haynes. “That’s why 

these HUD programs are so important. They reinforce the whole public service agenda of historically 

black colleges and universities.” 

C hapter 2

Hispanic-Serving Institutions

 Assisting Communities

C hapter 2: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting Communities • 13 

Asteady yet dramatic increase in the 

Hispanic American population over the 

past 3 decades has been the single 

most important factor in the development of 

the nation’s estimated 265 Hispanic-serving 

institutions (HSIs) of higher education.1 Fourteen million Americans identified themselves 

as Hispanic during the 1980 U.S. Census. By 

1987, that figure had climbed by more than a 

third to 19.4 million Hispanic Americans comprising 8 percent of the U.S. population. Almost 

15 percent of Americans are now Hispanic, 

and that percentage is expected to reach 18.9 

percent by 2025 and 24.4 percent by 2050.

HSIs are the youngest group of minority-serving 

institutions certified by the federal government, 

having been officially recognized under federal law 

just 15 years ago. Mirroring the demographic shifts 

noted above, they are also the fastest growing among 

institutions that serve traditionally underserved 

populations. 

Unlike similarly designated institutions of higher 

education (IHEs), such as historically black colleges 

and universities and Tribal colleges and universities, 

few HSIs were established specifically to serve their 

designated target population. Instead, many HSIs, 

located as they are in states with large Latino populations, gradually incorporated service to Hispanics 

into their institutional missions after they noticed that 

their student populations were beginning to change. 

In the early 1980s, a core group of institutions in 

the Southwest publically recognized these population 

changes. In doing so, they agreed to take decisive 

and aggressive action so they could better serve not 

only their Hispanic students but also the growing 

populations of Hispanics living near their campuses.

“They all had similar experiences,” says Sarita Brown 

about the college and university administrators who 

gathered in Texas for a series of meetings to discuss 

the challenges facing their respective institutions 

and their students. “Everyone recognized that they 

needed to do more for Hispanic students. These 

institutions were ready to take on this challenge, but 

they couldn’t do it alone, and they couldn’t get any 

traction in Washington.”

(2)

TX

CA

MT

AZ

ID

NV

NM

CO

IL

OR

UT

KS

WY

IA NE

SD

MN

ND

OK

FL

WI

MO

WA

AL GA

AR

LA

MI

IN

PA

NY

NC

MS

TN

VA

KY

OH

SC

ME

WV

MI VT NH

MD

NJ

MA

CT

DE

RI

Hispanic Serving Institutions Assisting Communities

Grantees 1998-2008

PR

VI

Location of Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting Communities grantees 1998–2008.

1. In 2006-07, 265 institutions met the basic legislative definition 

of a Hispanic-serving institution, according to Excelencia in Education (available online at: www.edexcelencia.org/pdf/publications/

fact_sheets/HSI-Facts-2008.pdf). However, the National Center 

for Educational Statistics (NCEs) reports that there were 366 HSIs 

in 2004. The NCEs figure includes some institutions that serve 

Latino students but do not meet the legislative definition of HSIs. 

(See NCEs. 2007. Characteristics of Minority-Serving Institutions 

and Minority Undergraduates Enrolled in These Institutions, p. 11 

(available online at www.nces.ed.gov/pubs2008/2008156.pdf).
14 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

Brown, who is now president of Excelencia in Education, a Washington-based nonprofit organization 

dedicated to accelerating Latino student success 

in higher education, participated in the discussions 

as an officer in the Texas Association of Chicanos 

in Higher Education. During those discussions, she 

says, educational leaders came to the conclusion that 

they needed to make a strong case for federal investments in their institutions. By investing in institutions 

that enroll Hispanic students, they would later argue 

in Washington, the federal government could improve 

the means to deliver educational programs to underserved Hispanics.

Dr. Blandina Cardinas, immediate past president of 

the University of Texas-Pan American, coined the 

term “Hispanic-Serving Institution” during the ensuing 

campaign for federal support, a fact that was first 

reported in Excelencia in Education’s 2006 publication, Inventing Hispanic-Serving Institutions: The 

Basics.2 

“She used the phrase in a speech and people didn’t 

have to hear it twice to agree that ‘HSI’ would be the 

name of the program they hoped would develop,” 

recalls Brown. “Everyone responded to (the name) in 

a very powerful way because it recognized that while 

none of these institutions was chartered to serve 

Hispanic students, all now recognized Hispanics were 

the students they need to serve better.”

Federal Involvement

Illinois congressman Paul Simon was the first national 

policymaker to focus the federal spotlight on Hispanic 

students’ lack of access to higher education. As 

documented in Inventing Hispanic-Serving Institutions, 

Simon held congressional hearings in Texas, Illinois, 

and Puerto Rico that acknowledged the educational 

needs of Latino students, revealed that these students were concentrated at a relatively small number 

of IHEs, and confirmed that those IHEs received 

limited financial support to improve the quality of 

their educational offerings. 

While the hearings did not result in a legislative 

solution to the problems they uncovered, they did 

serve as a watershed event in the history of Hispanicserving institutions, according to Inventing HispanicServing Institutions. The hearings raised national 

awareness of Hispanics as a definable group in higher 

education and acknowledged, for the first time, the 

work that colleges and universities were doing to 

serve their Latino students. In 1992, congress enacted legislation introduced by Rhode Island Senator 

Claiborne Pell to recognize HSIs in the Higher Education Act. That legislation also created the “Developing 

Institutions Program,” commonly known as Title V, to 

provide federal support to these colleges and universities. HSIs would wait an additional 3 years before 

they received $12 million to improve and expand 

their capacity to serve Hispanic and other low-income 

students. But their funding has gradually increased 

since then. In FY2008, $93.2 million was appropriated for HSIs through Title V, according to Deborah 

Santiago, Excelencia’s vice president for policy and 

research. 

During the 8 years between the Simon hearings 

and the Pell legislation, several important events 

took place to bolster the collective strength of HSIs, 

according to Inventing Hispanic-Serving Institutions. 

In 1986, the presidents of several IHEs in the Southwest, including Our Lady of the Lake University in San 

Antonio, Texas, and New Mexico Highlands University 

in Las Vegas, New Mexico, came together to develop 

strategies for raising awareness of Latino students 

and their educational needs. Those presidents would 

later establish the Hispanic Association of Colleges 

2. Santiago, Deborah A. 2006. Inventing Hispanic-Serving 

Institutions: The Basics. Washington, DC: Excelencia in 

Education (available online at: www.edexcelencia.org/pdf/

InventingHSIsFINALRv.pdf).
C hapter 2: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting Communities • 15 

and Universities (HACU), which today represents 

more than 450 colleges and universities in the United 

States, Puerto Rico, Latin America, Spain, and Portugal that are committed to Hispanic higher education 

success.3

“They knew they were important to the local communities they served,” says Brown about the colleges 

and universities that established HACU. “But they also 

knew their institutions were beachheads in a bigger 

discussion about advancing academic achievement 

for Hispanic students.”

The cause of HSIs and the students they serve would 

be further strengthened in 1987, when the League 

of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) filed a 

class-action lawsuit4 against the state of Texas, 

alleging that disparities in the state’s higher education 

appropriations discriminated against Hispanic citizens 

living along the Texas-Mexico border. A 1991 article 

published by Tejas, a student publication at the 

University of Texas, illustrates clearly the kind of disparities to which LULAC objected. For example, the 

article reports, only three doctoral programs existed 

in South Texas, while there were 589 such programs 

in the rest of the state. State Representative for 

Corpus Christi Eddie Cavazos claimed in the article 

that the landscaping and maintenance budget at 

the University of Texas at Austin was more than the 

combined budgets of four South Texas universities: 

Corpus Christi State University, University of TexasPan American at Edinburg, Texas A&I University in 

Kingsville,5 and Laredo State University. In addition, 

reported the article, “only 10 percent of state 

revenue appropriations, which total more than 

$1 billion, were spent on border institutions, even 

though 20 percent of the state’s population resides in 

this area.”6

The Texas Supreme Court did not find the state guilty 

of discrimination. However, according to Inventing 

Hispanic-Serving Institutions, the lawsuit did spur the 

state to provide additional resources that would help 

IHEs along the border serve their growing Hispanic 

student populations. In 1989, according to the 

report, Texas legislators created the South Texas 

Border Initiative for Higher Education, which over 

the next 3 years provided public universities in South 

Texas with more than $880 million in special funding 

to improve their campus infrastructures and establish 

new doctoral and research programs. 

Focus on Community

In the years following the 1992 federal designation 

of HSIs, a number of federal programs have been 

created to support the work of these IHEs. One such 

program is the Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting 

Communities (HSIAC) grant administered by HUD’s 

Office of University Partnerships (OUP). Since 1999, 

84 HSIs in 12 states have used more than $63 million in OUP funds to carry out a variety of community 

development activities that affect the educational, 

financial, and social well-being of local residents. 

HSIAC grantees have built community centers that 

provide adult education and language classes, job and 

computer training, and social service programs for 

individuals and families. They have established business incubators and business assistance programs 

to help local entrepreneurs launch and maintain their 

own businesses. HSIAC-funded programs promote 

3. Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities. “HACU 

101” (available online at: www.hacu.net/hacu/HACU_101_

EN.asp?SnID=986186771).

4. LULAC, et al vs. Ann Richards, Governor of Texas, et al.

5. Now Texas A&M University.

6. Munos, Laura. 1999. “Fighting for an Educational Future.” 

Tejas, October 1991 (Available online at: www.utwatch.org/

archives/tejas/october1991_valleyeducation.html).
16 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

public health goals, improve financial literacy, enhance 

local housing, and encourage homeownership in 

Latino communities nationwide. HSIAC grantees have 

also established special vocational programs in the 

construction trades, childcare, and auto repair to 

provide local residents with the skills they need to 

become economically self-sufficient. Through all of 

these varied programs, HSIs have served a plethora 

of special populations, including their own students, 

women and the elderly, the unemployed and underemployed, the homeless, and residents of the small, 

unincorporated border communities called colonias. 

Finally, HSIAC grantees have worked hard to prepare 

Hispanic young people for higher education. 

“Really good HSIs commit resources and energy to 

building their student bodies long before the point 

of admission,” says Brown. “These institutions are 

very cognizant of the fact that Latino students stay 

in the communities where they grow up and choose 

to pursue postsecondary education while remaining 

in those communities. Recognizing this trend, some 

HSIs choose to respond actively and invest intentionally in community outreach, beginning with students 

and families at early stages in their education. At the 

best HSIs, you see, hear, feel, and get a sense of 

place and a sense of community.”

That commitment to community is evident when HSIs 

work with parents to promote early childhood education or when they partner with local schools to launch 

programs that build the academic skills of students 

in kindergarten through 12th grade. Community 

outreach efforts also include initiatives that train and 

dispatch mentors and guides to ensure that Latino 

students receive the information and supports they 

need to aspire to higher education, navigate the 

college admissions process, acquire the necessary 

financial aid to pursue postsecondary education, and 

complete their chosen degree programs. Before the 

advent of HSIs, many of these supports were missing 

within the Latino community, says Brown.

“Most Latino college students today are firstgeneration college students and come from lowincome settings,” she says. “They don’t have the 

kitchen-table discussion with their parents that is 

more typical in middle-class homes that move from 

‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ to “Let’s 

figure out what you have to do to get there.’ To meet 

this need, many HSIs focus on programmatic ways 

to help students of all ages set their sights high and 

learn the stepping stones to achieving their academic 

and career goals.”

Most notably, adds Brown, HSIs accomplish these 

tasks with very limited resources. She credits a variety of federal agencies, including the U.S Department 

of Education, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

and the National Science Foundation, with giving HSIs 

the necessary funds to strengthen their educational 

capacity by upgrading their physical plants; strengthening their programs in science, technology, engineering, and math; creating bridges between high 

school and postsecondary education; and increasing 

the number of Hispanic students pursuing graduate degrees. In addition, says Brown, OUP deserves 

credit for helping HSIs reach beyond the classroom. 

“The HSIAC program has been very significant in 

terms of providing the financial means for these institutions to make a difference in the communities in 

which they are grounded,” says Brown. “HSIs are fully 

cognizant that they often reside in poor sectors of a 

“... some HSIs choose to respond actively and invest intentionally 

in community outreach, beginning with students and families at 

early stages in their education. At the best HSIs, you see, hear, 

feel, and get a sense of place and a sense of community.”

— Sarita Brown, president of Excelencia in Education, 

 a Washington-based nonprofit organization
C hapter 2: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting Communities • 17 

city and feel the responsibility to serve the residents 

who live in those neighborhoods. There are talented 

individuals living in our communities and HSIAC has 

helped HSIs reach those individuals. As a result, 

there are fascinating and innovative efforts going 

on there.”

In addition, says Brown, the rigorous, analytical 

approach that OUP requires of HSIAC grantees has 

provided community-based workers with the skills 

they need to continue their work even after grant 

funds are spent.

“These are people who are doing good work,” she 

says about community outreach specialists at HSIs. 

“But to keep those resources flowing, and continue 

to be in the position to make a positive difference for 

your community, you must be proficient in the lexicon 

of policy and evaluation. You have to collect and 

analyze data to provide the evidence of your effectiveness. You can’t be a successful HSIAC grantee without that ability. While this is true of other programs, 

it is a hallmark of HSIAC.”

As the number of HSIs continues to grow, Brown 

anticipates that their commitment to their students 

and their communities will grow as well.

“The energy among HSIs is positive. They are deeply 

aware of the need. They are very aware of how much 

more there is to do. And they are ready to respond.”

C hapter 3

Tribal Colleges and

 Universities Program

C hapter 3: Tribal Colleges and Universities Program • 19 

CA

MT

TX

AZ

ID

NV

NM

CO

IL

OR

UT

KS

WY

IA

NE

SD

MN

ND

OK

WI

MO

WA

AL

AR

MI

IN

TN

KY

MS

GA

OH

MI

LA

NC

VA

Tribal Colleges and Universities Program Institutions

AK

Location of Tribal Colleges and Universities Program institutions.

When Dr. Anselm G. Davis, Jr., former 

director of the White House Initiative 

on Tribal Colleges and Universities, 

reflects on his early education, the joy of learning is not the first thing that comes to his mind. 

Davis, who is a member of the Navajo Nation, 

recalls instead the intense pressure he felt as 

a youngster to assimilate into American culture 

by turning his back on his Indian culture. He 

also remembers the feelings of inferiority that 

plagued him even after he had succeeded in 

earning a scholarship to the University of 

New Mexico.

“Our schools were pretty consistent in terms 

of wanting to change the Indian child more 

than to really educate the Indian child,” recalls 

Davis. “Whether an Indian student was enrolled 

in a private school, a parochial school, a public 

school, or a school operated by the Bureau of Indian 

Affairs, that Indian student experienced the pressure 

to assimilate. Indian parents were always put in the 

position of having to make a choice: ‘Do I keep my 

child home and try to maintain our language and our 

culture or do I let them go off to school at the cost of 

cultural genocide?’”

Unfortunately, says Davis, federally controlled schools 

for Native Americans made a concerted effort to 

exclude traditional Indian language and culture from 

their curricula. In doing so, he says, these schools 

destroyed students’ sense of identity and self-worth—

the very cornerstones of success in school and in 

life. That administrative decision helped to erode 

Davis’ own self-confidence and the self-confidence of 

his childhood friends, most of whom either did not 

pursue higher education or had trouble earning their 

postsecondary degrees, he says. 

“Those of us who went through those schools when 

we were young struggled to stay in college, and it 

wasn’t because we couldn’t do the coursework,” says 

Davis. “We felt inadequate as people. We had lost 

so much of our language and our culture and the 

values that really sustain us as a people. We felt like 

half-empty containers. We didn’t have strong roots 

in our own native culture, but we had no roots in the 

majority culture.”

Davis overcame these obstacles, earning a bachelor’s 

degree in industrial arts education from the University 

of New Mexico, a master’s degree in technology education from North Arizona University, and a doctorate 

in educational administration from Pennsylvania State 

University. 

“At some point in time, those of us who are successful today had to look in the mirror and embrace 

who we were and feel good about that,” says Davis. 
20 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

“Then we had to figure out how we could expand our 

knowledge of the world without losing our language 

and culture.”

Tribal Colleges are Born

Helping Native American students embrace who they 

are has become a driving mission of the colleges 

and universities chartered by Native American Tribes 

and nations that now dot the Midwest and Southwest regions of the country. Those colleges began to 

appear on reservations about 30 years ago after a 

new self-determination movement took hold in Native 

American communities. Leaders of the grassroots 

movement, which was spawned by the Civil Rights 

Movement of the 1960s, successfully convinced the 

federal government that Native Americans should be 

in charge of their own policymaking and should be 

allowed to establish their own Tribal governments. 

In calling for self-determination, Tribal governments 

knew they had a responsibility to instill in their 

members a renewed awareness and pride in Native 

American culture. Tribal colleges seemed the perfect 

vehicle for that cultural renewal, says Davis.

“A social and political environment was developing 

on Indian reservations,” he says. “That environment 

was more conducive to the radical notion that Tribal 

governments might dare talk about chartering and 

operating institutions of higher education for their 

own people.”

The first Native American community to carry out 

that vision was Davis’s Navajo Nation, which established Navajo Community College—now known as 

Diné College—in 1968. Four years later, a group of 

six Tribal college presidents came together to form 

the American Indian Higher Education Consortium 

(AIHEC), which has provided leadership and influenced 

public policy on American Indian higher education 

issues for more than 3 decades. Today, AIHEC 

represents 36 Tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) 

in the United States and 1 in Canada. 

“The Navajo Nation was especially concerned about 

the young people that they had sent to traditional 

colleges and universities because many of them were 

dropping out of school,” says Davis. “Our leaders 

felt that those students weren’t standing on a solid 

foundation. They decided that we needed Tribal 

colleges as a way to ground students [once again] in 

our language and our culture while, at the same time, 

giving them the academic credentials they needed to 

be successful.”

The Challenges Facing 

Native Americans

While TCUs have worked hard over the past 

3 decades to help Native Americans attain that 

success, the challenges have been considerable. 

A recent AIHEC report, The Path of Many Journeys: 

The Benefits of Higher Education for Native People 

and Communities, offers a sobering picture of the 

challenges that often keep young Tribal members 

from pursuing higher education or make it difficult 

for them to complete their degrees. 

Poverty is chief among these challenges. AIHEC 

reports that in 1999, 26 percent of the American 

Indian/Alaska Native population lived below the official 

poverty level, compared with 12 percent of the total 

population. This cycle of poverty remains unchecked 

from one generation to the next largely because most 

Native Americans live in geographically isolated areas 

that offer limited opportunities for either employment 

or upward mobility. Such chronic poverty, says the 

AIHEC report, is often accompanied by a range of 

social problems, including violence, depression, 

substance abuse, inadequate healthcare and prenatal 

healthcare, unhealthy or insufficient diets, and high 

rates of diabetes.
C hapter 3: Tribal Colleges and Universities Program • 21 

Given these challenges, it is no surprise that educational attainment among Native Americans remains 

low. According to the AIHEC report, almost 28 

percent of American Indians who are 25 and older 

did not graduate from high school, compared with 

the national figure of 15 percent. Only 42 percent of 

Native Americans have pursued any form of higher 

education, compared with 53 percent of all Americans. And only 13 percent of American Indians have 

attained a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared 

with 28 percent for the nation as a whole. These 

figures are even lower for Native Americans who live 

on reservations or other American Indian areas. In 

2000, a third of Native Americans over age 25 living 

in these areas had not graduated from high school, 

and only 35 percent had attended college.

Despite these serious social issues, however, TCUs 

find their student populations expanding with each 

passing year. College enrollment among Native Americans has more than doubled in recent years, from 

76,100 in 1976 to 165,900 in 2002, says AIHEC. 

And the Native population itself is also growing, with a 

third (33 percent) of the estimated 4.3 million Native 

Americans now under the age of 18. Tribal colleges 

are already welcoming a growing number of these 

young people to their classrooms and, as the number 

of high school graduates increases over the next 5 

years, they expect to serve even more students. Part 

of the reason for the influx, says Davis, is that young 

people are witnessing the success of early Tribal 

college graduates and have decided that they want 

to experience that success too.

“The other reason is just purely economics,” he says. 

“Universities and colleges are getting so expensive. 

A good alternative for many young people on the 

reservation is to attend a Tribal college for 2 years 

and then try to get a scholarship to a 4-year college 

or university.”

While they welcome the growing enrollment rates, 

TCUs are also struggling to meet the new demand, 

given their limited funds and inadequate facilities. 

According to treaty obligations, the federal government is bound to provide funding for American Indian 

Tribes for a variety of programs, including higher education. Yet AIHEC maintains that current funding from 

the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the U.S. Department 

of Education is insufficient to cover costs.

Since 2001, the Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP), sponsored by HUD’s Office of University 

Partnerships (OUP), has provided more than $25 

million to help 28 TCUs in 10 states address one of 

the major challenges they face: improving the quality 

and number of their physical facilities. TCUs have 

used OUP funds to build libraries and classrooms, 

health/wellness centers, technology centers, administrative offices, early childhood development centers, 

student housing, Tribal museums, job-training centers, and bookstores. They have also carried out 

essential upgrades to such basic campus facilities 

as fire alarms, heating and air conditioning systems, 

sewage treatment plants, and parking. OUP’s TCUP 

operates under Executive Order 13270, first signed 

by President Bill Clinton in 1996 as Executive Order 

13021, which directs all federal departments and 

agencies to increase their support to TCUs. Fourteen 

federal departments and agencies, including HUD, 

participate in this Executive order.

OUP’s support is particularly important to institutions 

that operate on shoestring budgets and must often 

choose between rehabbing buildings that have leaking 

roofs and crumbling foundations and funding their 

academic programs, says Davis.

“Most of the Tribal colleges got started in someone’s 

basement or an abandoned building, and so there is 

a great need for infrastructure improvements,” he 

says. “These colleges are doing more with very little. 

It has been remarkable that they have been able to 
22 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

do the things they have done under such challenging 

circumstances.”

In addition to shoring up their infrastructures, Tribal 

colleges and universities are working hard to establish a system of supports that will help ensure that 

students who enroll in their academic programs will 

complete their studies. These supports include remedial education programs for current students and 

college preparatory classes carried out in partnership 

with local elementary and high schools. But they also 

include practical services that often have an even 

greater impact on student retention. For example, 

Native American college students—who tend to 

be over 30, married, working full-time, and raising 

children—have increased needs for on-campus childcare, flexible class schedules, and transportation. 

Colleges that do not find a way to fill these needs 

increase the risk that overwhelmed undergraduates 

will abandon their academic careers before they can 

earn a degree.

The risk of losing students before graduation is 

very real. According to the AIHEC report, Native 

Americans are more unlikely than other ethnic 

groups, except Black non-Hispanics, to have obtained 

a postsecondary education degree, and more likely to 

have left school without a degree and not returned. In 

addition, students living on reservations and in other 

American Indian Areas have lower rates of postsecondary educational attainment than Native Americans 

and Alaska Natives as a whole.

The Benefits of Tribal Colleges

TCUs are striving to change these statistics by helping Tribal students rediscover and find pride in their 

cultural heritage, by providing personalized attention 

and support to their students, and by fostering a 

family-like atmosphere and strong personal relationships between students and faculty. When they are 

successful, these colleges are finding that they can 

change the lives of their students in dramatic and 

sometimes unexpected ways. AIHEC reports that 

60 percent of TCU alumni are employed—a figure 

that has helped convince other Tribal members to 

attend college. 

A college degree has also been shown to improve 

both health and social engagement among Native 

Americans. Almost all (88 percent) Native Americans with a bachelor’s degree report that they are in 

“excellent, very good, or good” health, compared with 

73 percent of those without a high school diploma, 

according to the AIHEC report. In addition, over half 

of Native Americans with bachelor’s degrees voted in 

the 2004 presidential election, compared with only a 

third of those who did not graduate from high school.

In addition to serving their own students, TCUs are 

also actively involved in revitalizing their local communities both to raise educational attainment among 

Tribal members and promote local economic development. Many TCUs offer basic education, counseling 

services, and economic development initiatives that, 

without their help, would be missing from isolated 

“More and more Tribal governments are beginning to see the 

Tribal college as an independent arm of the Tribe and as the 

engine for economic development within their communities.”

— Dr. Anselm G. Davis, Jr., former director of the 

 White House Initiative on Tribal Colleges 

 and Universities
C hapter 3: Tribal Colleges and Universities Program • 23 

Tribal communities. More TCUs are beginning to offer 

programs, including training sessions and incubators, 

to help local entrepreneurs start and maintain their 

own businesses. In addition, most TCU facilities have 

become community centers that host Tribal events, 

offer programs that promote community health goals, 

or preserve cultural artifacts that would otherwise be 

lost to future generations. 

“It is hard to see the line between the college and 

the community,” says Davis. “More and more Tribal 

governments are beginning to see the Tribal college 

as an independent arm of the Tribe and as the engine 

for economic development within their communities.”

C hapter 4: Alaska Native- and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions • 25 

C hapter 4

Alaska Native- and

 Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions

F

or most of the 20th century, sparsely 

populated native villages located in remote 

regions of Alaska did not have the means 

to provide secondary education for their young 

people. As a result, Native Alaskan students 

interested in furthering their education were 

forced to leave their families and villages after 

the 8th grade and travel hundreds of miles to 

attend special boarding schools. Understandably, a significant number of youngsters chose 

to remain close to their family and cultural 

roots rather than continue their education in a 

strange and possibly unwelcoming environment. 

A high school education would not become 

common among Native Alaskans until 1974 

when a young woman named Molly Hooch sued 

the state of Alaska, maintaining that she had 

the right to receive an education in her home community. In the 3 decades since the court decided in 

Hooch’s favor, 155 new high schools have been built 

in Alaska, mainly in remote villages. As a result, the 

number of high school graduates in the state has 

climbed dramatically, from under 2,000 in 1970 to 

more than 50,000 today. 

Providing access to a college education for these 

high school graduates has been a challenging and 

expensive process for Alaskan institutions of higher 

education, including the University of Alaska Fairbanks 

(UAF). UAF took steps to meet this challenge as early 

as 1975, when it created its Division of Rural Education to provide educational outreach to remote areas. 

That division became the College of Rural Alaska in 

1989, the same year that the university received 

its federal designation as an Alaska Native Serving 

Institution (ANSI). Along with that designation came 

funds from the U.S. Department of Education, the 

U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department 

of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and other 

federal agencies, which helped minority-serving institutions in Alaska reach out more effectively to Native 

populations that were ready and eager to embrace 

higher education.

Since 2001, grants from HUD’s Office of University 

Partnerships (OUP) have provided more than $14 

million that seven ANSIs have used to launch a variety 

of educational and community development initiatives 

in remote areas of the state. These colleges and universities have provided management training for staff 

of village Tribal organizations, launched vocational and 

educational programs for people of all ages, initiated 

health promotion and disease-prevention campaigns, 

trained local residents for construction and other jobs 

that previously went to out-of-state residents, and 

developed workshops and festivals to honor Native 

culture while promoting economic development. 

The University of Alaska’s Interior-Aleutians campus 

(I-AC) has benefitted from three OUP grants since 

Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian Institutions Assisting Communities

Program Grantees 2000-2008

AK

HI

Locations of Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian institutions grantees, 2000–2008.
26 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

2001. Campus Director Clara Johnson is fond of 

describing her service area as being the “size of 

France,” but size may be the only similarity between 

that area and the western European country. I-AC 

delivers its programs along the state’s Aleutian Chain 

of islands and throughout its large interior region, 

which contains a vast collection of sparsely populated villages that are spread out over hundreds of 

square miles. The region contains no roads, so snow 

machines, dog-teams, boats, and airplanes are the 

vehicles of choice for residents. Recognizing that 

college-age students would never be able to travel to 

I-AC’s headquarters in Fairbanks for an education, the 

campus decided to provide its educational programs 

through six rural education centers located in the 

communities of Tok, Nenana, McGrath, Ft. Yukon, 

Unalaska, and Galena. Each of these centers, in 

turn, serves between 8 and 12 smaller surrounding 

villages. Fifty-four percent of the students who take 

classes through those centers are Alaska Natives.

I-AC’s structure and programs illustrate clearly both 

the challenges inherent in providing higher education 

in Alaska and the desperate need for that education. 

Most of the campus’ courses are taught via audio 

conference or Web-based programs like Elluminate 

Live! or Blackboard. When distance learning is not 

appropriate—for instance, when courses require 

hands-on instruction in carpentry or electrical 

coursework—instructors conduct their classes in 

villages reached by airplane and where they stay for 

weeks at a time to offer courses that are appropriately called “learning intensives.” Whether courses 

are taught by telephone or in person, delivering 

education to a far-flung student body is an expensive 

proposition that would not be possible without OUP 

support, says Johnson.

“Those grants really opened up new opportunities for 

us that we didn’t have access to before,” she says. 

“They allow us to think from a village perspective. 

When we develop a course, we ask, ‘How does it 

make sense for Venetie? How am I going to offer this 

in Stevens Village?’ If you can provide courses in a 

home village, and make them relevant and satisfying 

to everyone, then people in the village will be willing 

to take the next course, and the next course, and 

eventually earn their degrees.” 

Following a student from the beginning of the educational journey to the conferring of a degree requires 

patience and a completely different mindset regarding how to measure academic and administrative 

success, says Johnson. Last year, for instance, I-AC 

awarded 50 diplomas and conferred them during 

three separate village graduation ceremonies that 

required airplane travel over a month’s time in order 

for Johnson and members of the University of Alaska 

Board of Regents to attend. A village typically holds 

only one ceremony each year for all of its graduates, 

whether they have completed kindergarten or college. 

Because the ceremonies are major events both for 

the graduates and their villages, Johnson makes it a 

point to attend every ceremony that includes an I-AC 

graduate—and to bring along the graduation gowns, 

mortar boards, and special sashes that Alaska 

Natives will wear during the ceremony. 

While 50 diplomas might represent a disappointing 

graduation rate to other college administrators, 

Johnson is thrilled with the numbers for two reasons. 

First, I-AC’s current graduation rate is four times 

higher than it was just a few years ago when the 

campus graduated only a dozen students per year. 

Second, I-AC is beginning to count Alaska Native men 

among its graduates, which is a major accomplishment for a campus that has primarily served Native 

women until now. Last year’s graduation ceremony 

in Galena included six men who had graduated from 

an OUP-supported construction trades program. 
C hapter 4: Alaska Native- and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions • 27 

The village elders who attended that ceremony were 

“amazed,” said Johnson. “They said it was the first 

time they had ever seen Native Alaskan men graduate from anything.”

The construction trades program has two key elements that help guarantee its success and make it 

a model for education delivery in rural Alaska, says 

Johnson. First, it focuses on a subject matter that 

village residents found to be practical and relevant. 

Second, it integrates a respect for Native traditions 

and values.

“When students in Huslia built a home for a village 

elder during the practicum part of that program, the 

elder came by every day to check on what they were 

doing,” says Johnson. “Those students did everything 

they could to build the best possible home because 

it was for an elder, somebody they love and respect. 

You wouldn’t think that intergenerational activities 

would be such an important part of a construction 

skills training program. But, in Native villages, it is 

important and we respect that.”

Keeping culture at the center of I-AC programs 

contributes to the health of communities and the 

health of its students, says Johnson.

“Our campus serves a primarily indigenous community, so we want to provide an education that 

is relevant to that community,” she says. “For that 

reason, I give my grants Native names and I try to 

include village elders in all of our programs because 

it provides a stabilizing force. Our goal is to provide 

new information in a way that is based on our past 

and who we are. A respect for culture makes our 

students stronger people so they will stay in school, 

graduate, use their talents and skills to make their 

communities healthier, feel good about themselves, 

and have meaningful work.”

Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions 

Making education relevant to Native populations is 

also the mission of Native Hawaiian-serving institutions like Leeward Community College, which operates a satellite campus on the Wai’anae Coast of 

Oahu. Separated from the rest of the island by a 

volcanic mountain ridge, Wai’anae is home to one of 

the largest Native Hawaiian populations in Hawaii. 

Not coincidentally, the area also has exceedingly high 

levels of unemployment and poverty and low levels of 

educational attainment. 

As a whole, the Wai’anae Coast has poverty rates 

near 20 percent, but some census tracts report 

that a full 50 percent of their residents have incomes 

that fall below the federal poverty level, says Michael 

Pecsok, Leeward’s vice chancellor for academic 

services. Over 90 percent of households earn less 

than $50,000 a year, but the region’s median annual income barely reaches $25,000. The collegegoing rates of the two high schools in the area are 

among the lowest in the state: 16 percent and 21.2 

percent, compared with a state average of 35.6 percent. When those students do come to campus, says 

Pecsok, more than 80 percent are unprepared to do 

college work and must be placed in remedial classes.

“The strong correlation between economic challenges 

and number of Native Hawaiians is really striking,” 

says Pecsok. “There shouldn’t be such a strong a 

correlation between being Native Hawaiian and being 

poor. There shouldn’t be a correlation between being 

Native Hawaiian and having low levels of education.”

Pecsok maintains that there are many complicated 

reasons behind the economic, social, and educational challenges that Native Hawaiians face. But one 

important factor can be found in the history of the 

Hawaiian Islands, which enjoyed a vibrant, sophisticated culture for 1,500 years before European 

explorers discovered them in 1778. Beginning in 
28 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

1820, when the first missionaries arrived, island 

culture began to change dramatically with the adoption of Western education and commerce, the influx 

of new peoples, and the introduction of diseases that 

decimated Native populations. The combination of 

these factors, and the subsequent political upheaval 

over the next century, dealt a severe blow to Native 

culture and language.

“Europeans didn’t do a very good job of treating indigenous cultures with respect when they found them,” 

Pecsok says. “The Hawaiian culture itself was almost 

wiped out. Many of the problems we’re seeing today 

are the result of a destroyed culture. I do think there 

is a moral responsibility to fix those problems. The 

biggest challenge we are facing is getting people to 

realize this is everybody’s responsibility. This is not a 

problem that someone else is going to fix.”

Helping local communities take responsibility for 

facing their challenges and fixing their problems has 

been a major goal of Leeward, and the other 10 

Hawaiian colleges and universities that participate 

in OUP’s Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian Institutions 

Assisting Communities (AN/NHIAC) grant program. 

Since 2001, the program has provided grants of 

more than $14 million to help institutions of higher 

education collaborate with a variety of community 

partners to build facilities and launch programs that 

break the cycle of poverty and lack of opportunity 

that has plagued Native Hawaiian communities for 

decades. As a result, a variety of new resources 

have been introduced into communities across the 

islands, including programs that focus on job training, business assistance, literacy, agriculture, college 

preparation, homeownership promotion, drug and 

vocational rehabilitation, recreation, and economic 

development.

Leeward is using its 2007 OUP grant to renovate an 

existing facility at Wai’anae High School for an animation arts curriculum designed to prepare students 

for careers and higher education programs. A 2002 

grant helped secure the purchase of eight acres of 

land, as well as the buildings, farm equipment, and 

related accessories needed to establish the Wai’anae 

Organic Agricultural Center and develop curricula for 

a microenterprise training program. The programs 

do not just give people skills for a particular job, he 

says. Because they integrate Hawaiian culture and 

values, the programs develop the whole person and 

give their participants the ability to live in a pono way. 

Pono is a Hawaiian word that describes something 

that is correct, balanced, and represents a moral 

way of doing things. 

“The person who runs our agriculture center says 

that everything we do is pono,” says Pecsok. “That’s 

a very powerful concept within the community. People 

do attach value to doing things in a pono way. That 

has helped us build community support for our 

programs. If you don’t have that support, things just 

don’t work.”

OUP grants have helped Leeward and other Native 

Hawaiian-serving colleges and universities build that 

community support—and their own credibility—as 

they try to create partnerships with community 

members and organizations.

“The AN/NHIAC grants let us bring about social change by 

setting in motion initiatives that will work over the long term.” 

 — Michael Pecsok, vice chancellor for 

 academic affairs, Leeward College
C hapter 4: Alaska Native- and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions • 29 

“The AN/NHIAC grants let us bring about social 

change by setting in motion initiatives that will work 

over the long term,” says Pecsok. “It is much easier 

to work with community partners when we can come 

to the table with some resources. But the important thing is that those partners institutionalize the 

initiatives because they believe in them. Our grants 

are so dependent on community support that if a 

project is not good for the community, it just doesn’t 

happen.” 

When programs do happen, they can bring tremendous benefits to both the community and the college, 

says Pecsok. The organic farm project, which 

started out as an educational experiment, is making 

money by selling the food it raises to such buyers 

as the Whole Foods grocery chain. The high school 

media program has been expanded, with help from 

a Kellogg Foundation grant, into a for-profit media 

company on the Wai’anae Coast. 

“The ability to fund that initial change is so important,” 

says Pecsok. “In Hawaii, we have low employment, we 

have underemployment, we have economic problems, 

and we have social problems that lead to underprepared students and dysfunctional high schools. 

How do we turn that around? We need the kind of 

funding that allows us to experiment, that allows us 

to try something different. OUP has provided us with 

the capacity to be more innovative than we could 

otherwise be.”

SECTION II:

A Sampling of

 Grantee Activities

C hapter 5

Creating Opportunities

 for Economic Development

C hapter 5: Creating Opportunities for Economic Development • 33 

Railroad tracks have literally cut off the 12-block 

Chinatown neighborhood of Salinas, California, 

from the rest of the city. Until a few years ago, 

the neighborhood’s isolation made it a haven for drug 

and other illicit activity and a destination for many 

of the city’s chronically homeless individuals. Now, 

however, things are changing.

The challenges that Salinas’s Chinatown faced were 

not unique. Nationwide, many once-thriving communities are now struggling with decline that comes 

on gradually but then begins to seriously impact 

both the affected neighborhood and its surrounding 

jurisdiction. Like Salinas’s Chinatown, these at-risk 

communities may have a preponderance of vacant 

lots or boarded-up commercial space. They may be 

experiencing a spike in criminal activity, or they may 

be dotted by older deteriorating homes. In some 

communities, the decline is not seen as much as it is 

felt by hard-working community residents who believe 

that their neighborhood has been left behind even as 

other sections of their city continue to move forward. 

Fortunately, many at-risk communities also have 

significant assets that hold the seeds of their eventual renewal. Those assets include engaged and 

committed residents and organizations that care 

enough about the community to invest in its future. 

In addition, the communities featured in this publication have found important institutional allies to help 

them reach their revitalization goals. Those allies are 

minority-serving institutions of higher education that 

participate in grant programs sponsored by HUD’s 

Office of University Partnerships (OUP). 

In Salinas, for example, California State University, 

Monterey Bay (CSUMB) is using funds from 

OUP’s Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting 

Communities (HSIAC) grant program to coordinate 

a comprehensive community planning process that 

is helping local residents steer their neighborhood 

toward a brighter future. Similar tales of rejuvenation are being told in other communities where OUP 

grantees are creating new opportunities for community development. This chapter tells the story of 

CSUMB (page 34) and three other OUP grantees:

Benedict College (page 36) has been working for 

many years to revitalize Columbia, South Carolina’s 

distressed Read Street and Waverly neighborhoods 

through a variety of projects. Now the college is using funds from OUP’s Historically Black Colleges and 

Universities (HBCU) program to build environmentally 

friendly residences that promise to remain affordable 

over the long term because they will be less expensive to heat, cool, and maintain.

North Carolina A&T University (page 38) in 

Greensboro, North Carolina, another HBCU grantee, 

has created a variety of partnerships to help stabilize 

vulnerable neighborhoods where homeownership 

rates lag far behind other areas of the city. The 

university is working with the local housing authority, 

community development corporation, and communitybased organizations to promote homeownership, 

prevent foreclosure, make emergency repairs to 

unsafe homes, and teach local residents how to 

maintain their properties.

South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, 

South Carolina, (page 40) is using HBCU funds to 

give hard-working single mothers the chance to purchase safe, affordable homes for their families. The 

university’s program provides women with financial 

support to make downpayments or pay their closing 

costs. Most important, program staff provide a good 

amount of “hand holding” to guide the single mothers 

through the entire homebuying process.
34 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

Revitalizing a Neighborhood 

 through Community Planning

The fragrant elevated gardens that are springing 

up on vacant lots in the old Chinatown neighborhood of Salinas, California, offer residents a 

daily reminder that hope can rise from unexpected 

places. The gardens are only one part of a comprehensive effort by California State University, Monterey 

Bay (CSUMB), the city of Salinas, and neighborhood stakeholders to prompt a civic rebirth in the 

neighborhood. That rebirth has come in the form 

of a comprehensive planning process that seeks to 

include Chinatown in redevelopment activities taking 

place in Salinas’ main commercial district. Railroad 

tracks separate the 12-square-block community from 

the downtown area.

“Basically, there is one way in and out of the neighborhood,” says Ken Feske, who manages the Soledad 

Street/Chinatown Project for CSUMB. Long shut 

off from the rest of the city, old Chinatown has 

spiraled downward in recent years, becoming a haven 

for drugs and illicit activity while also attracting a 

significant homeless population, he says. 

More than 300 people participated in the CSUMBfacilitated community planning process, which was 

supported by a grant from OUP’s HSIAC program 

and an Environmental Justice grant from the California Department of Transportation. The neighborhood 

planning team conducted a walking audit of the community, held numerous focus groups, drafted a plan 

for the city council, and established five action teams 

to address neighborhood priorities. Those priorities 

call for bringing increased social services, economic 

development, and security to the neighborhood; 

fostering an appreciation of Asian culture; and reconnecting Chinatown to the rest of the community. 

During the entire planning process, the elevated gardens on Soledad Street have brought lush growth and 

vibrant color to a community that has lacked both in 

recent years. Even more important, the gardens have 

offered the community an early and highly visible sign 

that its planning process is taking hold. 

“The idea was to transform a vacant corner into 

a vibrant corner,” says Feske about the gardens. 

“Redevelopment takes time. We had to do something 

that would have a tangible short-term impact.” 

Modeled on a similar Homeless Garden Project that 

was launched in 1990 in nearby Santa Cruz, the 

Salinas garden project initially employed 14 chronically homeless people who were paid $7.50 per 

hour for 16 hours each week to build raised beds 

and cultivate flowers, herbs, and vegetables. As the 

gardens took shape and transformed their surroundings, so too were the garden workers noticeably 

changed. While three workers are still employed by 

the project, nine have made transitions to other jobs 

or have joined training programs that promise to lead 

to permanent employment. 

CSUMB students in front of the Community Garden Welcome sign.
C hapter 5: Creating Opportunities for Economic Development • 35 

Contact Information

Ken Feske, Manager

Soledad Street/Chinatown Project 

Service Learning Institute

California State University, Monterey Bay 

100 Campus Center, Building 45A

Seaside, CA 93955–8001 

Phone: 831–582–5083

E-mail: ken_feske@csumb.edu

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, MONTEREY BAY • 

SALINAS, CALIFORNIA

A nationally recognized leader in student service 

learning and civic engagement, the university’s 

Service Learning Institute has also lent the time, 

talent, and energy of its students to the project. 

Many CSUMB students travel nearly 40 minutes 

by bus to work alongside chronically homeless men 

and women to build, nurture, and maintain the new 

gardens. Undergraduates also volunteer at Dorothy’s 

Kitchen, a local outreach program sponsored by the 

Franciscan Workers of Junipero Serra, which offers 

homeless people nourishing daily meals and a place 

to shower and wash their clothes. 

CSUMB supplements these service-learning activities 

by providing literacy and computer training classes 

for homeless individuals at the university’s nearby 

learning center. Other community members are also 

actively engaged in the renewal effort. For example, 

police and local residents are working collaboratively 

to reduce crime in the neighborhood. The community 

is energized and hopeful, says Feske. 

“When a neighborhood is forgotten, it gets a bad 

reputation,” he says. “Now the garden is here and 

more students are working in the area. There are 

more eyes on the street and less drug activity.”

Plans for the future include exploring microenterprise 

opportunities for greenhouse-grown herbs and mushrooms and building compost bins for sale. Long-term 

plans include building an Asian-American cultural center and affordable housing. But for now, says Feske, 

residents are enjoying the fruit of the new gardens.

“People used to say this neighborhood will never 

go anywhere until we can get rid of the homeless 

people,” said Feske. “But gradually they began to view 

homeless individuals as marginalized in a way similar 

to how they were once excluded. The energy and 

resolve of the Asian community has been impressive. 

They’ve stepped in to assume the needed leadership. 

The university was simply a catalyst.” 

CSUMB students and garden crew prepare worm beds for 

vermiculture.
36 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

Transforming a Neighborhood

 while Protecting the Environment

When neighborhood residents step through 

the doors of Benedict College’s new 

Community Learning Center in Columbia, 

South Carolina, in 2009, they will discover the power 

of thinking green. The Learning Center, which was 

built with funds from OUP’s HBCU program, is part 

of Project SUSTAIN, an initiative being carried out 

by the college and the Benedict-Allen Community 

Development Corporation (BACDC) to transform city 

neighborhoods while protecting the environment. 

“We’re not just building affordable housing,” says 

BACDC Executive Director Larry Salley. “We look for 

opportunities to help residents change their lives.”

Those who harbor doubts about the important 

role that environmentally friendly buildings can 

play in transforming communities might take 

inspiration from the Community Learning Center 

itself. A former nightclub adjacent to what used to 

be the worst street in Columbia, the center is now a 

model of energy-efficient design. When completed, it 

will feature neighborhood meeting space, computer 

workstations, and a Web portal that allows residents 

to use the Internet for communication and community building. The center will also offer a wide range 

of asset-building workshops and should serve as a 

catalyst for environmentally friendly construction in 

the neighborhood.

Project SUSTAIN was inspired by the notion that, 

for too long, housing developers have sacrificed 

long-term affordability and a healthy environment to 

reduce upfront development costs. Taking a different approach, the BACDC-sponsored project aims to 

produce savings for individual households by building 

homes that will cost less to heat, cool, and maintain 

over the long term. BACDC also hopes to contribute to the community’s financial health by purchasing Project SUSTAIN building materials from local 

distributors and by using lumber produced in South 

Carolina. A planned development of 15 new homes 

will incorporate both of these approaches. The homes 

will feature such environmentally friendly features as 

fluorescent lighting, energy-efficient appliances, and 

toxin-free interior paints.

Salley admits that it has been challenging to identify 

green building features that are also economical. 

BACDC is working hard to meet that challenge and 

to price its housing to remain competitive with other 

homes in the Columbia market. Homes built through 

Project SUSTAIN are expected to sell for between 

$95,000 and $110,000.

BACDC has been working for years to find innovative 

ways to address the needs of Columbia’s distressed 

Read Street and Waverly communities. Faced with Benedict College Professor Gerald Smalls discusses money 

management with IDA participants.
C hapter 5: Creating Opportunities for Economic Development • 37 

Benedict College • Columbia, South Carolina

a plethora of dilapidated rental properties owned by 

absentee landlords, the corporation began working a 

decade ago to acquire rundown houses in both neighborhoods and renovate them for homeownership. 

Many of these homes were architecturally distinct 

and, once restored, a few even caught the attention 

of Benedict College faculty members, who subsequently moved into the neighborhood. 

As momentum for the neighborhood’s revitalization 

grew, Benedict College and BACDC worked in 

conjunction with the city of Columbia to develop a 

$1.1 million neighborhood park. BACDC followed this 

initiative with a project to build attractively designed 

homes on infill lots and to offer neighborhood residents the opportunity to become first-time homeowners. The neighborhood’s transformation continues 

through a HOPE VI project that will replace dilapidated 

public housing units with new homes. The Columbia 

Housing Authority used BACDC’s housing plans to 

design the project so that the new construction will 

complement the existing housing in the neighborhood.

The success of BACDC’s revitalization efforts to date 

is due, in part, to the active role that neighborhood 

residents and leaders take in planning, implementing, 

and evaluating every BACDC project, says Salley. 

That kind of involvement will continue under Project 

SUSTAIN. For example, BACDC is helping residents 

use geographic information systems mapping to 

identify high-crime areas and to develop mini master 

plans that target appropriate resources to those 

areas. The college also plans to videotape community meetings and broadcast them over the learning 

center’s Web portal as a way to raise awareness of 

local issues. “A good partnership with the community 

enhances the likelihood of success,” Salley explains.

BACDC’s partnerships also include other housing 

developers, many of whom have participated in 

college-sponsored workshops on the benefits of building 

environmentally friendly buildings. Through these and 

other outreach efforts, Benedict College hopes to 

inspire its community partners to incorporate sustainability into their own strategies for eliminating blight 

and promoting independent neighborhoods. “The use 

of green building strategies will be vital to developing 

affordable communities for years to come,” says Salley. 

Contact Information

Larry Salley, Executive Director

Benedict-Allen Community Development Corporation 

1600 Harden Street

Columbia, SC 29204

Phone: 803–705–4682

E-mail: salleyl@benedict.edu

Rebecca Sims and her son Davias pose in front of their new home.
38 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

Creating Partnerships to 

 Stabilize Vulnerable Neighborhoods

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State 

University (N.C.A&T) in Greensboro has established a variety of partnerships to prepare 

low-income individuals for homeownership, help existing homeowners maintain their homes, and teach 

at-risk homeowners the financial skills they need to 

avoid losing their homes. Along the way, those partnerships are stabilizing some of Greensboro’s most 

vulnerable neighborhoods.

Seventy-five-year-old Mildred Young lives in one 

of those neighborhoods. A 30-year resident of 

Greensboro, Young was one of the beneficiaries of 

N.C.A&T’s partnership with the East Market Street 

Development Corporation (EMSDC), which identified 

10 low-income homeowners whose houses needed 

urgent attention. Using a combination of volunteer 

labor and funds from OUP’s HBCU program, the partners arranged to complete repairs that homeowners 

could not afford to do on their own. Most of those 

repairs would have carried a price tag of $2,000 to 

$5,000 or more for residents who already struggle 

to pay daily living expenses.

Students from the university’s Construction Management Department, working under the supervision of 

EMSDC’s program manager and a student site manager, helped repair Young’s home. That meant fixing a 

kitchen cabinet, cleaning out gutters, and repairing a 

leak above an electrical outlet that could have posed 

a serious safety hazard. “I felt safer knowing they took 

care of it,” says Young. “I would have had to pay a 

whole lot of money to hire somebody.” 

Recognizing that preventive maintenance can often 

help homeowners like Mildred Young avoid emergency 

repairs, N.C.A&T worked with several local partners 

to present two free home maintenance demonstrations for low-income residents of the city’s Jonesboro Scott Park neighborhood. The demonstrations, 

sponsored in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity, local community-based organizations, and Home 

Depot, taught 40 local residents how to perform 

simple maintenance tasks such as caulking, cleaning 

gutters, and fixing drafty windows. 

“We wanted to teach homeowners how to improve 

the appearance of their homes and how to keep their 

homes safe, warm, and dry,” says Project Manager 

Tamara N. Dix. “All of the participants agreed the 

information was valuable and most said they felt more 

confident in their ability to do minor preventative 

maintenance.” 

Several additional partnerships are helping N.C.A&T 

promote homeownership in its community and make 

sure that new and established homeowners can stay 

in their homes. For example, a partnership between 

the university and the Greensboro Housing Authority 

(GHA) is helping both organizations address their 

mutual concern that low-income residents in the 

university’s neighborhood have difficulty becoming 

homeowners.

“Our target area lags behind other areas of the city in 

terms of homeownership,” says Dix. Homeownership 

rates in greater Greensboro, which averaged 65 percent in 2003, are keeping pace with the nation as a 

whole, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Census 

Ms. Mildred Young, a retired senior citizen, smiles proudly after 

the repairs to her home were completed.
C hapter 5: Creating Opportunities for Economic Development • 39 

NORTH CAROLINA AGRICULTURAL AND TECHNICAL 

STATE UNIVERSITY • GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA

of Population and Housing. However, homeownership 

rates in the program’s target area trail the rest of 

Greensboro by more than 20 percent.

To help rectify the situation, N.C.A&T and GHA sponsored a series of classes aimed at helping residents 

become homeowners. Eight workshop participants 

now own their own homes, two are in the market 

for a house, and 20 more are working to improve 

their credit scores, according to Erica Moore, GHA’s 

director of assisted housing. 

HBCU funds paid for the free classes, and they also 

allowed N.C.A&T to offer participants a concrete 

incentive to complete the homeownership series and 

qualify for a loan. Participants who reached both 

milestones could receive $2,000 in downpayment 

assistance awarded as matching funds through GHAsponsored individual development accounts. In addition, families who earned at least $15,000 a year 

were eligible to receive help with mortgage payments 

through GHA’s “Welcome Home” program.

Moore is proud of the workshop participants and 

of GHA’s record in boosting homeownership. However, she is most pleased that none of the homes 

purchased by program participants have gone into 

foreclosure. 

Helping families who are at risk of foreclosure will be 

the mission of still another partnership between GHA, 

N.C.A&T, and the Greensboro Housing Coalition. 

The coalition’s extensive experience with foreclosure 

issues makes it an ideal partner in the project, says 

Dr. Musibau Shofoluwe, who has served as project 

director for the university’s HBCU grants for more 

than 10 years. The coalition’s contribution to the 

project illustrates clearly that successful programs 

require strong partnerships, he says.

“Before you start planning or setting your timeline, 

find reputable partners and bring everyone to the 

table,” advises Shofoluwe. “Then you’ll have better 

programs and fewer delays.” 

Contact Information

Dr. Musibau Shofoluwe, Project Director

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University 

Department of Construction Management & 

 Occupational Safety and Health 

Office of Sponsored Programs

1601 East Market Street

Greensboro, NC 27411

Phone: 336–256–0344, ext. 2244 

E-mail: musibaus@ncat.edu

 

Tamara N. Dix, Project Manager

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University 

Department of Construction Management & 

 Occupational Safety and Health 

Office of Sponsored Programs

1601 East Market Street

Greensboro, NC 27411

Phone: 336–256–0344, ext. 2277 

E-mail: tndix@ncat.edu 

Valerie Nicholson with her daughter is one of eight homeownership 

workshop participants to purchase their first home.
40 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

Helping Single Working Mothers 

 Become Homeowners

Until a year ago, Orangeburg, South Carolina, 

resident Yvette Perryman used three simple 

words to describe her living situation. “We 

were cramped,” says the single mother, who spent 

2007 living with relatives while trying to raise her 

6-year-old son and 12-year-old nephew. More than 

anything, Perryman wanted to buy a house she could 

afford on the income she earns working on behalf of 

children with special needs. The single mother was 

unsuccessful in meeting that goal until she enrolled 

in a free homebuyer counseling education program 

sponsored by South Carolina State University (SCSU) 

in Orangeburg. 

Today, Perryman owns a 3-bedroom house in rural 

Orangeburg County that cost her $100,000. She is 

1 of 10 first-time homebuyers to graduate from a 

university program that helps make homeownership 

a reality for single working mothers earning between 

$16,900 and $30,000 a year. The program is 

coordinated by SCSU’s 1890 Research and Extension Department, a nonprofit agency that helps the 

university execute its community development goals. 

“Many of these low- to moderate-income families can 

afford a mortgage payment,” says Merylin Jackson, 

senior extension director in the department. “What 

they don’t have is money for the downpayment and 

closing costs.” 

Funds from OUP’s HBCU program are helping to 

close that gap. The university leveraged its 2005 

HBCU grant to secure funds from the South Carolina 

State Housing Finance and Development Authority 

and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta. This 

financial support helped SCSU to offer Perryman and 

nine other program participants forgivable loans of up 

to $18,000, which they applied toward downpayment 

and settlement costs. Two of those new homeowners 

are former residents of the Roosevelt Garden 

Apartments, a HUD-supported housing community 

in Orangeburg. To quality for the grants, all program 

participants attend six classes that cover the dos and 

don’ts of homebuying and agree to live in their new 

home for 5 years. 

“Most are troubled by poor credit,” Jackson says of 

the 100 people who have enrolled in the homebuyer 

workshop since it began in 2007. SCSU’s six home–

ownership sessions focus on helping participants 

improve their credit score, learn how to budget, and 

learn practical skills about home maintenance. Local 

housing experts visit the classes regularly to educate 

participants about the path to homeownership and 

to warn them about variable mortgage rates, balloon 

payments, and the risk of foreclosure. For example, Merylin Jackson, senior extension director, SCSU 1890 Research and 

Extension Department.
C hapter 5: Creating Opportunities for Economic Development • 41 

SOUTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY • 

ORANGEBURG, SOUTH CAROLINA

a HUD representative talks about predatory lending. 

Local attorneys discuss closing costs and describe 

what happens at settlement. Bankers explain what 

a lender looks for in a mortgage applicant and 

give pep talks on the need to put money aside for 

emergencies.

“We coach them about making good decisions from 

the time they select their realtor to the day they move 

in,” says Jackson. “We make it a point to establish a 

relationship with each individual.” 

Between classes, students from SCSU’s Social 

Services and Consumer Science departments meet 

with individual participants to help them develop a 

budget and a savings plan. SCSU students also review participants’ bank statements, monitor whether 

candidates are paying their bills on time, and make 

sure prospective homeowners have all the documents 

they need to apply for a loan. 

“It takes a lot of patience to see these families 

through,” says Jackson. “We hold their hand throughout the entire home-buying process. We help them 

choose a mortgage that fits them.” 

Handholding from SCSU and from her realtor was 

particularly helpful to Jacqueline Owens, a 35-year-old 

divorcee and mother of 2 children who was looking 

for a safe, decent, affordable home for her family. 

Owens heard about the homebuyer education classes 

from a radio ad, but she credits her realtor with 

persuading her to enroll. With SCSU’s help, Owens 

was able to buy a 3-bedroom house for $119,000. 

The $18,000 grant from SCSU reduced her home’s 

price to $101,000. Owens has a fixed-rate mortgage 

of 6.1 percent. 

“I probably would not have been able to buy it without 

the grant,” says Owens, who has a bachelor’s degree 

and works as a Head Start teacher. “It feels really 

good to be here.”

Contact Information

Merylin Jackson, Senior Extension Director

1890 Research and Extension Department

South Carolina State University

300 College Street, NE

Orangeburg, SC 29117

Phone: 803–531–8189

E-mail: mjackson@scsu.edu

Jacqueline Owens and her children standing on the porch of their 

new home.

C hapter 6

Creating Opportunities

 for Small Businesses

C hapter 6: Creating Opportunities for Small Businesses • 43 

There is no shortage of open land on the outskirts of Bethel, Alaska. Most households in the 56 remote villages that dot the Yukon Delta put 

food on their tables by hunting, fishing, or gathering 

wild foods like the berries along the Kuskokwim River. 

But when it comes to earning hard cash, these same 

villagers often come up empty handed. 

That is why colleges and universities participating 

in grant programs sponsored by HUD’s Office of 

University Partnerships (OUP) take entrepreneurship seriously. They know that small businesses have 

much to offer economically challenged communities. 

In addition to providing an income for the business 

owner, these businesses also improve the community’s commercial vitality and, when they are successful, they can become reliable local employers.

Since 2006, the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, 

Kuskokwim Campus (KuC) in Bethel has been using funds from OUP’s Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian Institutions Assisting Communities (AN/NHIAC) 

program to support entrepreneurs living within a 

300-mile radius of its campus. Six entrepreneurs 

who were mentored by KuC recently won a total of 

$150,000 in startup funds during a statewide business plan competition.

Other OUP grantees are enjoying similar successes 

by supporting small businesses and the entrepreneurs who establish and manage them. This chapter 

highlights the business-development work of KuC 

(page 44) and five other grantees:

Urban College of Boston (page 46) is using funds 

from OUP’s Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting 

Communities (HSIAC) program to offer a comprehensive training program in both child development and 

business development to 100 Latino childcare providers in Boston and Lawrence, Massachusetts. Halfway 

through the 2-year program, the college has already 

helped 52 family childcare providers start or expand 

their own businesses. 

Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas, 

(page 48) is using a grant from OUP’s Historically 

Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) program to 

offer training and financial assistance to established, 

minority-owned businesses in Houston’s Third Ward. 

The program helped one entrepreneur increase revenues at his 17-year-old commercial tire business by 

70 percent over a 2-year period.

OUP-supported small businesses have helped residents of the village of Ho`okena, Hawaii, reclaim a 

local beach that was once the center of their community’s cultural and economic life. The University of 

Hawaii at Hilo (page 50) used its AN/NHIAC grant 

to help residents establish several microenterprises 

at the Ho`okena Beach Park.

HBCU and HSIAC funds are being put to work in 

Arkansas and Texas to promote business development 

through incubator facilities that provide office space, 

administrative services, and technical assistance to 

budding entrepreneurs. The University of Arkansas

at Pine Bluff (page 52) used HBCU and other funds 

to build a $2.3 million incubator that has helped revitalize Pine Bluff’s commercial district. The University 

of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southernmost 

College (page 54) used HSIAC funds to establish 

three business incubators in and around Brownsville. 

Since 2006, the Texas incubators have provided free 

business support to 330 entrepreneurs, supported 

the establishment of 50 new businesses, and helped 

create 537 local jobs.
44 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

Translating Native Traditions 

 into Marketable Businesses

When six entrepreneurs from remote 

areas of southwestern Alaska received 

$150,000 in startup money from the 

Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN), a statewide 

organization of Native villages and Tribal corporations, no one was happier than Reyne Athanas. 

Athanas, who is coordinator of the Yup’iit Piciryarait 

Cultural Center in Bethel, had worked with each 

entrepreneur to perfect his or her business plan. 

She had encouraged each one to participate in the 

Alaska Marketplace, AFN’s annual competition to 

support small business development in rural areas, 

which took place in October 2008. She coached the 

entrepreneurs before they made their 5-minute presentations to the competition’s judges. And she is still 

cheering about the fact that the entrepreneurs she 

mentored took 6 of the competition’s 11 top prizes 

and won half of its total purse. 

“When the competition was announced, we pulled 

in everyone we knew who was interested and had a 

viable idea, and we helped them work on their proposals,” says Athanas. “And then we brought them in 

again to give them a crash course on how to present 

their idea to the judges.”

The extra coaching paid off. Bethel resident Barbara 

Ramos was the competition’s top winner, receiving 

$46,575 to launch a business that will provide the 

region’s quilters with a market for their creations. 

Other AFN grants will help Bethel-area entrepreneurs 

grow and sell fresh vegetables year round, produce 

and distribute packaged firewood, record the performance of native dance songs, make freight sleds 

from local timber, and market a natural energy drink.

The AFN awards were a triumph for the cultural center, which has worked steadily for 2 years to support 

small business development in remote villages located 

within a 300-mile radius of Bethel. The center, part 

of the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, Kuskokwim 

Campus (KuC), has been using a grant from OUP’s 

AN/NHIAC program to help village dwellers find ways 

to earn the hard cash they need to supplement the 

subsistence hunting, fishing, and food gathering that 

puts food on their tables. It is reaching that goal 

through two separate, OUP-supported initiatives. 

Through the first initiative, the cultural center holds 

a regular Saturday Market that has given a total of 

250 vendors the chance to sell a variety of goods, 

including arts and crafts items like ivory jewelry and 

food items like fish and jam. Through its second 

Vendor at Bethel Saturday Market.
C hapter 6: Creating Opportunities for Small Businesses • 45 

UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA – FAIRBANKS, KUSKOKWIM CAMPUS

BETHEL, ALASKA

initiative, the center sponsors a course that teaches 

villagers the basics of starting and running small 

businesses. The center has offered the course twice 

and plans a third offering in 2009. The course meets 

once a month for 3 months and begins with a 2-day 

session that is held in remote villages that can only 

be reached by plane or snow machine. The remaining two sessions of each course take place on KuC’s 

Bethel campus. 

Budding entrepreneurs who sign up for the course 

have a chance to network with one another, arrange 

meetings with Bethel-based bankers, and seek advice 

from established business owners. But the most 

instructive lesson usually takes place when each 

entrepreneur decides what kind of business he or 

she will establish. Athanas says she tries to steer 

her students toward modest business ideas that fill a 

specific niche in the village or take advantage of existing events, festivals, or tourist activities. One of the 

program’s most successful entrepreneurs followed 

that advice by deciding to operate an espresso cart 

during basketball games in her village.

“Basketball is a big thing here,” says Athanas. “Every 

village has a gym and when games are happening, 

everybody in the village is at the game. So if you are 

selling something at the games, you are making 

money.”

On average, 15 people attend the initial village-based 

session for each course. However, only five of the 

original participants usually end up applying for a 

business license. As the spouse of a small business 

owner, Athanas says the attrition does not surprise 

or worry her.

“Starting a small business is tough for anyone,” she 

says. “But out in the villages they don’t have a lot of 

resources, so it is a bit harder for them to pull it off 

with any ease. We want them to be serious, but we 

also want them to be realistic. Above all, we don’t 

want them to get in over their heads, take on a lot of 

debt, and end up hurting themselves.”

Contact Information

Reyne Athanas, Coordinator

Yup’iit Piciryarait Cultural Center

P.O. Box 368

420 Chief Eddie Hoffman Highway

Bethel, AK 99559 

Phone: 907–543–4537

E-mail: Reyne_Athanas@bethel.uaf.edu

(L to R) Jovan Dull (USDA) works with Barbara Ramos on her 

winning proposal, awarded in October 2008.
46 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

Broadening the Horizons of 

 Latino Childcare Providers

Each year, about 800 Boston residents take the 

first step in establishing a licensed childcare 

business by attending a 3-hour mandatory 

orientation session sponsored by the Massachusetts 

Department of Early Education and Care. Once 

the session ends, the state carefully assesses the 

prospective providers to ensure that they and their 

homes meet established safety and care standards. 

The providers must also promise to attend 15 hours 

of childcare training over a 3-year period. Those who 

complete the process and actually open a childcare 

business—about 1 in 10 orientation participants, 

according to state records—can begin caring for up 

to 6 children.

By contrast, about 100 prospective childcare providers living in Latino communities in Boston and nearby 

Lawrence, Massachusetts, take a much longer 

and more intensive path to learning their trade and 

running their own businesses. Like other Massachusetts childcare providers, these entrepreneurs must 

submit to a state background check, gain proficiency 

in first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), 

and maintain a safe and clean home. In addition, 

however, they have taken an important extra step in 

order to gain a strong background in both childcare 

and business development. They have enrolled in a 

2-year certificate program at Urban College of Boston 

(UCB) that is funded by OUP’s HSIAC program. 

The Child Care Economic Opportunity (CCEO) project 

features such classes as Child Growth and Development, Guidance and Discipline, and Communication 

for Entrepreneurs. In addition, students receive support from two childcare referral agencies that are 

also program partners. Child Care Circuit in Lawrence and Child Care Choices of Boston provide CCEO 

participants in their respective cities with case management and other services, as well as workshops on 

such topics as financial literacy, home-energy assistance, homeownership, childcare vouchers, first aid, 

CPR, and taxes. 

“Our goal is to create new businesses,” says UCB 

Dean of Administration Tom Neel. “During the past 

year, we’ve supported 33 new family childcare providers and 19 other women have expanded their businesses. The average weekly income of our program 

participants has gone from $437 to $546, and we 

are just at the midpoint in the program.”

Over the course of the CCEO project, participants 

have learned a variety of new skills—including 

computing—needed to run a childcare business. 

Grounding in computer skills is a necessity for the 

(L to R) Alexandra Morales, Marybelle Justiniano, and Alma 

Ticas-Dias, students in UCB’s Technology and Family Child Care 

Business course.
C hapter 6: Creating Opportunities for Small Businesses • 47 

URBAN COLLEGE OF BOSTON • BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

providers, explains Neel, because Massachusetts 

offers childcare assistance vouchers to help incomeeligible parents access quality daycare. These subsidies are “a dependable income stream for licensed 

care providers at a rate that supports their costs,” 

he says. But there is one catch: providers who can 

submit their invoices online get paid much faster than 

those who rely on paper. CCEO training has helped 

students learn the state’s online billing system and, 

in the process, has made them technology-savvy. 

“Most of the women in the program had no computer 

skills before,” says Manuela Su, professional development coordinator at Child Care Circuit. “They were 

scared of the technology. So we started by setting up 

e-mail accounts as a way for them to get familiar with 

computers. Now I can communicate with them by 

e-mail, and they can use the Internet.” 

CCEO is helping to expand the students’ horizons in 

other important ways. While most of the program’s 

classes are taught in Spanish to assure a solid 

grounding in course content, students have requested more English-language training. As a result, UCB 

will soon offer at least one English-language section 

of the program’s Communication for Entrepreneurs 

course.

“The students are recognizing a need to enhance 

their English skills,” says Neel. “They know they can 

get an associate’s degree if they can take classes 

in English.” 

At least one-third of CCEO participants were providing 

licensed childcare services before they joined the program. Other students were unemployed or earning 

minimum wage prior to their enrollment. Success in 

the program will allow many students to expand their 

current businesses, increase their earnings, and, at 

the same time, care for their own children while 

they work. 

“They’ve learned about child development and what 

children should be doing at different ages,” says Su 

about the program’s current participants, who will 

receive their certificates in summer 2009. “Now 

they are learning how to run their own businesses. 

They are exceeding just about every benchmark 

we set.” 

Just as important to their future success, says Su, 

is the fact that students are making vital connections 

with one another that will continue to serve them 

well after graduation. “Childcare providers spend 

a lot of time alone,” she says. “Now our students 

have opportunities to provide a support network for 

each other.”

Contact Information

Tom Neel, Dean of Administration

Urban College of Boston

178 Tremont Street

Boston, MA 02111

Phone: 617–348–6558

E-mail: neel@urbancollege.edu

Manuela Su, Professional Development Coordinator

Child Care Circuit

190 Hampshire Street

Lawrence, MA 01840

Phone: 978–722–2594

E-mail: msu@communitydaycareinc.org
48 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

Giving Existing Businesses 

 the Tools to Survive and Grow

Over the past few years, long-time Houston 

entrepreneur Kenneth Eakins has become 

an enthusiastic cheerleader for nearby Texas 

Southern University (TSU). It is not the university’s 

Tigers football team that has captured his enthusiasm, however. Rather, Eakins cannot stop telling 

people about the university’s Economic Development 

Center (EDC), which he credits with giving him the 

tools he needed to revitalize his commercial tire business more than 17 years after he opened its doors. 

“Yesterday, family-owned businesses could get by 

with hard work,” says EDC Director Ella Nunn, who 

has spent decades organizing classes and technical 

assistance for local business owners in Houston’s 

Third Ward. “Today, they need to learn how to organize themselves and how to manage.” 

Before Eakins attended EDC’s free business courses, 

he was running his southeast Houston business 

the old-fashioned way, which was not necessarily a 

good thing. He relied exclusively on word-of-mouth to 

attract new customers. And he used a manual recordkeeping system that was cumbersome and time 

consuming. The lessons he learned at TSU—including 

tips for harnessing the marketing power of the Internet and computerizing his financial transactions—has 

helped Eakins increase revenues at his business by 

70 percent over a 2-year period.

“I know about my business, but I needed a class to 

show me how to manage it better,” says Eakins, who 

reports that success has brought with it new, and 

welcome, challenges. Business is so good, he says, 

“Now I need more space.”

Eakins is getting additional help from TSU to expand 

his tire business. And it has become one of eight 

minority-owned enterprises in and around Houston’s 

Third Ward to receive business expansion grants 

totaling $44,000 from EDC. Eakins intends to use 

his $10,000 grant as a downpayment on his own 

building. The program is funded by a grant from 

OUP’s HBCU program and specifically targets existing businesses, most of which are owned by African 

Americans and Asians and all of which have been 

operating for 10 years or more.

Small businesses are at the heart of the EDC’s 

efforts to revitalize the neighborhood surrounding 

the TSU campus, says Nunn. Other parts of Houston have experienced an economic rebirth since 

2002, she says, but that revitalization has largely 

bypassed the Third Ward. More than 13 percent of 

local residents are officially unemployed and almost 

40 percent are not currently in the labor force. A 

quarter of the neighborhood’s families live in poverty. 

To improve the area’s economic picture, EDC has 

Kenneth Eakins (far right) instructing employees at his tire shop.
C hapter 6: Creating Opportunities for Small Businesses • 49 

TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY • HOUSTON, TEXAS

worked hard to create jobs through the expansion 

of existing businesses and the creation of new ones. 

“We didn’t want to lose them,” says Nunn about the 

neighborhood’s existing businesses. “We wanted to 

strengthen them in areas where they are weak.”

EDC has offered free training and technical assistance to new or prospective business owners for 

many years. One workshop, held every year from 

September through December, helps local residents learn the skills they need to start a business. 

Typically, 65 individuals enroll each semester and 

approximately 35 of them finish the 4-month course, 

which is taught by volunteer instructors from the 

university’s school of business. 

“We bring in bankers, lawyers, and accountants and 

teach the participants how to develop a marketing 

plan,” says Nunn. On the final night, class members 

present their plans before a team of evaluators who 

award trophies to the most convincing proposals. 

Families and friends come to listen and applaud 

the winners. 

Nunn admits that it took some ingenuity to get entrepreneurs, many who had never been to college, to 

venture on to the university’s campus. To spread the 

word about EDC’s free seminars and workshops, she 

relied on radio and newspaper advertising, placed flyers around the neighborhood, and visited businesses 

in person. She also collaborated with like-minded 

community groups, including the Houston Citizens 

Chamber of Commerce, Houston Community College, 

and the local minority business development agency. 

Businesses who responded to EDC’s invitation for 

assistance have reaped many benefits, both in the 

form of technical and financial assistance. Doris 

Alexander of Alexander Shoe Repair, established in 

1960, received a $5,000 grant to help replace a 

driveway. Beverly Straughter, who runs her family’s 

45-year-old hamburger stand, also received a 

$5,000 grant, which she used to repair the wooden 

floor inside the Cream Burger restaurant. 

“If we hadn’t made this repair, it could have been a 

liability issue,” she says. “The grant really allowed us 

to stay in business.” 

Contact Information

Ella M. Nunn, Director

Economic Development Center

Texas Southern University

3100 Cleburne Street 

Houston, TX 77004

Phone: 713–313–7785

E-mail: nunn_em@tsu.edu

Beverly Straughter (right) poses with an employee outside her 

Cream Burger restaurant.
50 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

Reclaiming a Beach and 

 a Local Economy

An effort to regain control of a neglected public 

beach has spurred a renewed sense of pride 

and economic empowerment in Ho`okena, a 

small community on the island of Hawaii. The University of Hawaii at Hilo (UHH) is using funds from 

OUP’s AN/NHIAC program to help residents develop 

a sustainable local economy by fostering and supporting local entrepreneurs.

Noted for its dark-gray coral and lava sand beach, 

Ho`okena was transformed from a sleepy fishing 

village to a trade center after the first steamships 

arrived in the Hawaiian Islands in 1836. It was not 

until the mid-1930s, when automobiles and trucks 

made steamship landings less common, that the 

village’s economic importance began to diminish. 

“Families who had lived in Ho`okena for generations 

were alienated,” says Maile Lu`uwai, project administrator for UHH’s Small Business Development Center 

Network (SBDC). “Park oversight was inadequate. 

Homeless people occupied the park for extended 

periods. There was drug use and several highly 

publicized incidents of violence, which gave Ho`okena 

Beach Park a bad reputation.” 

Residents found a way to voice their concerns about 

the fate of their beach through a local nonprofit 

organization called Kama`aina United to Protect the 

Aina (KUPA), which was originally formed to address 

concerns of Ho`okena fishermen about the depletion 

of local reef fish. When the beach issue surfaced, a 

KUPA member approached SBDC to propose a strategy that would enable residents to assume oversight 

of the beach park while providing economic opportunities for the community. 

In May 2007, the county of Hawaii signed an agreement to transfer management oversight of the 

park to Friends of Ho`okena Beach Park (FOHBP), a 

microenterprise that had been established by KUPA 

with HUD support. The agreement granted FOHBP 

the right to operate an existing campsite and to 

establish a concession stand in Ho`okena Beach 

Park. That concession stand now contains two other 

microenterprises: Ho`okena Heritage Tours, which 

operates outrigger canoe tours, and Ka`uhako Beach 

Rentals, which offers camping and beach rentals. In 

addition, FOHBP has hired community members to 

maintain the park and provide park security. 

Due to the FOHBP’s presence, Ho`okena Beach Park 

is now considered a safe place for local families and 

tourists, says Lu`uwai. The beach is listed on several 

websites as one of the island’s best beaches for 

swimming and snorkeling, and the county of Hawaii 

Virginia Hashimoto at the Friends of Ho`okena Beach Park 

concession stand.
C hapter 6: Creating Opportunities for Small Businesses • 51 

UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT HILO • HILO, HAWAII

is using its successful partnership with FOHBP as a 

model for establishing similar partnerships at other 

county parks.

In the meantime, Ho`okena residents have been 

working together to set priorities for their beach. 

During a HUD-sponsored workshop held at the park 

in February 2008, 97 local residents and other 

stakeholders agreed that steps should be taken to 

celebrate the area’s history, institute appropriate 

economic development activities, and build a community center that would provide space for cultural and 

educational activities. 

In addition, SBDC has turned its attention to supporting additional small businesses in Ho`okena. Seven 

entrepreneurs received startup funds from the AN/

NHIAC grant after attending a 10-week business 

startup class sponsored by SBDC. Those funds are 

helping the owners of Kona Hills Coffee return to a 

small family farm where they grow the highly acclaimed Kona coffee. The Wiwo`ole Bakery now has 

the wherewithal to purchase equipment, rent commercial kitchen space, and begin selling baked goods 

to 10 retail accounts including the concession stand 

at Ho`okena Beach Park. And the Ka`ano`ano Nursery and Garden has found success selling edible and 

ornamental plants at a farmer’s market. Because the 

owners of most of these microenterprises lack prior 

business experience, a SBDC business consultant 

provides ongoing assistance to help them identify potential customers and develop marketable products. 

“These financial resources and support have made 

a difference in our community,” says KUPA Board 

President Charlie Young. “Ho`okena Beach Park is 

now managed by the community, and we have a sustainable microenterprise on the beach to ensure that 

this oversight continues long after the HUD grant 

ends. We also have microenterprise owners with 

strong ties to our community who have received vital 

assistance in establishing their businesses.”

Contact Information

Maile Lu`uwai, Project Administrator 

Hawaii Small Business Development Center 

 Network

University of Hawaii at Hilo

308 Kamehameha Avenue, Suite 201

Hilo, HI 96720

Phone: 808–974–7330

E-mail: maile.luuwai@hawaii-sbdc.org

Lorna Takizawa of Kona Hills Coffee Farm.
52 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

Empowering Entrepreneurs 

 to Revitalize a Community

Budding entrepreneurs in southeastern Arkansas need look no further than Main Street in Pine Bluff to find the tools they need to make 

their new ventures a success. Those tools come 

from a business incubator established in 2006 by the 

University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) with funds 

from OUP’s HBCU program and other federal, state, 

and local partners.

Nestled in a downtown commercial district that has 

struggled to bounce back after years of decline, 

the $3.2-million incubator offers entrepreneurs several basic services that can make all the difference 

between success and failure. Like most facilities of 

its kind, the incubator provides new businesses with 

furnished executive offices that are made affordable 

through sliding-scale rents and shared administrative 

services, conference rooms, and training space. The 

incubator also offers technical assistance and referral services to business owners who may have experience in a particular market sector but lack formal 

business training. 

“With small business incubators, there is no one size 

that fits all,” says Henry Golatt, director of the university’s Economic Research and Development Center. 

“Each community is different. The key is to build to 

the needs of the community and empower people. 

Our incubator has as its focus the empowerment of 

women and minority business owners so they can 

participate in the mainstream global economy.”

Over the past 2 years, the incubator has succeeded 

in empowering both its clients and the once-vibrant 

Main Street corridor where the 16,000-square-foot 

facility is located. The incubator’s 2-story building has 

been a powerful symbol of the university’s commitment to the revitalization of Main Street, a commercial district where thriving large-scale organizations 

like Simmons First National Bank and the Arts and 

Science Center of Southeast Arkansas sit opposite 

vacant, run-down historic properties such as the 

Pines Hotel. The presence of new businesses along 

the corridor has also sent a strong message to Pine 

Bluff residents that ongoing city efforts to spruce up 

the neighborhood are bearing fruit. “The incubator 

is another anchor in the revitalization of downtown,” 

says Golatt. That revitalization will take an additional 

step forward in the near future when the incubator 

invites new businesses to take over several highly 

visible retail spaces located on its ground floor.

Incubator clients have also done their part to revitalize the downtown commercial district through their 

own business success, says Golatt. Empowered by 

UAPB services, healthcare and medical service companies that occupied the incubator during its early 

Side shot of the UAPB Business Support Incubator.
C hapter 6: Creating Opportunities for Small Businesses • 53 

UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT PINE BLUFF • 

PINE BLUFF, ARKANSAS

months have since moved their expanded operations 

to other commercial space in the city. New startups that focus on media arts, video production, and 

professional services replaced them. Now success 

is affording these new clients the ability to leave the 

incubator. Jenise Blake, whose desktop publishing 

company recently moved to another location, says the 

marketing assistance she received from UAPB helped 

increase demand for her services and caused her to 

quickly outgrow her incubator space.

A growing business network in Pine Bluffs has also 

helped incubator clients improve their own capacity 

for success while strengthening the city’s business 

community, says Golatt. For example, one incubator tenant who designs websites has helped several 

other tenants expand their presence on the Internet. 

This kind of synergy is bound to increase as a result 

of an entrepreneurship collaborative that now meets 

monthly at the incubator. The citywide collaborative 

strives to strengthen ties among business owners, 

the city’s Chamber of Commerce, financial institutions, and local technical assistance providers like 

the incubator. The Chamber has been instrumental in 

forging these ties. It recently recruited a new industrial firm to Pine Bluff that has hired an incubator client 

to handle its security. 

The Chamber is not alone in supporting incubator 

clients. With encouragement from the university, 

public agencies and private companies alike continue 

to play an important role in ensuring that fledgling 

businesses receive both the financial and technical 

support they need. For example, the city of Pine Bluff 

has agreed to match working capital funds that incubator clients receive from a university-administered 

revolving loan fund. Private companies, including 

Simmons First National Bank, Wal-Mart, and State 

Farm insurance have also lent support. 

Golatt says that local agencies and companies know 

that the success of new businesses will ensure Pine 

Bluff’s economic well-being, and their own. 

“We are trying to engage residents in productive businesses that add value to the community,” he notes. 

“These businesses are keeping local dollars in Pine 

Bluff that might otherwise flow outside the city.”

Contact information

Henry A. Golatt, Director

Economic Research and Development Center

UAPB-Business Support Incubator

University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff

615 South Main Street

Pine Bluff, AR 71601

Phone: 870–575–8030 

E-mail: golatth@uapb.edu

Website: www.uapberdc.org/bsi

Ribbon cutting during dedication ceremony of UAPB Business 

Support Incubator.
54 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

Expanding Support for Entrepreneurs 

 in the Rio Grande Valley

The lifelong dream of sisters Wendy Hauschildt 

and Jodi Eberhardt and their mother, Carolyn Hauschildt, came true in late 2008 when 

they opened a nonprofit artists’ cooperative called 

SeaLight Arts in Port Isabel, Texas. The cooperative 

aims to rent 12 studios to local artists and then market artists’ handiwork to local tourists through a gift 

shop and special events. “A lot of artists don’t have 

the means to run their own small businesses,” says 

Hauschildt. “We’ll take care of their taxes, sponsor a 

website, and help them sell directly to the public.”

Wendy Hauschildt is one of more than 330 entrepreneurs who have received free counseling about 

starting, retaining, or growing a business from 

experts at the University of Texas at Brownsville and 

Texas Southmost College (UTB/TSC) in Brownsville. 

The university’s regional economic development 

program—called the Valley Business Impact Network 

(VBIN)—has been helping new entrepreneurs in the 

Lower Rio Grande Valley of southern Texas since 

2006. Hauschildt credits VBIN with helping her family 

acquire the funds they needed to renovate the building that now houses SeaLight Arts. 

VBIN represents the expansion of a business incubator network that began in 2002 in the International 

Innovation Center, located at UTB/TSC’s Brownsville 

campus. That first incubator, which has become a 

model for others in the network, was established with 

funds from OUP’s HSIAC program. The HSIAC grant 

helped VBIN expand its incubator network into Port 

Isabel, which is about 20 miles east of Brownsville. 

HSIAC funds also helped the university equip and 

find additional funds to open a new incubator in 

Raymondville—50 miles north of Brownsville—

in 2009. 

In addition to supporting 50 new businesses, most 

of them owned by Hispanic Americans, the incubators have also been responsible for creating 537 

local jobs. John Sossi, director of business incubator 

services at UTB/TSC, expects that number to double 

by 2010. Jobs are important in this fast-growing 

border region, which struggles with unemployment 

and underemployment. 

Incubator tenants represent a broad range of industries, including information technology, medical 

services, publishing, and engineering. Joel Gonzalez, 

president of ConsultingPoint, Inc., has leased 21,000 

square feet of space from the Brownsville incubator since 2004. His company’s 35 to 50 employees 

manufacture special electrical motors for the domestic oil industry and utility plants. Gonzalez likes having 

access to the university’s engineering and business 

faculty when he needs it and enjoys the exposure he 

Wendy Hauschildt of Sealight Arts in Port Isabel, Texas.
C hapter 6: Creating Opportunities for Small Businesses • 55 

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT BROWNSVILLE AND 

TEXAS SOUTHMOST COLLEGE • BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS

gets from working nearby the Mexican consulate, the 

Small Business Administration and the Export-Import 

Bank. Those entities all share space with the VBIN 

incubator in the university’s International Innovation 

Center.

“The reception area and the teleconferencing facilities 

here are just what a big company would have,” he 

says. “It’s a very professional environment.” Gonzalez, 

who earned $4 million in sales in 2008, plans to remain a tenant until he outgrows the facilities. Among 

the incubator’s most attractive amenities, he says, 

are its appealing rent and its short-term lease. In 

addition, the incubator provides security and the use 

of a conference room at no charge.

“For the first year or two, tenants pay a discounted 

rate that can be as low as 25 cents per square foot,” 

says Sossi. “That rent ramps up every 3 months. 

They just pay for the space they’re in.” 

Given all of the advantages, it is not surprising that 

competition for incubator space is fierce. Among 

the requirements: passing a criminal background 

check, providing a business plan, and presenting that 

business plan to a seven-person advisory committee 

made up of local business professionals. About 10 

percent of applicants succeed in becoming tenants, 

Sossi says. 

By design, the university’s economic development 

program has also created opportunities for UTB/TSC 

students to learn the ins and outs of owning a small 

business. For example, Diana Gonzalez and other 

members of her marketing class conducted research 

to help a Port Isabel entrepreneur assess local interest in a farmer’s market. Gonzalez earned college 

credit for her work, then she went on to become an 

intern at the International Innovation Center, where 

she now works part time at the Export-Import Bank. 

“As a recent grad[uate], I couldn’t ask for more,” says 

Gonzalez about her new job. One day she hopes to 

operate her own business like the other members of 

her family. In the meantime, she is educating herself 

on how to be successful at it.

 

Contact Information

John Sossi, Director of Business Incubator Services

The University of Texas at Brownsville and 

 Texas Southmost College

301 Mexico Boulevard

Suite #H3A

Brownsville, TX 78520

Phone: 956–882–4119

E-mail: John.Sossi@utb.edu

(L to R) ConsultingPoint, Inc., staff operators Marco Hernandez, 

Mariel Alvarez, and Julio San Miguel.

C hapter 7

Creating Opportunities

 for Individuals and Families

C hapter 7: Creating Opportunities for Individuals and Families • 57 

The word “infrastructure” usually refers to the 

roads, bridges, streetlights, and utility pipes 

that keep the physical side of a community 

operating smoothly. But the word means something 

entirely different to Dr. Eddie B. Thomas, vice president of community outreach programs at Stillman 

College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Every neighborhood needs a strong physical infrastructure, admits 

Thomas. But in order to experience permanent 

change, neighborhoods must also strengthen their 

human infrastructure. 

Minority-serving institutions nationwide are doing just 

that—empowering local residents to become selfsufficient. Through various activities, many of which 

are funded by HUD’s Office of University Partnerships 

(OUP), these institutions are transforming communities by transforming individuals and families.

This chapter highlights the work of eight OUP grantees that are creating new opportunities for individuals 

and families through job training, youth, and social 

service programs. For example, Stillman College 

(page 58) has used funds from OUP’s Historically 

Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) program to 

establish three community-based learning centers 

in its West Tuscaloosa neighborhood. Since 2002, 

those centers have provided job training, education, 

and other services to more than 12,000 adults and 

children and have helped 350 local residents find jobs. 

A grant from OUP’s Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian 

Institutions Assisting Communities (AN/NHIAC) program is helping the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, 

Interior-Aleutians Campus (page 60) offer training 

in the construction trades to residents of Tribal villages in a remote section of Alaska. The program has 

enrolled 115 students and graduated 58 students 

since 2005. Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, 

California (page 62), used funds from OUP’s HispanicServing Institutions Assisting Communities (HSIAC) 

program to renovate a city-owned community center 

offering college-sponsored classes. Almost 4,000 

adults have taken basic adult education and computer 

classes at the center since 2006.

Kapi‘olani Community College in Honolulu, Hawaii 

(page 64), used AN/NHIAC funds to bring a stateof-the-art technology center to Hawaii’s largest public 

housing community and to create an educational 

pipeline that has sent 52 residents of Palolo Homes 

to college. Tennessee State University in Nashville 

(page 66) operated a special camp that offered New 

Orleans youngsters a mix of academic enrichment, 

fun, and psychological counseling during the summer 

after Hurricane Katrina struck their city. Funded by 

OUP’s Universities Rebuilding America PartnershipsHistorically Black Colleges and Universities (URAPHBCU) program, the camp helped 250 elementaryschool students raise their math and language scores 

by 60 percent in just 4 weeks. The University of 

Puerto Rico at Humacao (page 68) has used HSIAC 

funds to remodel an annex to a university-owned 

museum and expand a museum-sponsored art program that helps young people tap into their creativity, 

increase their academic achievement, and enhance 

their self-esteem.

A HSIAC grant helped California State University, 

Stanislaus (page 70) open a community center that 

provides a variety of services to homeless individuals 

while empowering them to become community leaders 

and advocates for the homeless in Turlock, California. 

Northern New Mexico College in Española, New 

Mexico, (page 72) put its HSIAC grant to work at the 

Rio Arriba County Detention Center in Tierra Amarilla, 

where it teaches inmates the skills they need to get 

back on their feet after their incarceration ends. 
58 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

Changing a Community 

 by Rebuilding its Human Infrastructure

Dr. Eddie B. Thomas does not believe in waiting for people to ask for help when they need it. And, he rarely loses touch with people 

after he helps them. The associate vice president of 

community outreach programs at Stillman College in 

Tuscaloosa, Alabama, he can tell you the employment 

history—including the latest promotions—of people 

whom he helped find jobs a decade ago. He has been 

known to sit on a family’s front porch for hours until 

someone answers the door and accepts his invitation 

to join a job-training program. A few years back, he 

even dropped in on one family every single morning 

for 5 weeks to make sure the adults were getting 

ready for their new jobs and the children were on 

their way to school. 

“I would not let them slide back,” he says about that 

family. “Pretty soon they developed a habit of getting 

up and preparing food each day. These are good 

people. They are people with aspirations, desires, and 

determination, but life dealt them the opportunity to 

develop bad habits.”

Helping people develop good habits—in the areas of 

work, health, parenting, and school—has been one of 

Dr. Thomas’ lifelong goals. It is also the goal of three 

community-based learning centers that he helped 

establish in Stillman’s West Tuscaloosa neighborhood 

with funds from OUP’s HBCU program. All three centers are located on the first floor of public housing 

communities where they are easily accessible to 

West Tuscaloosa residents. 

Open 5 days and 2 evenings a week, the centers 

have provided job training, education, and other services to more than 12,000 adults and children since 

they opened in 2002. Exactly 352 residents have 

found jobs through the centers, an impressive figure 

given the area’s 17-percent unemployment rate. 

The job search process has been successful, says 

Dr. Thomas, because it always begins with a talent 

inventory to find out what a new client does best and 

what he or she wants to do. Center staff then help 

the client set employment goals and identify specific 

steps to meet those goals.

All but 31 of the individuals who have found work 

through Stillman’s community-based centers are still 

employed, says Dr. Thomas. That is not a guess or 

an estimate. He and his staff keep close track of 

every client they meet. 

“We hold on to these clients until they achieve the 

goals that we identified together,” says Dr. Thomas. 

Community participant receives job-readiness counseling at the 

community learning center.
C hapter 7: Creating Opportunities for Individuals and Families • 59 

STILLMAN COLLEGE • TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA

“And then we continue to track them. If someone 

gets a job as a clerk at Wal-Mart, for example, we 

don’t allow that person to go slipping back. We go 

by the house. We go by the job. We check with the 

employer to make sure everything is okay. When you 

come through our centers, you never get out of the 

club. That’s the joy of it.”

A strong partnership network has been the key to the 

centers’ success, says Dr. Thomas. Many jobseekers 

are referred to the centers by Stillman’s community 

partners, including the Tuscaloosa Housing Authority 

and Alabama’s Pardon and Parole Board. And many 

of those same clients are later employed by other 

Stillman partners, including B.F. Goodrich, Mercedes, 

Hunt Oil, Phifer Wire Products, and the DCH Regional 

Medical Center. Many of these partners sit on the 

program’s advisory board and have helped design the 

job-training curriculum and other center services.

While all community-based learning centers focus 

on job training, they also offer a variety of other 

services to local residents. Older people and families 

take advantage of center-based health and wellness 

programs and workshops on parenting, small business development, and homeownership. And, once 

public schools dismiss in the afternoon, the centers 

turn their attention to young people by offering tutoring, mentoring, and computer training programs with 

the help of Stillman faculty and students. Dr. Thomas 

sees all of these efforts as part of a coordinated 

strategy to rebuild the infrastructure of a city that he 

has called home for 60 years.

“You can rebuild the infrastructure of a neighborhood 

by building new housing, installing street lights, and 

creating parks,” says Dr. Thomas. “We have done 

all that. But you also have to enhance the human 

infrastructure. You have to empower people to be 

self-sufficient and get things done for themselves over 

the long run. That’s the only way to make a permanent 

difference in a community.”

Contact Information

Dr. Eddie B. Thomas, Vice President

External Affairs and Community Outreach Programs

Stillman College

3600 Stillman Boulevard

P.O. Box 1430

Tuscaloosa, AL 35401

Phone: 205–366–8848 

E-mail: ebthomas@stillman.edu

Afterschool tutoring program for at-risk students.
60 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

Creating a Construction Workforce 

 Above the Arctic Circle

How does a university reach out to prospective 

students who live in remote villages that are 

200 miles from campus? “It’s simple,” says 

Clara Johnson, director of the Interior-Aleutians 

Campus (I-AC) of the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. 

“The campus must go to the students.” 

For I-AC, that approach means flying adjunct instructors like Jerry Trainor, a retired journeyman, into 

Tribal villages above the Arctic Circle so that local 

students can participate in the campus’ Construction 

Trades Technology (CTT) program. Using funds from 

OUP’s AN/NHIAC program, Trainor spends 6 to 8 

weeks at a time in these villages teaching residential 

carpentry skills to small groups of Native Alaskan 

men and women free of charge. In addition to paying 

nearly two dozen instructors for their time and travel, 

OUP covered the cost of shipping books and materials by barge or single-engine aircraft, depending on 

the season. The grant also paid accreditation fees 

to the National Center for Construction Education 

and Research, which supplied the curriculum. “We 

schedule the courses when the students can take 

time off from trapping, fishing, hunting, and seasonal 

jobs,” Trainor says. “Many of them want to be able to 

do something else.”

Trainor and his students work for 8 hours each 

day, either in makeshift classrooms provided by the 

village or outdoors in temperatures that can reach 

40 degrees below zero. First, students learn how to 

read blueprints, use hand and power tools safely, and 

install drywall and interior walls. Then, they gain practical experience by working on construction projects 

identified by two local housing authorities: the Interior 

Regional Housing Authority and the Tanacross Village 

Council.

The CTT program has several goals. It should create 

a local workforce that is skilled in the construction 

trades. These job skills are particularly important for 

a region where unemployment rates hover above 25 

percent and where 30 percent of construction wages 

go to nonresidents. In addition, I-AC is committed 

to bringing the opportunity for higher education to a 

remote section of Alaska that spans 600,000 square 

miles and is the size of France, says Johnson. 

Since 2005, the CTT program has succeeded in 

reaching 10 of the 60 villages in its target area and 

has enrolled 115 students. So far, 58 individuals 

have completed the 15-week certificate program, 

earning 72 credits that they can apply to an associate’s degree in applied science.

Like all good partnerships, the construction trades 

program has brought benefits to all its participants. 

I-AC has benefitted because the housing authorities 

pay for construction materials and supplies used in 

the training program, says Johnson. In return, the 

housing authorities have gained access to a skilled 

Jerry Trainor, CTT Academic Program Director.
C hapter 7: Creating Opportunities for Individuals and Families • 61 

UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA-FAIRBANKS, 

INTERIOR-ALEUTIANS CAMPUS • FAIRBANKS, ALASKA

construction workforce to help them improve the 

quality and safety of village housing. 

The construction trades program has also helped 

housing authorities make the most of their limited 

resources. In many cases, a housing authority will 

pay I-AC students for their work on local projects, 

but these costs are far less than what the agencies 

pay in salary and lodging for out-of-town contractors. 

For their part, students in the program give and 

receive important benefits. “In addition to developing 

marketable skills, the students are learning to build 

their own homes, and they are giving back to their 

villages,” says Johnson. 

Johnson and Trainor have no trouble recounting 

instances of students giving back to their communities. For example, when the Interior Regional Housing Authority in Yukon Flats had trouble finding a 

construction company to renovate flood-damaged 

buildings in a remote area, IAC students worked with 

their instructor to complete the job. Another group 

of students built a garage in Allakaket to protect a 

local health clinic’s emergency vehicle from extreme 

weather. Students in Galena, a city of 675 located 

on the Yukon River, improved the safety of one older 

woman’s home by repairing the porch and building a 

deck to replace the steep and rickety stairs she had 

been using. 

Johnson is particularly pleased that the certificate 

program has attracted so many Native Alaskan men. 

Over 80 percent of program participants are male, 

which is atypical for the University of Alaska as a 

whole, she says. 

“The coursework appeals to men because it’s practical, fun, and a good cultural fit,” says Johnson. 

“These men are coming to us for job skills and are 

rediscovering the joy of education.” 

Contact Information

Clara Johnson, Director

University of Alaska-Fairbanks, 

 Interior-Aleutians Campus

P.O. Box 756720

Fairbanks, AK 99775

Phone: 907–474–5441

E-mail: rncrj@uaf.edu

Jerry Trainor

CTT Academic Program Director

University of Alaska-Fairbanks, 

 Interior-Aleutians Campus

P.O. Box 756720

Fairbanks, AK 99775

Phone: 907–474–6097

E-mail: ffjat1@uaf.edu

Students in IAC’s carpentry class.
62 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

Preparing Hispanic Residents 

 for the Workforce

When Marcela Hernandez passed the fivepart General Educational Development (GED) exam, she cried. Then she called her 

father in Mexico to tell him the good news, recalls 

her instructor Carlos Gonzalez. Obtaining the GED 

was a career goal for Hernandez, who owns her own 

cleaning business and wanted to improve her business skills. But it was also a very personal goal. More 

than anything, the single mother wanted to set a 

good example for her 11-year-old daughter.

Hernandez is one of 3,983 students who have taken 

basic adult education and computer classes since 

2006 at the Atkinson Lifelong Learning Center in 

Santa Maria, California. The center is a partnership 

between Allan Hancock College’s Office of Community 

Education and the city’s recreation and parks department. The idea of a learning center grew out of a 

2003 needs survey targeting students enrolled in 

the college’s English as a Second Language (ESL) and 

GED classes. “The local Hispanic community wanted 

classes to prepare them for the workforce,” says 

Ardis Neilsen, dean of community education at the 

college.

Located in an agricultural region known for its sweet 

strawberries, green vegetables, and old-fashioned 

cowboy barbecue, Santa Maria has a vibrant ethnic 

culture but is economically challenged. The region’s 

unemployment rate is currently at 8.7 percent and 

per capita income is a low $13,780, according to 

the 2000 U.S. Census. Allan Hancock has been 

working with local partners for several years to turn 

these figures around. Using funds from OUP’s HSIAC 

program, the college added a new classroom and 

a computer lab to the city-owned Atkinson Lifelong 

Learning Center. It uses this space to offer free, noncredit instruction, 6 days a week, in computer skills, 

ESL, citizenship, job readiness, GED preparation, and 

others. Most of the students are Spanish speakers 

who range in age from 18 to 80. 

“The Lifelong Learning Center boasts of more enrollment than any of Allan Hancock College’s 100-plus 

off-campus community education class locations,” 

says Neilsen. “It has been an important success story 

for the community and the college.” The center’s 

location within the Hispanic community—about 2 

miles from campus—has contributed to its success. 

Alex Posada, director of Santa Maria’s Recreation 

and Parks Department agrees. “Bringing these 

classes to our facility has opened the doors to many 

of our neighborhood residents who have never walked 

on the college campus,” says Posada. “Because 

the instruction is bilingual, many area residents feel 

welcome.”

Students at the Atkinson Lifelong Learning Center computer lab.
C hapter 7: Creating Opportunities for Individuals and Families • 63 

ALLAN HANCOCK COLLEGE • SANTA MARIA, CALIFORNIA

Another key to success has been the partners’ commitment to make the center’s curriculum relevant to 

local families. For example, a recent public forum on 

gang violence, awareness, and prevention attracted 

300 participants who are worried about the city’s 

high crime rate. “Gang recruitment starts at an early 

age,” says Neilsen. “We wanted parents to know 

what behaviors to watch for and the local resources 

that are available to help them.” 

Similarly, a tax preparation program initiated in 2008 

helped 319 low-income taxpayers file their state and 

federal returns and, in many cases, receive their 

first-ever tax refund. On average, families who sought 

tax assistance through the program received refunds 

of $1,500, according to Elaine Healy, the college’s 

coordinator of community education.

The program also trained 35 Allan Hancock students 

in income tax preparation, a skill that will make them 

more marketable in the local workforce. To earn a 

certificate, students completed 48 hours of coursework and passed an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) 

exam in tax accounting. The Northern Santa Barbara 

County United Way (NSBC-UW) helped to secure 

bilingual faculty to train those students, and the IRS 

supplied the curriculum, textbooks, and student 

certificates of competency.

“The community economic impact of this program 

was in excess of $1.3 million,” says Edward Taylor, 

chief executive officer of NSBC-UW. 

While Neilsen is pleased with the center’s popularity, 

she says she would be disappointed if local residents 

remained satisfied with the noncredit courses offered 

there. Instead, she and noncredit academic counselors in the Office of Community Education encourage local residents to enroll in additional classes 

that could eventually lead to an associate’s degree. 

Toward that end, the college continues to expand its 

workforce curriculum and plans to debut a new bilingual certificate program in clothing construction and 

alterations in 2009. “This partnership has rekindled 

both the college’s and our efforts to build community,” 

says Neilsen. “We all want the participants to move 

forward.”

Contact Information

Ardis Neilsen, Dean

Community Education

Allan Hancock College

800 South College Drive

Santa Maria, CA 93454

Phone: 805–922–6966, ext. 3325

E-mail: aneilsen@hancockcollege.edu 

Students study during ESL class at the Atkinson Lifelong Learning Center.
64 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

Building a Pipeline from 

 Public Housing to Higher Education

Something unexpected happened in 2000 while 

Kapi‘olani Community College (KCC) in Honolulu, 

Hawaii, was establishing a technology center 

for young residents of public housing. The money ran 

out—practically overnight.

The technology center was designed to raise computer literacy among elementary and high school 

students at Palolo Homes, Hawaii’s largest public 

housing community. The project had been funded 

by a 3-year “Making a Civic Connection” grant from 

Campus Compact and MCI WorldCom. But when 

MCI WorldCom declared bankruptcy during the 

grant’s second year, KCC and its partners at Palolo 

Homes found themselves with a fledging technology 

center and no budget. Walking away from the 

project was not an option, says KCC English Professor Judith Kirkpatrick. Instead, the partners decided 

to get creative.

First, KCC equipped the technology center with 18 

older model computers that it no longer needed on 

campus. Then, Kirkpatrick amassed a collection of 

donated spare parts so her team of service-learning 

students could fix the computers when they broke, 

which happened frequently. Finally, the partnership 

depended on service-learning students and resident 

volunteers to open the lab and supervise the young 

people who used it.

Despite a total lack of funds, the technology center 

flourished. In the process, KCC earned the trust of 

Palolo Homes residents and developed a working relationship with Mutual Housing Association of Hawaii, 

the community’s owner. In addition, the partnership 

convinced other funders that the technology center 

was filling a critical need and deserved additional 

resources. “Our residents already had seen organizations leave the community if there was no funding,” 

says Dahlia Asuega, a longtime community resident 

and Mutual Housing’s resident services manager. 

“But KCC was committed to running the center 

whether there was money or not. That made our 

relationship more of a friendship than a partnership.”

KCC’s commitment to Palolo Homes was abundantly 

clear in 2008 when it used funds from OUP’s 

AN/NHIAC program to open a state-of-the art 

technology center on the second floor of the community’s 51-year-old administration building. The 

4,400-square-foot Palolo Learning Center bears little 

resemblance to the small technology lab that KCC 

struggled to keep open in 2000. 

For one thing, the new center has 45 new desktop 

computers and 20 wireless laptops. It also features a 

sound and video editing room, a public health nurse’s 

station, a reading room, a demonstration kitchen, 

and ample space to hold special classes. KCC plans 

to use the center to sponsor a variety of programs 

requested by residents, including English-language 

classes for adults, job training for certified nursing 

assistants, college preparatory courses, computer 

literacy classes, and a creativity academy where 

young people will learn animation. “For us it is not just 

a learning center,” says Asuega. “It is an opportunity 

to succeed.”

Students in KCC afterschool program.
C hapter 7: Creating Opportunities for Individuals and Families • 65 

KAPI‘OLANI COMMUNITY COLLEGE • HONOLULU, HAWAII

When KCC came to Palolo Homes a decade ago, its 

initial goal was to provide computers and computer 

literacy programs to a diverse community that 

includes Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and 

recent immigrants from Samoa, Tonga, and 

Micronesia. Before long, however, KCC and Mutual 

Housing were working together to create an educational pipeline that has already sent 52 residents to 

college. Before the partnership began, college was 

not an option most residents considered possible, 

says Asuega. 

Service-learning students have played a critical role 

in helping the college create that pipeline. About 150 

undergraduates from KCC, the University of Hawaii at 

Manoa, and Chaminade University of Honolulu tutor 

students at the public schools that Palolo Homes 

youngsters attend. The tutors have enjoyed measurable success at Palolo Elementary School, which 

was forced into a No Child Left Behind restructuring 

process 4 years ago due to poor test scores. That 

restructuring ended in 2008 when the percentage of students reading at a third-grade level rose 

from 13 to 56 percent. “We played a part in that 

improvement,” says Robert W. Franco, KCC’s director of planning, grants, and civic engagement.

College students are also making a difference at Palolo Homes. Kirkpatrick and a core group of technologysavvy KCC students have helped design and equip the 

new learning center and will help ensure that it operates smoothly. Another group of undergraduates will 

continue to staff the center, interacting with young 

residents and showing them, by example, that attending college is an achievable and worthwhile goal. 

“Public housing communities in Honolulu often are 

the places where immigrants first arrive in Hawaii 

from the Pacific Islands and Asia,” says Franco. 

“We are trying to make sure that communities like 

Palolo Homes are not dead ends for these residents. 

Instead, we want to make these communities launching pads to higher education.”

Contact Information

Robert W. Franco, Professor of Anthropology 

Director of Planning, Grants, Civic Engagement 

Kapi‘olani Community College 

4303 Diamond Head Road 

Honolulu, HI 96816 

Phone: 808–734–9514 

E-mail: bfranco@hawaii.edu

Dahlia Asuega, Resident Services Manager

Mutual Housing Association of Hawaii 

Palolo Homes 

2170 Ahe Street

Honolulu, HI 96816

Phone: 808–733–8651

E-mail: dasuega@mutual-housing.org

Judith Kirkpatrick, Professor

Kapi‘olani Community College

4303 Diamond Head Road,

Honolulu, HI 96816

Phone: 808–734–9331

E-mail: kirkpatr@hawaii.edu

KCC Vietnamese Adult Learning Class.
66 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

Bringing Summertime Fun 

and Academic Enrichment 

 to Post-Katrina New Orleans

I

t took a first-grader to convince 25 students from 

Tennessee State University (TSU) that they were 

not working at any ordinary summer camp during 

the summer of 2006. The undergraduates had traveled 500 miles from their Nashville campus to run 

the only free camp operating in New Orleans during 

the summer after Hurricane Katrina. 

“During snack time each day, one girl always tried to 

get second and third helpings that she stashed away 

in her little lunchbox,” recalls Carl Darnell, a TSU 

graduate who helped supervise TSU counselors at 

the camp. “At first we thought it was cute. She was 

only 5 or 6 years old. Then, we realized that this girl 

was trying to make sure her brothers and sisters had 

something to eat when she got home.”

Similar scenes, witnessed throughout the 5-week 

camp, provided TSU students with ample evidence 

that Hurricane Katrina had upended the lives of the 

250 youngsters who came each day to Loyola University of New Orleans to attend Camp Supercharge. 

The camp, funded by OUP’s URAP-HBCU program, 

was designed to use a mix of academic enrichment, 

summer fun, and psychological counseling to help 

students in kindergarten through sixth grade recover 

their equilibrium.

“Our primary goal was to provide a safe, fun, nurturing place for kids to get away from daily stress 

and be engaged in supervised activities while their 

parents worked at getting their lives back together,” 

says Dr. Deena Sue Fuller, executive director of TSU’s 

Center for Service-Learning and Civic Engagement. 

“And, of course, we wanted to help them make gains 

in academic achievement too.”

Indeed, the results of pre- and post-tests, tabulated 

after the camp ended, showed that campers had 

made astounding academic gains, says Dr. Fuller. 

In just 4 weeks, the youngsters’ math and language 

scores had risen by an impressive 60 percent. Daily 

3-hour remedial sessions, taught by TSU undergraduates under the supervision of six certified New 

Orleans teachers, were largely responsible for the 

improvement, says Fuller. 

Partners in Nashville and New Orleans also played a 

critical role in making Camp Supercharge a success. 

A camp director from the Nashville-based A to Z 

In-Home Tutoring provided onsite management, 

including coordination of the buses that transported 

youngsters to and from camp each day. The tutoring 

company also managed the camp’s purchasing and 

payroll systems and used its connections in 

New Orleans to find local partners. Those partners 

included the New Orleans Public School District 

and the Algiers Charter Schools Association, which 

publicized the camp among school families, chose 

250 participants from among 500 applicants, and 

provided campers free breakfast and lunch daily. 

A camper makes a mask during arts and crafts class at Camp 

Supercharge.
C hapter 7: Creating Opportunities for Individuals and Families • 67 

TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY • NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

“We were really filling a short-term need, and yet it 

had a long-term impact,” says Scott Hines, founder of 

A to Z In-Home Tutoring. “These students had missed 

almost a whole year of school. If they had not gotten 

any academic assistance, this could have set them 

up for failure.”

When campers were not practicing their reading or 

doing math problems, they were engaged in traditional camp activities like games, crafts, and field trips. 

But Katrina was never far from their minds. To help 

youngsters deal with the lingering trauma, three TSU 

doctoral students in counseling psychology provided 

group and individual counseling to campers whose 

parents authorized it. In addition, says Darnell, TSU 

undergraduates offered a willing ear to any student 

who needed it.

“Sometimes we had to just set the lesson plans aside 

and let the class talk to us,” says Darnell. “After a 

while, the campers could actually see that we cared. 

That made some of them care a little bit more about 

themselves.”

Darnell says the camp had a similar effect on the 

counselors he supervised. Many of those 22-yearolds matured over the summer, he says. That maturity helped transform undergraduates into inspiring 

role models, says Dr. Fuller. “Most of these campers 

didn’t have any relative who had gone to college,” she 

says. “Here were college kids who cared about them 

and played with them and laughed with them. Those 

relationships were a big part of our contribution to 

the community.”

Those relationships were also important to parents, 

according to Hines. “Parents told us that this camp 

had been the bright spot in their year,” he says. “Their 

children were still suffering from this crisis. But they 

had watched those children really blossom under the 

mentorship of the TSU students. When the academic 

scores came back later, it was just icing on the cake. 

We already knew that we had been successful.”

Contact Information

Dr. Deena Fuller, Professor of Psychology

Executive Director, Center for Service-Learning 

 and Community Engagement

Tennessee State University

3500 John Merritt Boulevard

Nashville, TN 37209

Phone: 615–963–5383 

Fax: 615–963–5140

E-mail: dfuller@tnstate.edu

Counselors at Tennessee State University’s Camp Supercharge.
68 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

Expanding Horizons 

 Through the Arts

The children of Humacao, Puerto Rico, are flocking to free music, art, and theater workshops at the Museo Casa Roig, a museum owned by 

the University of Puerto Rico at Humacao (UPRH). 

The classes are part of the Civic Engagement 

Through the Arts (CETA) initiative that is helping the 

university expand its presence in downtown Humacao 

while tapping the creativity and expanding the horizons of low- and moderate-income families through 

art experiences and performance. 

“We have waiting lists for programs,” says Museum 

Director Teresa Brigantti. “Parents are even requesting workshops for adults so that they can learn about 

the arts.”

With four public housing projects nearby, Museo 

Casa Roig’s downtown neighborhood has one of the 

highest poverty rates (nearly 50 percent) in Humacao, a city of 62,000 residents on Puerto Rico’s east 

coast. Yet, the mixed-income neighborhood is also 

home to some of the city’s older, established families. 

Many youth in the city live in neighborhoods where 

they are challenged to avoid problems of crime and 

drugs, says Brigantti.

“The CETA program is using the arts as the primary 

mechanism to foster the personal development of the 

community as a whole,” she says. “In the process, 

we’re hoping to have a positive impact on (youngsters’) learning and academic achievement, on their 

self-esteem, and on their social development. We are 

trying to empower them to have a voice, to participate in the community, and to have a broader vision.”

Interest in the museum’s arts programs has been so 

high that the university is currently using funds from 

OUP’s HSIAC program renovate what is being called, 

at least temporarily, “The Annex.” The two-story, art 

deco-style house was built during the 1940s and is 

located next door to Museo Casa Roig. The year-long 

rehabilitation, which began in late 2008, will expand 

the studio and multipurpose facilities available to 

CETA and increase the program’s capacity to engage 

more young people in more varied programs. It will 

also allow the museum to continue its art-related 

collaborations with community partners that share 

its mission. 

One of those partners is Centro de Enseñanza para 

la Familia, a local faith-based organization that works 

with residents of public housing. The nonprofit organization created a local music band to discourage 

delinquency and encourage young people to stay in 

school. Museo Casa Roig has provided the band with 

Aventura Arquitectónica workshops expose children to architecture 

and design.
C hapter 7: Creating Opportunities for Individuals and Families • 69 

UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO AT HUMACAO • 

HUMACAO, PUERTO RICO

new instruments and an electronic sound system 

for rehearsals and public performances. It has also 

arranged for local musician Freddy Burgos to instruct 

the students and conduct band rehearsals. 

When the HSIAC-supported renovations are complete, the museum complex will also contribute to 

an ongoing, city-led initiative to revitalize Humacao’s 

downtown area as an arts and cultural district. 

The initiative’s goal is to bring people downtown after 

business hours, spur real estate restoration and 

redevelopment, attract tourists, and create jobs. 

Other recent developments in this effort include the 

opening of a city-developed fine arts center, renovation of several nearby historic properties for arts 

use, streetscape enhancements, and a new tourism 

information center.

The museum’s renovation will also allow the university 

to expand its presence in downtown Humacao and 

to create a branch campus devoted to the arts 

and community empowerment. And while the historic buildings which make up that branch campus 

will offer workshops, programs, and other learning opportunities to local residents, the buildings 

themselves will also become teachers. For example, 

the remarkable architecture of Museo Casa Roig 

provides the resource material and inspiration for 

Aventura Arquitectónica, a workshop that exposes 

young people to architecture and design. Through 

conversations with architects and hands-on activities, 

participants learn about the history of Casa Roig, its 

architectural elements, and its place in Puerto Rico’s 

architectural history.

Built in 1919 as the home of a wealthy sugar baron, 

Casa Roig is one of the few surviving early modern 

structures on the Island of Puerto Rico. UPRH 

restored the museum’s main building in 1989 and 

opened it to the public as a regional art museum. 

Once an exclusive and somewhat foreboding place 

to the residents of Humacao, Casa Roig now embraces those residents. One parent recalled walking 

past Casa Roig for years, never dreaming that her 

child would one day be taking art classes inside. 

“These buildings are important not only as spaces,” 

says Brigantti. “They embody the history of this 

community.”

Contact Information

Elizabeth Robles, Education Coordinator

Museo Casa Roig

Antonio Lopez 66

Humacao, PR 00791

Phone: 787–852–8380

E-mail: Elizabeth.robles@upr.edu

A group of students display their designs at Aventura Arquitectónica.
70 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

Helping the Homeless Become 

 Advocates and Problem Solvers

Three years ago, 56-year-old Mick Matthews had 

a stroke that drained his finances, forced him to 

default on his mortgage, and led him into homelessness. Now Matthews has a permanent place to 

live and is a leader and advocate for homeless individuals in Turlock, California, a rural community with 

one of the highest foreclosure rates in the state. 

Matthews credits the CARES Resource Center, operated by California State University, Stanislaus (CSUS), 

with empowering him “to make my voice known here 

in town and to feel human again.” The university used 

a grant from OUP’s HSIAC program to open CARES, 

which stands for Community Action and Resources 

for Empowerment and Sustainability. “Much of our 

work is crisis management,” says Julie Fox, director 

of the university’s Office of Service Learning, which 

operates CARES. “A lot of our time is spent listening.”

On a typical day, an average of 40 persons come to 

the CARES Resource Center to request individual 

counseling or to use its restroom, free telephone, 

photocopy machine, and computers. Staffed by CSUS 

service-learning students, the center is a clearinghouse that guides homeless individuals to local 

agencies that offer the help they need. For example, 

CARES has partnered with Kaiser Permanente to 

provide needed health services to clients who lack 

insurance. The health provider sends a free mobile 

clinic to the center once a month to provide about 30 

individuals with routine medical screenings and treatment of nonchronic medical problems.

The center also offers help with legal documents to 

clients who have trouble accessing community services because they lack photo identification. “About 

15 people a week receive assistance in obtaining a 

state identity card at a reduced rate or replacing lost 

birth certificates,” Fox says. 

In addition to satisfying immediate needs, CARES 

aims to foster individual and group problem solving 

among its clients. For example, a leadership council acts as a governing body for the center, giving 

homeless individuals a chance to meet with staff, 

voice their concerns, share ideas, and review policy. 

Homeless men and women set their own agenda 

for these meetings, says Steven Filling, professor 

of accounting at CSU Stanislaus, who helped create 

CARES. “Self-governance is hard, messy work,” says 

Filling. “For us, it is a continuing process of not taking 

control. Once the clients are in a leadership position, 

they don’t need us any more.” 

The council has left its mark on the center. It identified the need to expand the Kaiser Permanente 

health clinic from a half day to a full day, brought 

about a change in the center’s hours of operation, 

and created a code of conduct for clients. For more 

CARES partner Kaiser Permanente provides a monthly 

free mobile clinic.
C hapter 7: Creating Opportunities for Individuals and Families • 71 

California State University, Stanislaus • 

Turlock, California

than 2 years, Mick Matthews led many council meetings and reports that, as a result of the experience, 

“my confidence grew and my public speaking became 

more natural.” He has used that newfound confidence 

to become an advocate for the homeless before the 

Turlock City Council and the university. Matthews 

recently participated in a city-sponsored focus group 

that explored the feasibility of creating a permanent 

shelter for the homeless within the city limits. “Everyone agreed we need a shelter, transitional housing, 

and support services,” he says. “The city council did 

too, but they want a nonprofit organization to run and 

operate it.” Matthews and others are in the process 

of creating an action team to do just that. 

In addition to empowering homeless individuals, 

CARES has also given 200 CSUS students an 

opportunity to learn how to form partnerships that 

bring about community change. University faculty 

and students assist the leadership council in its work 

and also work with local merchants and policymakers 

to help center clients with housing, résumés, transportation, and government applications. Students 

have also organized food and sleeping bag drives, 

testified at public meetings, and written letters to 

the editor about issues affecting the homeless. 

Sociology students enrolled in one university course 

even developed resource guides for those who find 

themselves on the streets. “These projects change 

the way students look at the problems of homelessness and understand the complexities of the issue,” 

Filling says. CARES volunteer Peggy Stepro, who is 

pursuing her master’s degree in social work, agrees. 

“No longer can I drive down the street and ignore the 

human beings I see pushing a shopping cart,” she 

says. “Now I make eye contact and wonder if he will 

be safe tonight, where he can find food, and if I may 

see him tomorrow.” 

Contact Information

Steven Filling, Professor of Accounting

California State University, Stanislaus

One University Circle

Turlock, CA 95382

Phone: 209–667–3773

E-mail: sfilling@csustan.edu

Julie Fox, Director 

Office of Service Learning

John Stuart Rogers Faculty Development Center

California State University, Stanislaus

One University Circle

Turlock, CA 95382

Phone: 209–667–3669

E-mail: jfox@csustan.edu

Dr. Steven Filling, professor of accounting at California State University, 

Stanislaus.
72 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

Preparing Inmates for 

 Life after Incarceration

Medardo Sanchez has bred cattle and raised 

hay since retiring from his managerial 

job in human resources. But his greatest 

challenge is teaching mathematics 3 days a week 

at the Rio Arriba County Detention Center in rural 

Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico. For the past 3 years, 

Sanchez, 74, has been part of an outreach effort by 

Northern New Mexico College (NNMC) to offer onsite 

educational and workforce training to inmates of the 

jail. Most of the men and women there are awaiting 

trial on drug and alcohol abuse charges. The majority 

hail from Española, where the college is located. 

“Rio Arriba County has the highest per capita heroin 

overdose rate in the country,” says Bernadette 

Chavira-Merriman, chair of the developmental studies 

department at NNMC and director of the detention 

center’s education program. “Everybody wants to do 

something about it.” NNMC took an interest in the 

jail when Felicia Casados, former dean of planning 

and special projects, hired inmates on work release 

to help with a party to celebrate her parents’ 50th 

wedding anniversary. “The former dean quickly realized the inmates had skills, but they had very little 

to do, and their time could be better spent,” says 

Chavira-Merriman. 

That realization led the college to apply for a HSIAC 

grant from OUP to develop a strong presence both 

at the detention center and in the lives of former inmates. Since then, Sanchez and two other part-time 

instructors have worked hard to teach 182 inmates 

the skills they need to succeed after their incarceration ends. Classes take place in two computerequipped classrooms at the detention center. Most 

of the students are Hispanic and 25 percent are 

women. “Eighty percent of our students are below the 

12th grade level,” says Chavira-Merriman. “We concentrate on basic adult education, writing résumés, 

and practice interviews for jobs.” 

Fifteen of the inmates have earned their General 

Educational Development (GED) diploma since the 

college’s program began. One of those students, a 

30-year-old mother of two, served as a role model 

for fellow inmates when she earned her degree. The 

fact that she now has a good job in Española has only 

enhanced her reputation. “I kept encouraging her 

to make the most of her education,” says Sanchez. 

“When she graduated, we took a photo of her in her 

cap and gown and shared it with the rest of the jail. 

The other inmates took notice.” 

Community partners have also taken notice of the 

program. Lauren Reichelt, director of Rio Arriba 

County’s Department of Health and Human 

Services, applauds the college’s efforts to provide 

NNMC Center for Fine Arts. case-management services that help inmates qualify 
C hapter 7: Creating Opportunities for Individuals and Families • 73 

Northern New Mexico College • Española, New Mexico

for Medicaid and job-related education and training 

once they are released. Through a new partnership 

with the college, the department will provide intensive 

case management to 5 to 10 released inmates each 

month in order to help them transition successfully 

to life outside of jail, says Reichelt. In addition, the 

county will train former inmates as peer counselors 

to help ex-offenders find work, a place to live, and 

generally make their transition easier. 

Another college partner, a community-based organization called Inside Out, will connect ex-offenders with 

groups and individuals that offer free haircuts, food, 

parental support, and vocational planning. The organization also offers free drug and alcohol counseling.

NNMC’s current detention center-based programs 

are much different than the program that NNMC 

originally envisioned, admits Chavira-Merriman. 

Initially, the college set out to provide a much more 

extensive program that would have offered vocational 

training, postsecondary credit courses, and microenterprise development for detention center inmates. 

NNMC also planned to offer an online criminal justice 

associate’s degree for detention center personnel. On 

paper, the plans made perfect sense, says ChaviraMerriman. But it soon became clear that those plans 

did not match the interests of either inmates or jail 

personnel. While discouraging, the poor response 

taught Chavira-Merriman valuable lessons. “Do the 

data collection and needs assessment before writing 

the proposal,” she counsels. “Instead of over-committing, concentrate on one or two activities and do 

them well.” 

And most important, says Chavira-Merriman, pay 

attention to the inmates’ wishes. That lesson helped 

make a HSIAC-funded library at the detention center 

immensely popular. The college thought it knew what 

kind of books inmates wanted to read, but quickly 

changed its purchasing plans based on inmate 

preferences. “We intended to buy books about the 

Southwest,” says Chavira-Merriman. “But our survey 

showed the women wanted romance novels and the 

men wanted westerns and mysteries.” 

Contact Information

Bernadette Chavira-Merriman, Director

Developmental Studies 

Northern New Mexico College

921 Paseo de Onate

Española, NM 87532

Phone: 505–747–2197

E-mail: bernadette@nnmc.edu

NNMC General Education Building.

C hapter 8

Creating Opportunities

 for Tribal Colleges and Universities

C hapter 8: Creating Opportunities for Tribal Colleges and Universities • 75 

Anative culture that emphasizes cooperation and 

a willingness to help others has characterized 

every aspect of the health and fitness center 

that Salish Kootenai College (SKC) recently built on its 

campus in Pablo, Montana. 

SKC built the center to help members of the Flathead 

Indian Reservation combat the diabetes and obesity 

epidemics that have touched practically every community family. SKC faculty and students built 90 percent 

of the facility themselves, while tribal contractors 

installed the plumbing, electrical, and heating/cooling 

systems. More than 3,000 people, have used the 

42,000-square-foot center since it opened in 2005. 

The cooperative spirit that has made the SKC fitness center such a success can also be found at 

other institutions of higher education participating in 

the Tribal College and Universities Program (TCUP) 

sponsored by HUD’s Office of University Partnerships 

(OUP). These educational institutions do not draw a 

line between their campuses and their surrounding 

communities. Instead, educators, tribal leaders, and 

local residents work as partners to meet the challenges that confront their communities, including high 

unemployment, poverty, poor health, and low educational attainment. 

This chapter highlights some of the ways that OUP 

funds are helping Tribal colleges and universities 

build modern campuses that will meet the educational needs of their constituents. In addition to 

an account of Salish Kootenai College’s fitness 

center (page 76), the chapter includes the following 

accomplishments:

A new TCUP-financed Library and Technology Center is the first fully “wired” building at the Institute 

of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New 

Mexico (page 78). The high-tech building houses 

a Learning Support Center that helps current and 

prospective students achieve academic success, as 

well as a New Media Department that is helping IAIA 

graduates launch careers in the digital arts.

Chief Dull Knife College in Lame Deer, Montana 

(page 80), met several institutional goals when it 

used TCUP funds to build an Early Childhood Learning Center on campus. The energy-efficient building, 

constructed of straw bales, has doubled the college’s 

capacity to offer childcare services to students 

who are also parents. In addition, the straw-bale 

construction cut the building’s anticipated energy 

usage in half. 

College of Menominee Nation (CMN) in Keshena, 

Wisconsin (page 82), has experienced a huge spike 

in enrollment since 1993 when it opened its doors to 

47 students. The college now serves 500 students 

and expects its enrollment to rise even higher when 

members of the Menominee tribe, half of whom are 

under the age of 18, are ready to pursue postsecondary degrees. To ensure it has the physical space 

necessary to meet student demand, CMN used its 

2004 TCUP grant to add five classrooms, a conference room, a food court, and a student lounge to its 

campus.

Sitting Bull College (SBC) in Fort Yates, North 

Dakota (page 84), has used its TCUP grants to 

create facilities that will help nontraditional students 

who tend to be older and who arrive at SBC with 

pressing family responsibilities. A TCUP-supported 

Family Support Center provides onsite childcare to 

these families and will soon become a multigenerational gathering place where young people attend 

afterschool programs and tribal elders participate in 

cultural events. 
76 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

Using Cooperative Action to Improve 

 a Reservation’s Health Status

Diabetes and obesity have recently become the 

two leading causes of serious health problems 

among residents of the Flathead Indian Reservation in rural Pablo, Montana. When the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Health Department 

announced the health crisis in 2002, administrators 

at Salish Kootenai College (SKC), located at the center of the reservation, felt they had to take concrete 

action to help mitigate that crisis. 

“Everyone knew someone with diabetes,” says 

Michael O’Donnell, a former vice president of SKC’s 

administration and now a consultant to the college. 

SKC’s first response to the health department’s 

news was to host an annual health fair for the local 

community. Unfortunately, college facilities could 

only accommodate about 200 people. Committed to 

reaching more of Pablo’s 1,000 residents with its 

health-centered programs, SKC faculty developed a 

plan to build an on-campus health and fitness center to help students, staff, and local residents take 

positive action to improve their physical condition. 

SKC donated land for the center, which was built with 

funds from an OUP TCUP grant, other federal agencies, and private donors.

More than 3,000 students, faculty, and local residents have used the health and fitness center since it 

opened in 2005. “Our college is known for its healthy 

learning environment,” says Dr. Joseph McDonald, 

president of Salish Kootenai. “The fitness center 

contributes positively to that. A healthy mind and a 

healthy body is what we strive for.” 

The multipurpose 42,000-square-foot health and fitness center offers a variety of programs designed to 

help the entire community strive for fitness. The center is home to recreational volleyball and basketball 

leagues that local residents can join. Residents can 

also receive health screenings, attend fitness classes, or use the college’s indoor track—the only facility 

of its kind within a 2,000-mile radius. A podiatry clinic 

helps diabetic patients monitor their condition, while 

the campus television station broadcasts healthy 

cooking demonstrations to the entire reservation 

from the center’s instructional kitchen. Information 

about community services is routinely distributed by 

staff at the center’s information desk. 

A native culture that emphasizes cooperation and a 

willingness to help others has characterized every 

aspect of the health and fitness center, from its 

design and construction to its day-to-day operations, 

says O’Donnell. The most visible illustration of that 

cooperation was the team of college faculty and Kitchen in Joe McDonald Health and Physical Education Center at 

Salish Kootenai College.
C hapter 8: Creating Opportunities for Tribal Colleges and Universities • 77 

Salish Kootenai College • Pablo, Montana

students who worked together for months to build 

90 percent of the center in what has become a SKC 

tradition. Students from the Heavy Equipment Department worked under faculty supervision to prepare the 

fitness center’s construction site, while undergraduates in the Building Trades Department completed 

its rough framing and finishing. Tribal contractors 

installed the building’s plumbing, electrical, and 

heating/cooling systems.

During SKC’s 32-year history, faculty and students 

have built a total of 10 campus facilities. The cooperative labor arrangement benefits KSC students 

who earn college credit and gain valuable job skills 

they later apply to full-time positions with local contractors. Using its own labor force helps the college 

to keep construction costs under control. In addition, 

the student labor brings an added, and unexpected, 

bonus to SKC: the campus has virtually no graffiti. 

“Students take so much pride in their work,” says 

O’Donnell. “They don’t allow it.”

The same spirit of cooperation governs the use of the 

health and fitness center, which is called upon regularly 

to host community events such as housing and career 

fairs and community dinners. In a poignant illustration 

of the college’s role as a community gathering place, 

the center recently hosted two funerals. “They were 

both large funerals of well-known community people 

and there was no church large enough to hold them,” 

says Dr. McDonald. “The center helped provide a great 

deal of comfort to people in their grief.”

Salish Kootenai College hopes to tap into its community’s cooperative spirit once again when it begins 

working to open a rural health clinic on campus. 

College President Dr. McDonald suggests that this 

same community spirit could also help other Tribal 

colleges make their big dreams a reality. “With a 

great deal of innovation and perseverance, it can be 

done” says McDonald. “There needs to be give and 

take in getting as many Tribal members and Tribalowned businesses involved in the construction as 

possible.”

Contact Information

Dr. Joseph McDonald, President

Salish Kootenai College

P.O. Box 117

Pablo, MT 59855

Phone: 406–275–4800

E-mail: Joe_McDonald@skc.edu

Workers construct the track inside SKC’s health and fitness center.
78 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

Helping Students Reach 

for the Future While Rooted in the Past

The Institute of American Indian Arts’ (IAIA’s) new 

Library and Technology Center (LTC) clearly has 

its roots in the traditions of the past. The LTC, a 

large circular structure on IAIA’s campus near Santa 

Fe, New Mexico, borrows many of its architectural 

elements from the ancient Anasazi Indians, whose 

social and ceremonial gathering places can still be 

seen 185 miles away in Chaco Canyon. However, the 

new building is also helping IAIA students prepare 

themselves to participate fully in the future.

The LTC is the latest component of a modern learning 

environment that IAIA has been steadily building since 

2000, when it moved from the campus of the College 

of Santa Fe to a new 140-acre campus just south of 

Santa Fe. The fine arts college has used funds from 

OUP’s TCUP, and other sources, to construct many of 

its new buildings, including the LTC.

IAIA’s newest building was designed with respect for 

and natural interaction with the environment. The LTC 

was built and furnished with environmentally friendly 

materials, and its design balances the amount of 

natural and artificial light that enters the building. The 

outside structure is designed to capture rainwater 

and store it for nonpotable indoor and outdoor use. 

It houses some fairly traditional campus facilities—a 

280-seat auditorium, classrooms, and an expanded 

library—and is IAIA’s first fully “wired” building, with 

an extensive archive collection of films, videos, and 

photographs. 

One wing of the new building houses a Learning 

Support Center, which is devoted to ensuring that 

current and prospective students are successful in 

college. The support center provides educational outreach activities, workshops, and classes to area tribal 

communities, organizations, and schools. A summer 

program called “Expanding the Circle” exposes high 

school students to campus life while they improve 

their academic and study skills. The Learning Support 

Center is a vital part of the campus, says Laurie 

Logan Brayshaw, director of IAIA’s Office of Sponsored 

Programs, because “so many students want to 

attend college, but they’re not always adequately 

prepared.” 

Another wing of the LTC houses a new degree program that uses state-of-the-art equipment to prepare 

students for careers in multimedia arts. The caliber 

of that equipment and of the building’s other amenities is helping J. Carlos Peinado, chair of the New 

Media Department, push his students to think 

“long term and big,” in much the same way he has 

approached his own career. 

A filmmaker whose first full-length documentary 

premiered at New York’s famed Tribeca Film Festival, 

Peinado wants to see his students take the creative 

(L to R) Orlando White, Natasha Martinez, Elvina Woody, and 

Nancy Strickland at IAIA’s 2004 graduation.
C hapter 8: Creating Opportunities for Tribal Colleges and Universities • 79 

Institute of American Indian Arts • 

Santa Fe, New Mexico

risks necessary to make their own mark on 

multimedia platforms like smart phones and other 

new communication devices. Peinado’s passion 

to see his students succeed seems to be paying 

off. Walt Disney Imagineering, a high-tech arm of 

The Walt Disney Company, has already recruited 

one of the program’s graduates for a full-time 

position. Peinado hopes more of his students will 

also work for Disney one day. “We have an agreement to continue to try and place more students 

there,” says Peinado. “But first they need elevated 

skill sets and experience working in collaborative 

teams. This facility plays a key part in affording 

those opportunities.”

Postgraduates and professionals nationwide also 

have the opportunity to hone their skills at the LTC 

through a 6-week summer program that is sponsored by IAIA and the Disney•ABC Television Group. 

That program offers workshops in scriptwriting and 

film production and gives Native American filmmakers 

a venue to produce and showcase short films. It also 

gives participants valuable opportunities to obtain 

career-building fellowships and to make important 

contacts with entertainment industry executives.

The timing of IAIA’s New Media programs could not 

be better for students, says Brayshaw. New Mexico’s 

booming film and television industry has the potential 

to create exciting opportunities behind the camera 

and on the screen for program graduates who want 

to stay close to home. And what about those who 

may want to make their mark beyond New Mexico 

in the nation’s traditional entertainment centers? 

Peinado says he believes anything is possible. “My 

goal is to have the best undergraduate programs in 

film and new media in the country,” he says. “When 

you give people the tools that make them powerful, 

the results will be stellar.” 

Contact Information

Laurie Logan Brayshaw, Director

Office of Sponsored Programs

Institute of American Indian Arts

83 Avan Nu Po Road

Santa Fe, NM 87508–1300

Phone: 505–424–2305

E-mail: llogan@iaia.edu

J. Carlos Peinado, Chair 

New Media Department

Institute of American Indian Arts

83 Avan Nu Po Road

Santa Fe, NM 87508–1300

Phone: 505–424–5717

E-mail: cpeinado@iaia.edu

Library and Technology Center at IAIA.
80 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

Keeping Students in School 

with an Eco-friendly Childcare Center

Until a year ago, the demographics of its student population and its geographic location presented a serious challenge to Chief Dull 

Knife College (CDKC) in Lame Deer, Montana. “Eighty 

percent of our student body is made up of parents, 

and many of them are single parents,” says William 

Wertman, vice president of administration at CDKC, 

located on the Northern Cheyenne reservation in 

southeastern Montana. Adding to the challenges, 

says Wertman, the 2-year college is 20 miles from 

the nearest childcare provider and a 90-minute drive 

from the closest mid-size city. 

Worried that parents with no access to childcare 

would be forced to drop out of school, CDKC took 

decisive action to keep its students engaged in their 

postsecondary education. Using funds from OUP’s 

TCUP grant and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 

Community Facilities Grant Program, the college built 

an Early Childhood Learning Center (ECLC), which 

opened in 2007. The ECLC more than doubled the 

size of the college’s first daycare center built in the 

1960s. And, in the process, it has helped the college 

meet several important institutional goals. 

First, the ECLC’s unique design process allowed 

CDKC students to interact with professors and students from the country’s leading universities thanks 

to an initiative organized by the American Indian 

Housing Initiative (AIHI). AIHI represents a partnership between CDKC, Pennsylvania State University, 

the University of Washington, and the University of 

Wisconsin-Madison to introduce green building technologies and community-based planning to American 

Indian reservations. Faculty and students from the 

participating universities worked together over a 

2-year period to design and build the ECLC so that 

it complemented the unique cultural heritage of the 

Northern Cheyenne while honoring the environment 

and saving money.

“Our students are longing for this kind of practical 

experience,” says David Riley, associate professor 

of architectural engineering at Penn State. Riley, 

who served as the ECLC’s design and construction 

manager, brought 50 of his engineering students to 

Montana to conduct data gathering and planning for 

the new daycare center. 

To ensure that the ECLC met the needs of the community, faculty and students held community design 

workshops and used landscaping projects to connect 

Cheyenne youth and elders with college students. 

This interaction helped students learn how to incorporate the needs of end-users into the design of the 

building. Ultimately, student-collected data persuaded 

the college to change the location of the ECLC so it 

would accommodate parents’ need for convenience in 

picking up and dropping off their children. Community Early Childhood Learning Center under construction.
C hapter 8: Creating Opportunities for Tribal Colleges and Universities • 81 

Chief Dull Knife College • Lame Deer, Montana

input also led students to include two mosaics, which 

highlight the colors and language of the native people, 

in the building’s design.

In addition to broadening the horizons of all participating students and bringing outside expertise to 

campus, the planning process also gave the ECLC 

an energy-efficient design that reduced construction 

costs and continues to keep the college’s utility bills 

under control. “We expect to save 60 to 65 percent 

on our utility costs,” says Wertman.

The energy savings come from straw bales, which 

form the structure of the 4,800-square-foot facility. 

The bales provide excellent thermal insulation 

from Montana temperatures, which range from 

-10o F in winter to 105o F in summer. In addition, 

the eco-friendly building blocks are weatherproof, 

fire-resistant, pest-free, and soundproof—all desirable 

features for a daycare center. At $2 to $4 a piece, 

the bales are less expensive than other building 

materials. Construction costs are further reduced 

because straw-bale buildings are easy for volunteer 

and unskilled laborers to assemble.

Since 2000, AIHI has constructed seven buildings on 

the Northern Cheyenne reservation, four of which are 

on the CDKC campus. The ECLC is the largest. “The 

whole experience has been a win-win,” says Wertman. “During the exchange our students and theirs 

also learn about each other’s cultures.” 

While the cultural exchange and the cost savings 

associated with the new center have been important, 

the real winners are parents like Sunshine Curlee, a 

working mother and college employee who is pursuing 

an associate’s degree from CDKC and a bachelor’s 

degree in science from Montana State University. 

Curlee is delighted with the ECLC’s facilities and the 

individual attention her 10-month-old daughter, Araya, 

receives there. 

“She’s adjusted so well,” says Curlee, who expects 

to finish her second associate’s degree next spring. 

“Araya is ordinarily so clingy. It’s been a surprise to 

discover she’s become a little socialite.” 

Contact Information

William Wertman

Vice President, Administration

Chief Dull Knife College

P.O. Box 98

Lame Deer, MT 59043

Phone: 406–477–6215, ext. 117

E-mail: bwertman@cdkc.edu

ECLC Early Childhood Learning Center at CDKC.
82 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

Strengthening the Local Economy 

 by Educating More Students

Almost half the residents of Menominee County 

in northeast Wisconsin are unemployed, and 

56 percent of those who do have jobs still 

live below the federal poverty level. The community’s 

economic picture is so serious that the most recent 

U.S. census ranked Menominee as the 13th poorest 

county in the nation.

College of Menominee Nation (CMN), a 2-year 

liberal arts and technical college chartered by the 

8,500-member Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, has been working hard for most of the past 

decade to improve these numbers. As the fourthlargest employer in Menominee County, the college 

has done its part to hire residents who live near its 

campus in the county seat of Keshena. But, keeping with its academic mission, CMN’s influence on 

the local economy is being felt most strongly in the 

classroom. 

That is where the college is working to improve the 

future success of its students by offering them a 

strong curriculum that revolves around science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). CMN 

has steadily increased enrollment in its STEM courses 

from 47 students when the college opened its doors 

in 1993 to more than 500 today. A quarter of those 

students are now enrolled in science-intensive degree 

programs. 

Because more than 50 percent of the Menominee 

Tribal population is under the age of 18, the college 

expects STEM enrollment to continue its upward spiral over the next decade. CMN also foresees a critical need for well-qualified employees at Menominee 

Tribal Enterprises (MTE), the corporate entity that 

manages and markets the tribe’s forest products. 

The senior management team at MTE is expected to 

retire in a few years leaving a void that CMN believes 

its students can fill.

Gearing up to meet the increasing demand for its 

educational offerings has challenged CMN at a most 

basic level. Until 2 years ago, the college had only 

7 classrooms, which made it almost impossible to 

schedule all the courses current students need to 

graduate. It also seemed doubtful that CMN could 

successfully expand its student enrollment anytime 

soon. That is why a TCUP grant from OUP, which the 

college received in 2004, has made such a dramatic 

difference on campus. 

CMN’s TCUP grant helped the college build a 3-story 

addition to the 6-year-old Shirley Daly Hall, a classroom building that also houses several science labs. 

The expansion added 5 classrooms, each of which 

seats between 26 and 48 students. The added space 

has given CMN the ability to accommodate approximately 180 students at any given time. The addition 

also gave the college a new conference room, food 

College of Menominee Nation campus. court, and student lounge. 
C hapter 8: Creating Opportunities for Tribal Colleges and Universities • 83 

College of Menominee Nation • Keshena, Wisconsin

“Shirley Daly Hall is a simple building but well thought 

out,” says Campus Planner Joel Kroenke. “It has 

helped us increase our classroom capacity by 35 

percent.”

Kroenke coordinated the Shirley Daly addition, which 

came in on schedule and within budget. He credits 

the building’s simple design, and the college’s design 

and construction partners, with ensuring a smooth 

renovation. Costs were kept low, he says, because 

the college purchased discounted white pine from the 

MTE sawmill. 

In addition to adding classroom space, the renovation 

also allowed CMN to consolidate its administrative 

offices in nearby Glenn Miller Hall and to dedicate the 

renovated Shirley Daly Hall to academic purposes. 

The two buildings remain connected by a glass atrium 

that has come to symbolize CMN’s openness to its 

community. Because the college is “chartered by the 

people,” explains Kroenke, there are few walls and 

many connections between campus and community. 

Examples of these connections are numerous. CMN 

routinely includes community representatives in its 

decisionmaking about campus planning and infrastructure. And, to stimulate the local economy, the 

college gives preference to local contractors when 

awarding contracts on its capital projects.

Now that it is completed, Shirley Daly Hall is an active 

part of the college’s outreach efforts. Students in the 

local chapter of the Strategic Environmental Education 

Development and Sustainability Society use the building’s food court to raise money for charity by selling 

fair-trade coffee and beans. The building, along with 

other campus facilities, gets plenty of use from local 

residents who visit the campus for summer youth 

camps, job fairs, financial literacy classes, and special 

Tribal events. In another welcoming gesture, the 

college used TCUP funds to make all eight of its buildings accessible to people with disabilities. “The college 

is a bright spot here,” says Kroenke. “It is the center 

of educational activity for the reservation. We wanted 

to reach out to all members of the community.” 

Contact Information

Joel Kroenke, Campus Planner

College of Menominee Nation

P.O. Box 1179

Keshena, WI 54135

Phone: 715–799–5600, ext. 3045

E-mail: jkroenke@menominee.edu

Shirley Daly Hall at College of Menominee Nation.
84 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

Building a Campus to 

 Serve Nontraditional Students

Something exceptional is going on at the campus of Sitting Bull College (SBC) in Fort Yates, North Dakota. So exceptional, in fact, that 

some students are willing to endure a daily commute 

of 110 miles across the Standing Rock Reservation 

to experience it. 

Established in 1973 by the Standing Rock Tribe, SBC 

is being re-envisioned and reborn. Campus buildings 

with leaking roofs and bucket-lined hallways are being 

replaced with new structures that now dot a majestic 

hill overlooking the Missouri River. And the college 

is expanding its services and educational programs 

to ensure that it can meet the needs of its students 

whose average age is 31. “Students are feeling pride 

now,” says SBC President, Dr. Laurel Vermillion. 

“You can see it on their faces when we open a new 

building.” 

Through its bold building initiatives and a tailored educational program, SBC is pursuing a long-term vision 

that has three basic goals: to strengthen the pipeline 

of Tribal students moving from secondary to higher 

education; to support its students in their quest to 

obtain a relevant, quality college education; and to 

encourage and support the growth of thriving businesses that can move the Standing Rock Tribe closer 

to economic sustainability. 

That vision is being carried out through two key 

building initiatives supported by OUP’s TCUP grant. 

The first is a Family Support Center, which was 

completed in March 2006. The second is a Student 

Support Center, currently under construction, which 

will include a 4,020-square-foot library, classrooms, 

computer laboratories, and offices for student support staff. In addition, the college used other funding 

sources to build a Science and Technology Center 

that includes offices, classrooms, laboratories, and 

a nursing program. A new Entrepreneurial Center 

features a business incubator that will soon provide 

space, technical support, and resources to help local 

residents start their own businesses and, in the 

process, strengthen the local economy. 

All of SBC’s new facilities are designed to help students, who tend to be older and who arrive at SBC 

with pressing needs for financial aid, transportation, 

living accommodations, and daycare. Despite these 

needs, SBC students “tend to be better students 

because they realize the importance of education 

to move ahead,” says Dr. Vermillion, who is an SBC 

graduate. That strong academic commitment from 

undergraduates motivates Dr. Vermillion and her 

colleagues to show an equally strong commitment to 

support the college’s nontraditional students. 

Sitting Bull College graduation class of May 2008.
C hapter 8: Creating Opportunities for Tribal Colleges and Universities • 85 

Sitting Bull College • Fort Yates, North Dakota

That is where the 15,000-square-foot SBC Family 

Support Center comes in. In addition to providing 

onsite childcare to students, the OUP-supported center is on its way to becoming an integral part of the 

college’s educational curriculum. It currently houses 

SBC’s Education Department and Dr. Vermillion envisions that the center will become “a place where students and faculty can do internships, and where we 

involve elders in programs that convey our culture.” A 

natural extension of this vision will be an afterschool 

program that offers activities for young people.

Looking to the future, SBC would eventually like to 

add family-style residence halls to the list of college 

amenities that might help attract more young families 

to its educational programs. The campus has only 

18 family housing units at present, far less than its 

400 commuting students could put to use, says 

Dr. Vermillion. 

Serving families also means paying attention to the 

needs of the next generation of Standing Rock Tribe 

members, says Dr. Vermillion. That is why her goal 

has been to expand educational programs that the 

college offers to younger students. To meet that 

goal, Vermillion works closely with the Standing Rock 

Education Consortium, a group of local educators 

representing local K–12 and Head Start schools, 

which is exploring creative ways to get young children 

interested in science, technology, engineering, and 

mathematics. “It’s important to bring children on 

board early,” she says. “By the time students are in 

high school or college, it is sometimes too late to get 

them passionate about learning.”

Contact Information

Dr. Laurel Vermillion, President

Sitting Bull College

1341 92nd Street

Fort Yates, ND 58538

Telephone: 701–854–8014

E-mail: LaurelV@sbci.edu

SBC students working on a class assignment in the Arthur Litoff 

Computer Lab.

SECTION III:

 Appendix

SECTION 3

Appendix

 

section III: Appendix • 89 

Minority-Serving Institution Grantees

1998–2008

The following pages include information about all minority-serving institutions that have received a grant 

from the Office of University Partnerships (OUP) since 

1998. The information provided here has been adapted from a database of grantees that can be found on 

the OUP Web Site. Visit www.oup.org and click on 

“Grantee Database” to read more about these OUP 

grantees and to find up-to-date contact information.

Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian 

Institutions Assisting Communities 

(AN/NHIAC)

ALASKA

Ilisagvik College

Barrow, AK 99723

Website: www.ilisagvik.cc

Grant years: 2000, 2003, 2005, 2007

Goal of 2007 grant: To train staff of village organizations in the North Slope Borough in such areas as 

accounting, human resources, grants, governance, 

and compliance.

Sheldon Jackson College

Sitka, AK 99835

Website: www.sheldonjackson.edu

Grant year: 2004

Goal of 2004 grant: To establish a 15-credit Village 

Management Institute for individuals in administrative 

positions in communities in Southeast Alaska. 

University of Alaska–Fairbanks, 

 Bristol Bay Campus

Fairbanks, AK 99775

Website: www.uaf.edu/bbc

Grant years: 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007

Goals of 2007 grant: To provide vocational and 

educational programs for rural Alaska Natives and to 

increase employment opportunities and small business development options in rural communities. 

University of Alaska–Fairbanks, Chukchi Campus

Kotzebue, AK 99752

Website: www.chukchi.uaf.edu

Grant years: 2002, 2005, 2007

Goals of 2007 grant: To train the local workforce 

in construction trades and to employ students during 

a practicum period as they construct and renovate 

private homes and public buildings.

University of Alaska–Fairbanks, 

 Interior-Aleutians Campus

Fairbanks, AK 99775

Website: www.iac.uaf.edu

Grant years: 2001, 2004, 2006, 2008

Goal of 2006 grant: To increase employability, 

economic development, and housing opportunities 

in Native communities by providing Construction 

Trades Technology coursework free of charge to 

local residents. 

University of Alaska–Fairbanks, 

 Kuskokwim Campus

Fairbanks, AK 99775

Website: www.kuskokwim.bethel.alaska.edu

Grant Years: 2003, 2006

Goal of 2006 grant: To collaborate with nine 

regional partners to develop workshops, training, 

and festivals that honor Native culture and lead to 

economic development. 
90 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

University of Alaska–Fairbanks, 

 Northwest Campus

Fairbanks, AK 99775

Website: www.nwc.uaf.edu

Grant years: 2003, 2006

Goals of 2006 grant: To repair and remodel the 

Northwestern Alaska Career and Technical Center 

dorm at Nome-Beltz High School.

HAWAII

Chaminade University of Honolulu

Honolulu, HI 96816

Website: www.chaminade.edu

Grant year: 2003

Goal of 2003 grant: To establish a training and 

community outreach facility that will house the 

Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs and provide space 

that Hawaiian Civic Clubs can use to serve their 

communities. 

Hawaii Community College

Honolulu, HI 96822

Website: www.hawaii.hawaii.edu

Grant year: 2004, 2008

Goal of 2004 grant: To renovate the Kea’au Youth 

Business Center to include a commercial kitchen, 

multimedia digital arts lab, recording studio, and 

equipment for youth business training activities. 

Honolulu Community College

Honolulu, HI 96817

Website: www.honolulu.hawaii.edu

Grant year: 2004

Goal of 2004 grant: To assist in the creation 

of the Kokea Training Center, which will offer 

pre-construction, job readiness, and life skills 

training to low-income families.

Kapi‹olani Community College

Honolulu, HI 96822

Website: www.hawaii.edu

Grant years: 2004, 2007

Goal of 2007 grant: To create the Ohana Learning 

Center to house early literacy tutoring and mentoring, 

computer training, career-building, health promotion, 

financial literacy, and strategic planning programs 

and services.

Kauai Community College

Honolulu, HI 96822

Website: www.kauaicc.hawaii.edu

Grant years: 2001, 2004, 2008

Goal of 2004 grant: To develop a community 

agriculture training and agribusiness incubation center in the Anahola Hawaiian Homestead on Kauau’i. 

Leeward Community College

Honolulu, HI 96822

Website: www.lcc.hawaii.edu

Grant years: 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007

Goals of 2007 grant: To renovate an existing facility 

at Wai‘anae High School, to develop an animation 

arts curriculum that prepares young people for 

college and careers, and to pilot English and math 

classes that are relevant to students’ professional 

interests.

Maui Community College

Honolulu, HI 96822

Website: www.maui.hawaii.edu

Grant years: 2001, 2005

Goal of 2005 grant: To increase homeownership 

and economic participation among the Native 

Hawaiian members of Maui County. 
section III: Appendix • 91 

University of Hawaii at West Oahu

Honolulu, HI 96822

Website: www.uhwo.hawaii.edu

Grant years: 2003, 2005

Goal of 2005 grant: To build a Drug and Vocational 

Rehabilitation Facility that will offer clinical services, 

facilitate vocational rehabilitation, and provide a 

training site for staff and student interns. 

University of Hawaii at Hilo

Hilo, HI 96720

Website: www.uhh.hawaii.edu

Grant year: 2004

Goal of 2004 grant: To design, establish, and run 

small businesses that focus on the cultural needs of 

the community and the training interest of villagers.

University of Hawaii at Manoa

Honolulu, HI 96822

Website: www.uhm.hawaii.edu

Grant year: 2000, 2008

Goals of 2000 grant: To assist in the rehabilitation 

of the Papakolea Community Center, to aid in the 

construction of the Maunalaha Valley Community 

Center, and to develop and expand recreational, 

educational, community visioning, and economic 

development programs.

Windward Community College

Kaneohe, HI 96744

Website: www.wcc.hawaii.edu

Grant year: 2002

Goal of 2002 grant: To build a Community 

Resource Center that features a training kitchen 

and food service area and offers life skills, job, and 

microenterprise training programs.

Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting 

Communities (HSIAC)

ARIZONA

Arizona Western College

Yuma, AZ 85366

Website: www.azwestern.edu

Grant year: 2000

Goal of 2000 grant: To establish a community 

learning center that provides local residents with 

training and education opportunities designed to 

increase their employability and earning capacity.

Central Arizona College-Pinal County 

Community College District

Coolidge, AZ 85228

Website: www.centralaz.edu

Grant years: 2004, 2007

Goal of 2007 grant: To combine a one-stop 

workforce development center and a skill center 

into a new facility that can provide job-training, 

job-search, and job-placement services. 

Cochise College

Douglas, AZ 85607

Website: www.cochise.edu

Grant year: 2001

Goal of 2001 grant: To complete renovations to the 

Douglas Food Bank and the Douglas Entrepreneurial 

Development Center.

Phoenix College

Phoenix, AZ 85013

Website: www.pc.maricopa.edu

Grant year: 2002

Goal of 2002 grant: To establish a Career Training 

and Employment Program that will provide economic 

development opportunities to public housing residents 

and other low-income individuals.
92 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

Pima County Community College

Tucson, AZ 85709

Website: www.pima.edu

Grant years: 1999, 2005

Goal of 2005 grant: To establish the Education for 

Economic Empowerment program, a comprehensive 

program of life skills, financial literacy, career skills, 

leadership skills, and service learning.

University of Arizona - South Campus

Sierra Vista, AZ 85635

Website: uas.arizona.edu

Grant year: 2002

Goals of 2002 grant: To stabilize and expand a local 

garment manufacturing company and a childcare 

facility, and to create a community center that 

facilitates social and economic development. 

CALIFORNIA

Allan Hancock College

Santa Maria, CA 93454

Website: www.hancockcollege.edu

Grant year: 2004

Goal of 2004 grant: To expand a 5,000-square-foot 

community center so it has adequate space for adult 

education classes, a community education technology center, a city service program, and a community 

sports field.

Bakersfield College

Bakersfield, CA 93305

Website: www.bakersfieldcollege.edu

Grant year: 2003

Goal of 2003 grant: To expand training and 

employment opportunities in the construction industry 

for low- and moderate-income residents of Southeast 

Bakersfield. 

California State University, Bakersfield

Bakersfield, CA 93311

Website: www.csubak.edu

Grant year: 2003

Goals of 2003 grant: To establish a family resource 

center that will provide education and social development programs for underserved homeless and lowincome youth, and to establish a literacy center 

at the Bakersfield Homeless Center.

California State University, Dominguez Hills

Carson, CA 90747

Website: www.csudh.edu

Grant year: 2002

Goal of 2002 grant: To create the “Home Child 

Care Microenterprise Project for a Low-Income 

Community” in the city of Cudahy. 

California State University, Fullerton Foundation

Fullerton, CA 92831

Website: www.fullerton.edu

Grant year: 2005

Goal of 2005 grant: To provide increased 

homeownership and rental opportunities for lowand moderate-income persons, minorities, and those 

with limited English proficiency.

California State University, Long Beach 

 Foundation

Long Beach, CA 90840-2007

Website: www.csulb.edu

Grant year: 2007

Goal of 2007 grant: To create a community 

center that will include a computer/learning 

laboratory, general meeting/classroom, and a 

small administrative office.
section III: Appendix • 93 

California State University, Northridge

Northridge, CA 91330

Website: www.csun.edu

Grant year: 2000, 2002

Goals of 2002 grant: To expand an existing 

family education program to low-income, Hispanic 

communities, to establish a 10-acre community 

farm that will provide local produce to community 

members, and to lease commercial space for two 

new small businesses.

California State University, Stanislaus

Turlock, CA 95382

Website: www.csustan.edu

Grant year: 2005

Goal of 2005 grant: To create a multiservice resource center that will promote literacy, employment, 

and self sufficiency within the homeless community.

Foundation of California State University, 

Monterey Bay

Seaside, CA 93955

Website: csumb.edu

Grant years: 2005, 2007

Goals of 2007 grant: To establish a one-stop, 

multi-service center for the homeless, to create a 

green technology demonstration park, and to open a 

community cultural center in Chinatown.

Gavilan College

Gilroy, CA 95020

Website: www.gavilan.edu

Grant years: 1999, 2002

Goal of 2002 grant: To create a Neighborhood 

Education and Technology Center that will provide 

space for adult education classes, a community 

technology center, and a permanent location for two 

job-training programs.

Imperial Valley College

Imperial, CA 92251

Website: www.imperial.edu

Grant year: 2004, 2008

Goal of 2004 grant: To foster empowerment and 

self-sufficiency opportunities for colonia residents. 

Long Beach Community College District

Long Beach, CA 90808

Website: www.lbcc.edu

Grant year: 2003

Goal of 2003 grant: To provide information, 

training, coordination, and referrals to low- to 

moderate-income residents who provide family 

childcare in their homes. 

Los Angeles Mission College

Sylmar, CA 91342

Website: www.lamission.edu

Grant years: 2001, 2005

Goal of 2005 grant: To implement a job-training 

program and educational workshops in personal 

finance and homeownership. 

Los Angeles Trade-Technical College

Los Angeles, CA 90015

Website: www.lattc.edu

Grant years: 2002, 2007

Goal of 2007 grant: To launch a communitybased partnership that will involve local grassroots 

organizations in promoting economic and housing 

opportunities for women, youth, and families.

Los Angeles Valley College

Valley Glen, CA 91401

Website: www.lavc.cc.ca.us

Grant years: 2002, 2007

Goal of 2007 grant: To train low- to moderateincome residents of the Northeast San Fernando 

Valley in financial literacy, homeownership, and 

entrepreneurial microenterprise enrichment.
94 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

Merced College

Merced, CA 95348

Website: www.merced.cc.ca.us

Grant year: 2000

Goal of 2000 grant: To help the city of Merced build 

a youth center that will offer academic tutoring and 

homework assistance, athletic leagues, computer 

training classes, recreational activities, and career 

exploration programs.

Modesto Junior College

Modesto, CA 95350

Website: www.mjc.edu

Grant years: 2000, 2002, 2006

Goals of 2006 grant: To move two houses to new 

housing sites and coordinate their rehabilitation, and 

to revitalize the neighborhood surrounding a new 

affordable housing development.

San Bernardino Community College District

San Bernardino, CA 92408

Website: www.sbccd.cc.ca.us

Grant year: 2002

Goal of 2002 grant: To develop and construct an 

applied technologies training center that will offer 

short-term training programs to unemployed and 

underemployed workers. 

San Diego State University–Imperial 

 Valley Campus

Calexico, CA 92231

Website: www.ivcampus.sdsu.edu

Grant years: 2000, 2003

Goal of 2003 grant: To provide colonia residents 

with interventions in the following areas: literacy 

and language, workforce development, youth 

development, business development and support 

services, and computer technology.

Santa Ana College/Rancho Santiago Community 

College District

Santa Ana, CA 92704

Website: www.sac.edu

Grant years: 1999, 2004

Goals of 2004 grant: To renovate existing campus 

facilities and to use those facilities to provide adult 

education classes, childcare provider and parenting 

resources, subsidized childcare, and cooking and 

nutrition classes.

Southwestern College

Chula Vista, CA 91910

Website: www.swccd.edu

Grant years: 2002, 2005, 2008

Goal of 2005 grant: To establish a microenterprise 

family childcare program that gives residents the 

training and support services they need to establish 

their own home-based, licensed childcare businesses. 

Taft College

Taft, CA 93268

Website: www.taft.cc.ca.us

Grant year: 2002

Goal of 2002 grant: To establish a state-of-the-art 

community resource and learning center that will 

provide educational opportunities and community 

resources to local residents with limited English 

skills, young people ages 16-22, and other low- and 

moderate-income persons.

The National Hispanic University

San Jose, CA 95127

Website: www.nhu.edu

Grant year: 2005

Goal of 2005 grant: To establish El Centro de 

Excelencia, an Early Childhood Education Center that 

will offer on-the-job training for adults studying early 

childhood education and an education center for 

parents.
section III: Appendix • 95 

West Hills Community College District

Coalinga, CA 93210

Website: www.westhillscollege.com

Grant years: 2002, 2004, 2005

Goal of 2005 grant: To expand an existing child 

development center so it can serve 21 additional infants, provide safe and adequate parking for parents, 

and install play equipment for children.

COLORADO

Adams State College

Alamosa, CO 81101

Website: www.adams.edu

Grant years: 1999, 2004

Goals of 2004 grant: To renovate a vacant, historic 

building and to establish a community and business 

development center that will assist local businesses 

and nonprofit organizations.

Colorado State University–Pueblo 

(Formerly University of Southern Colorado)

Pueblo, CO 81003

Website: www.colostate-pueblo.edu

Grant year: 2000

Goals of 2000 grant: To purchase 15 acres and 

2 buildings near a historic steel mill, to restore the 

buildings, manage and catalog the mill’s archives, 

and to redevelop the site as a museum and 

research center.

Otero Junior College

La Junta, CO 81050

Website: www.ojc.edu

Grant years: 2004, 2007

Goal of 2007 grant: To open a Business Innovation 

Center that will contain a business incubator, an 

economic development office, and the Tri-County 

Housing and Community Development Corporation.

Trinidad State Junior College

Trinidad, CO 81082

Website: www.trinidadstate.edu

Grant year: 2007

Goal of 2007 grant: To establish a Community 

Development Resource Center that will offer help 

to low- and moderate income and minority individuals who want to start their own businesses or find 

affordable housing opportunities.

FLORIDA

Barry University

Miami, FL 33161

Website: www.barry.edu

Grant year: 1999

Goal of 1999 grant: To complete construction 

of a community center that will offer a wide range 

of services and programs to address the social, 

cultural, educational, pre-employment, and 

recreational needs of neighborhood youth.

Florida International University

Miami, FL 33199

Website: www.fiu.edu

Grant year: 1999

Goal of 1999 grant: To acquire vacant property 

for a new gymnasium that will provide needed 

recreation programs for young people in Opa-Locka 

while eliminating some of the city’s urban blight. 

Miami-Dade Community College – 

InterAmerican Campus

Miami, FL 33135

Website: www.mdc.edu/iac/default.asp

Grant year: 2001

Goal of 2001 grant: To build a community/youth 

center that will offer social, educational, recreational, 

and cultural services for young people living in Miami’s 

Little Havana neighborhood.
96 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

University of Miami

Miami, FL 33146

Website: www.miami.edu

Grant year: 2001

Goals of 2001 grant: To increase affordable 

housing in Miami’s West Grove neighborhood, 

to rebuild the neighborhood’s primary commercial 

avenue, and to reclaim the rich history of the area’s 

Bahamian residential architecture.

KANSAS

Donnelly College

Kansas City, KS 66102

Website: www.donnelly.edu

Grant year: 2002

Goal of 2002 grant: To provide residents with 

GED preparation, life skills training, job training and 

placement services, comprehensive housing services, 

and business development consultation.

MASSACHUSETTS

Northern Essex Community College

Lawrence, MA 01830

Website: www.necc.mass.edu

Grant years: 1999, 2002

Goal of 2002 grant: To foster self-sufficiency and 

education among women through development of 

a literacy and resource center that serves Latina 

childcare providers.

Urban College of Boston

Boston, MA 02111

Website: www.urbancollege.edu

Grant year: 2006

Goal of 2006 grant: To launch a microenterprise 

development program that supports new and existing 

family childcare providers in Latino communities in 

the cities of Boston and Lawrence.

NEW JERSEY

Hudson County Community College

Jersey City, NJ 07306

Website: www.hccc.edu

Grant year: 2000

Goals of 2000 grant: To renovate unfinished 

community space in two public housing projects in 

Union City and to use the space to hold English as 

a Second Language, basic skills, computer training, 

and consumer education classes.

Passaic County Community College

Paterson, NJ 07505

Website: www.pccc.edu

Grant years: 1999, 2006

Goal of 2006 grant: To provide low-income Hispanic 

residents and businesses with the technology skills 

they need to succeed in today’s information-based 

economy. 

NEW MEXICO

Central New Mexico Community College 

(Formerly Albuquerque Technical Vocational Institute)

Albuquerque, NM 87106

Website: www.cnm.edu

Grant year: 2000

Goals of 2000 grant: To provide housing 

rehabilitation, emergency housing repairs, GED 

classes, youth employment opportunities, and 

continued business development in the Barelas 

and San Jose neighborhoods of Albuquerque. 

Dona Ana Branch Community College

Las Cruces, NM 88003

Website: www.dabcc-www.nmsu.edu

Grant year: 2000

Goal of 2000 grant: To build a learning center 

that will provide health classes, legal services, job 

training, and small business development in the 

Mesquite District of Las Cruces.
section III: Appendix • 97 

Mesalands Community College

Tucumcari, NM 88401

Website: www.mesalands.edu

Grant year: 2006

Goals of 2006 grant: To train students in the 

construction of housing, to establish a neighborhood 

revitalization support services program for lowincome housing clients, and to offer entrepreneurship 

programs to support the Eastern New Mexico Art 

Space Center.

New Mexico State University

Dona Ana, NM 88003

Website: www.nmsu.edu

Grant years: 1999, 2004

Goals of 2004 grant: To expand the Community 

Learning Center in the Mesquite District of Dona 

Ana and to establish programs in work readiness, 

microenterprise development, and service learning.

Northern New Mexico College

Espanola, NM 87532

Website: www.nnmc.edu/splashpage.shtml

Grant year: 2004

Goal of 2004 grant: To provide education, workforce development, and microenterprise development 

programs to inmates and staff at the Rio Arriba 

County Detention Center and the neighboring rural 

communities of Tierra Amarilla, Los Ojos, Cebolla, 

Chama, and Dulce. 

University of New Mexico–Albuquerque

Albuquerque, NM 87131

Website: www.unm.edu

Grant year: 2000

Goal of 2000 grant: To establish a 20,000-squarefoot business incubator near Albuquerque.

University of New Mexico - Taos

Taos, NM 87571

Website: www.unm.edu

Grant year: 2004, 2008

Goal of 2004 grant: To establish a Center for Early 

Care, Education, and Family Support that will provide 

childcare, promote parenting skills, and serve as 

a training center for early childhood education 

students. 

Western New Mexico University

Silver City, NM 88062

Website: www.wnmu.edu

Grant year: 1999

Goal of 1999 grant: To build and equip a 

4,000-square-foot center that will provide childcare 

services and train childcare providers enrolled in the 

university’s Early Care, Education, and Family Support 

programs. 

NEW YORK

Boricua College

Brooklyn, NY 11211

Website: www.boricuacollege.edu

Grant year: 2002

Goals of 2002 grant: To establish a microeconomic 

development center, and to provide adult education 

and training services to low- and moderate-income 

residents of Brooklyn’s Williamsburg and Greenpoint 

communities. 

Bronx Community College

Bronx, NY 10453

Website: www.bcc.cuny.edu

Grant years: 1999, 2001

Goal of 2001 grant: To retrofit and equip classroom 

space that will be used to offer care worker training, 

occupational and basic skills instruction, educational 

advisement, and employment placement services to 

individuals with limited English-language proficiency.
98 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

Lehman College

Bronx, NY 10468

Website: www.lehman.cuny.edu

Grant years: 2001, 2003

Goals of 2003 grant: To provide support for small 

businesses, to create classrooms for electrical and 

plumbing education, and to train teachers for a 

bilingual Health Promotion Life Skills program.

Research Foundation of CUNY/Lehman College 

City University of New York

Bronx, NY 10468

Website: www.lehman.cuny.edu/lehman

Grant years: 2008

PUERTO RICO

Universidad del Este

Carolina, PR 00984

Website: www.suagm.edu/une

Grant years: 2002, 2006

Goal of 2006 grant: To build a center on campus 

that serves the health promotion and health maintenance needs of students and community residents.

Universidad del Turabo

Gurabo, PR 00778

Website: www.suagm.edu/UT/default.htm

Grant years: 2002, 2006

Goals of 2006 grant: To expand the university’s 

Community Career Center and to establish a 

Community Microenterprise Development and 

Incubator Center.

Universidad Metropolitana

San Juan, PR 00928

Website: www.suagm.edu/umet

Grant year: 2003

Goal of 2003 grant: To build a Community Outreach Partnership Center that will provide low- and 

moderate-income families with career development 

and placement, adult education/literacy, technology 

and information access, and wellness development 

activities.

University of Puerto Rico

San Juan, PR 00931

Website: www.upr.clu.edu

HSIAC Web site: www.egcti.upr.edu/hud

Grant year: 1999

Goal of 1999 grant: To establish a CommunityBuilding Information Technology Center that will serve 

local residents, businesses, organizations, and companies interested in low-income housing and business 

development.

University of Puerto Rico at Carolina

Carolina, PR 00984

Website: www.uprc.edu/index1.1.htm

Grant year: 2008

University of Puerto Rico at Humacao

Humacao, PR 00791

Website: cuhwww.upr.clu.edu

Grant year: 2006

Goals of 2006 grant: To establish a communityoriented center for arts instruction and performance 

and to provide arts- and culture-based services to 

children and teenagers.

TEXAS

Del Mar College

Corpus Christi, TX 78404

Website: www.delmar.edu

Grant year: 2001

Goal of 2001 grant: To build a Center for Early 

Learning that will improve the quality and quantity of 

childcare services available to low- and moderateincome families.
section III: Appendix • 99 

El Paso Community College, Rio Grande Campus

El Paso, TX 79998

Website: www.epcc.edu

Grant year: 2000

Goal of 2000 grant: To establish a community 

activities center where neighborhood residents can 

conduct activities and where the college can offer 

holistic health programs, job training, and adult 

education classes.

Houston Community College

Houston, TX 77002

Website: secollege.hccs.cc.tx.us

secollege.html

Grant year: 2000

Goal of 2000 grant: To develop a microenterprise 

center that offers entrepreneurial and job training 

in information technology specialties, life skills 

training, and support services such as daycare 

and microloans. 

Houston Community College System

Houston, TX 77002

Website: www.hccs.edu

Grant year: 2004

Goals of 2004 grant: To offer assistance and 

training in small business services to entrepreneurs 

and to provide local residents with homeownership 

training and counseling services. 

Midland College

Midland, TX 79705

Website: www.midland.edu

Grant years: 2000, 2003, 2007

Goal of 2007 grant: To provide personal finance 

training and Individual Development Accounts to 

low- and moderate-income individuals interested in 

achieving long-term financial goals.

Palo Alto College

San Antonio, TX 78224

Website: www.accd.edu/pac/pacmain/pachp.htm

Grant year: 2000

Goal of 2000 grant: To create a community 

center where the college can offer computer 

training sessions and adult literacy classes that 

have health-related content. 

St. Mary’s University

San Antonio, TX 78228

Website: www.stmarytx.edu

Grant years: 2008

San Antonio College

San Antonio, TX 78212

Website: www.accd.edu

Grant years: 2003, 2007

Goal of 2007 grant: To build a career development 

center that will provide low- and moderate-income 

neighborhood residents with comprehensive career 

advancement services and social services designed 

to lead to further training and college enrollment.

San Jacinto College Central

Pasadena, TX 77505

Website: www.sjcd.edu

Grant year: 2003

Goals of 2003 grant: To provide employment and 

training services for underemployed and unemployed 

individuals and to offer small-business development 

assistance for existing business owners and new 

entrepreneurs. 
100 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

San Jacinto College North

Houston, TX 77504

Website: www.sjcd.edu

Grant years: 2001, 2006

Goal of 2006 grant: To implement the “Empowering the Citizens of Galena Park” project by taking on 

projects to refurbish, remodel, and finance housing and provide training in the construction trades, 

entrepreneurship, and leadership.

Southwest Texas Junior College

Uvalde, TX 78801

Website: www.swtjc.net

Grant year: 2001

Goal of 2001 grant: To create a Certified Diesel 

Technology program that brings additional economic 

development and jobs to the region. 

St. Philip’s College

San Antonio, TX 78203

Website: www.accd.edu/spc/spcmain/spc.htm

Grant years: 1999, 2003

Goal of 2003 grant: To renovate and restore the 

Springview Miller building for the purpose of providing 

higher education and training services to one of the 

most economically depressed areas in the city. 

Sul Ross State University

Alpine, TX 79832

Website: www.sulross.edu

Grant year: 2005

Goal of 2005 grant: To build and develop programming for the Sul Ross Childcare and Family Support 

Center, which will provide childcare, offer information 

on parenting skills, and provide practical experience 

to college students.

Texas A&M International University

Laredo, TX 78041

Website: www.tamiu.edu

Grant year: 2001

Goal of 2001 grant: To strengthen the economic 

infrastructure of the colonias.

Texas A&M University–Kingsville

Kingsville, TX 78363

Website: www.tamuk.edu

Grant years: 2008

University of Texas at Brownsville and

Texas Southmost College

Brownsville, TX 78520

Website: www.utb.edu

Grant years: 2002, 2005, 2008

Goal of 2005 grant: To develop a network of regional business incubators that will help to establish, 

retain, and expand businesses in some of the poorest 

communities of the United States.

University of Texas at El Paso

El Paso, TX 79968

Website: www.utep.edu

Grant years: 2000, 2004

Goals of 2004 grant: To help colonia residents 

acquire the best housing technology available in 

the local market and to offer housing providers the 

assistance they need to build Energy Star Homes for 

colonia residents. 

University of Texas at San Antonio

San Antonio, TX 78249

Website: www.utsa.edu

Grant years: 2002, 2006

Goals of 2006 grant: To renovate the Jose 

Cardenas Child Development Center and to provide 

local residents with information aimed at increasing 

homeownership and improving housing options. 
section III: Appendix • 101 

University of Texas–Pan American

Edinburg, TX 78539

Website: www.panam.edu

HSIAC Website: www.tacdc.org

Grant years: 1999, 2003, 2008

Goal of 2003 grant: To help families in the lower 

Rio Grande Valley gain control of their personal 

finances, protect their credit, access mainstream 

financing, and ultimately build wealth through 

homeownership. 

University of the Incarnate Word

San Antonio, TX 78201

Website: www.uiw.edu

Grant year: 2001

Goal of 2001 grant: To establish a multipurpose 

learning facility for San Antonio’s South Presa 

community.

WASHINGTON

Columbia Basin College

Pasco, WA 99301

Website: www.columbiabasin.edu

Grant years: 2002, 2006

Goals of 2006 grant: To develop strategies to 

market local products and services and to expand the 

Community Business and Training Resource Center.

Heritage University

Toppenish, WA 98948

Website: www.heritage.edu

Grant years: 2003, 2005, 2007

Goals of 2007 grant: To establish a training and 

resource center for childcare providers and to offer 

childcare services to Toppenish residents. 

Yakima Valley Community College

Yakima, WA 98907

Website: www.yvcc.edu

Grant year: 2001, 2008

Goals of 2001 grant: To establish two Family 

Resource Centers to support local parents and to 

create several Family Technology and Resource 

Libraries where parents can find resources, acquire 

basic computer skills, and access information though 

the Internet. 

Historically Black Colleges and 

Universities (HBCU)

ALABAMA

Alabama A&M University

Normal, AL 35762

Website: www.aamu.edu

Grant years: 2000, 2006, 2008

Goal of 2006 grant: To provide economic assistance to the Alabama A&M University Community 

Development Corporation so it can carry out Phase II 

of a revitalization strategy for the Edmonton Heights 

Neighborhood.

Alabama State University

Montgomery, AL 36104

Website: www.alasu.edu

Grant years: 2000, 2001, 2004

Goal of 2004 grant: To provide assistance to 

low- to moderate-income homeowners whose homes 

are not in compliance with the city of Montgomery’s 

building code standards.

Bishop State Community College

Mobile, AL 36603

Website: www.bishop.edu

Grant years: 1999, 2000

Goal of 2000 grant: To establish a community training center that offers computer and other technology 

experience to low-income middle-school-age youth, 

their parents, and teachers. 
102 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

C.A. Fredd Technical College

Tuscaloosa, AL 35401

Website: www.sheltonstate.edu

Grant years: 2001, 2002, 2006

Goal of 2006 grant: To implement a neighborhood 

revitalization project that will develop sustainable 

solutions to identified problems, empower residents 

to become employed, and address problems related 

to the positive development of children and youth.

Gadsden State Community College

Gadsden, AL 35903

Website: www.gadsdenstate.edu

Grant years: 1998, 2000, 2002

Goal of 2002 grant: To expand the college’s 

Neighborhood Networks Community Development 

Centers to include new ventures in the areas of fair 

housing, neighborhood and housing revitalization, 

economic development, and community-based 

education support services. 

J.F. Drake State Technical College

Huntsville, AL 35811

Website: www.dstc.cc.al.us

Grant year: 2000

Goals of 2000 grant: To provide comprehensive 

training and employment services to low-income 

persons, to create resources for improving and 

developing the local economy through business 

development, and to prepare newly employed persons 

for homeownership.

Lawson State Community College

Birmingham, AL 35221

Website: www.lawsonstate.edu

Grant years: 2000, 2003

Goal of 2003 grant: To conduct affordable home 

building programs in the community of Grasselli and 

the Birmingham Enterprise Community.

Miles College

Fairfield, AL 35064

Website: www.miles.edu

Grant year: 2000, 2008

Goal of 2000 grant: To assist low- and moderateincome individuals living in the cities of Birmingham 

and Fairfield through “Miles College on the MOVE: 

A Community Partnership for Safe Homes, Healthy 

Families and Working Residents.” 

Oakwood University

Huntsville, AL 35896

Website: www.oakwood.edu

Grant year: 1999, 2000, 2001

Goal of 2001 grant: To provide assistance to the 

Terry Heights/Hillandale communities of Huntsville 

through rehabilitation of substandard/blighted 

owner-occupied homes, adult education, job training, 

business development services, and an afterschool 

tutorial program.

Stillman College

Tuscaloosa, AL 35401

Website: www.stillman.edu

Grant years: 1999, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2008

Goal of 2005 grant: To address the economic and 

social needs of residents in the West Tuscaloosa and 

Eutaw neighborhoods through technology, communitybased programs, and cooperative partnerships. 

Tuskegee University

Tuskegee, AL 36088

Website: www.tuskegee.edu

Grant years: 2003, 2007

Goal of 2007 grant: To strengthen the TuskegeeMacon County Community Development Corporation 

so it can address ongoing needs in the neighborhood 

near campus.
section III: Appendix • 103 

ARKANSAS

Arkansas Baptist College

Little Rock, AR 72202

Website: www.arbaptcol.edu

Grant year: 2000

Goal of 2000 grant: To establish the Community 

Economic Development Center so it can address 

local economic development issues through housing 

acquisition and rehabilitation, business development, 

and community service programs.

Philander Smith College

Little Rock, AR 72202

Website: www.philander.edu

Grant year: 1998

Goal of 1998 grant: To fund a home repair 

program and provide home purchase assistance 

to low-income residents living within an Urban 

Enterprise Community.

Shorter College

North Little Rock, AR 72114

Website: N/A

Grant year: 2000

Goal of 2000 grant: To build a community center 

that will offer economic development and other 

services to the community and provide space for 

community organizations, the college’s housing rehabilitation program, and a community childcare facility.

University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff

Pine Bluff, AR 71601

Website: www.uapb.edu

Grant years: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 

2004, 2006, 2008

Goal of 2006 grant: To provide long-term revitalization of the University Park neighborhood by supporting community organizations that carry out physical 

infrastructure improvement, housing development 

and rehabilitation, and educational programs. 

DELAWARE

Delaware State University

Dover, DE 19901

Website: www.desu.edu

Grant years: 2002, 2005

Goal of 2005 grant: To develop and implement a 

project that includes affordable housing development, 

microenterprise development, and job training for 

low- and moderate-income residents.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Howard University

Washington, DC 20059

Website: www.howard.edu

Grant years: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2005, 

2006, 2008

Goals of 2006 grant: To subsidize the construction of a 12-unit affordable condominium project, to 

support a residential façade rehabilitation program, 

and to remodel a community learning center.

University of the District of Columbia

Washington, DC 20008

Website: www.udc.edu

Grant year: 2000

Goal of 2000 grant: To build a multipurpose facility 

that will provide recreational and educational activities 

for youth and a health program for the elderly.

FLORIDA

Bethune-Cookman College

Daytona Beach, FL 32114

Website: www.bethune.cookman.edu

Grant year: 1999

Goals of 1999 grant: To provide technical or 

financial assistance for the establishment, stabilization, and expansion of microenterprises and to 

provide direct homeownership assistance to low- and 

moderate-income persons.
104 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

Edward Waters College

Jacksonville, FL 32209

Website: www.ewc.edu

Grant years: 2000, 2001

Goals of 2001 grant: To provide affordable housing 

for low- and moderate-income families and to create 

new open space by developing park areas. 

Florida A&M University

Tallahassee, FL 32307

Website: www.famu.edu

Grant years: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004

Goals of 2004 grant: To rehabilitate housing and 

historic commercial buildings, to establish youth 

leadership programs, and to build the capacity of 

community and faith-based organizations.

GEORGIA

Albany State University

Albany, GA 31705

Website: asuweb.asurams.edu/asu

Grant years: 1998, 2005

Goals of 2005 grant: To increase access to quality 

housing, to promote and support business development, and to provide job readiness and skill training 

to low- and moderate-income residents. 

Fort Valley State University

Fort Valley, GA 31030

Website: www.fvsu.edu

Grant year: 2005

Goal of 2005 grant: To address community development and revitalization needs through homebuyer 

education classes, adult education classes, technical 

assistance to property owners, and assistance to 

rural businesses.

Interdenominational Theological Center

Atlanta, GA 30314

Website: www.itc.edu

Grant year: 1998

Goal of 1998 grant: To increase homeownership 

opportunities by helping low- to moderate-income 

persons use Individual Development Accounts (IDA) 

to save for downpayments and closing costs.

Morehouse College

Atlanta, GA 30314

Website: www.morehouse.edu

Grant years: 1999, 2002

Goals of 2002 grant: To rehabilitate homes owned 

by elderly persons, to construct affordable houses on 

vacant lots, and to train neighborhood organizations 

in community development principles.

Savannah State University

Savannah, GA 31404

Website: www.savstate.edu

Grant years: 1998, 2004, 2008

Goal of 2004 grant: To increase affordable housing 

through the Youth Building Art Skills Training program, which will give young people an opportunity to 

be certified in lead-based paint abatement, energysmart building, and historic preservation.

LOUISIANA

Dillard University

New Orleans, LA 70122

Website: www.dillard.edu

Grant years: 2000, 2002, 2006, 2007

Goals of 2007 grant: To coordinate rehabilitation 

of homes damaged by Hurricane Katrina, to provide 

technical training in construction and environmental 

remediation, and to revitalize the commercial corridor 

in the Gentilly neighborhood.
section III: Appendix • 105 

Southern University and A&M College

Baton Rouge, LA 70813

Website: www.subr.edu

Grant years: 1999, 2002, 2006, 2008

Goal of 2006 grant: To revitalize low- to moderateincome neighborhoods by renovating homes, establishing an Adopt-a-Block project, stabilizing housing, 

promoting homeownership, and providing training and 

technical assistance to community partners.

Southern University at New Orleans

New Orleans, LA 70126

Website: www.suno.edu

Grant years: 1999, 2003

Goal of 2003 grant: To revitalize neighborhoods 

that have critical needs for rehabilitation of blighted 

housing, infrastructure improvements, community 

reinvestment, homeownership, and increased/

improved employment opportunities.

Southern University at Shreveport

Shreveport, LA 71107

Website: www.susla.edu

Grant years: 2002, 2004, 2007

Goals of 2007 grant: To strengthen and expand 

microenterprises, to establish a resource and training center for community-based organizations, and 

to help to develop a Ledbetter Heights Neighborhood 

Revitalization Plan.

Xavier University of Louisiana

New Orleans, LA 70125

Website: www.xula.edu

Grant years: 1998, 2000, 2006

Goals of 2006 grant: To restore critical university 

infrastructure damaged by Hurricane Katrina and 

to demolish structurally unsound university-owned 

properties damaged by the storm.

MARYLAND

Bowie State University

Bowie, MD 20715

Website: www.bowiestate.edu

Grant years: 2000, 2001

Goals of 2001 grant: To create a revolving loan 

fund for community-based housing and community 

development organizations, to expand the Glenarden 

Health Center, and to establish small business assistance centers in several county libraries.

Coppin State University

Baltimore, MD 21216

Website: www.coppin.edu

Grant year: 2007

Goals of 2007 grant: To provide funds for home 

façade improvements, to offer financial literacy education, and to increase the capacity of a community 

organization.

Morgan State University

Baltimore, MD 21251

Website: www.morgan.edu

Grant year: 2006

Goals of 2006 grant: To create a Neighborhood 

Revitalization Plan for northeast Baltimore, to create 

a community computer center, and to begin planning 

for the rehabilitation of a 200-year-old gristmill on 

campus.

University of Maryland, Eastern Shore

Princess Anne, MD 21853

Website: www.umes.edu

Grant year: 2004

Goal of 2004 grant: To provide a recreational 

center for local children on a 4.5 acre parcel of land. 
106 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

MISSISSIPPI

Alcorn State University

Lorman, MS 39096

Website: www.alcorn.edu

Grant years: 2000, 2002

Goals of 2002 grant: To continue a grant program 

and revolving loan fund for business and housing 

development and to expand the capacity of Traceway 

Community Development Corporation.

Coahoma Community College

Clarksdale, MS 38614

Website: www.coahomacc.edu

Grant years: 1998, 2001

Goals of 2001 grant: To rehabilitate five low-income 

homeowner-occupied homes and to examine the 

feasibility of creating a Community Development 

Corporation.

Hinds Community College-Utica Campus

Utica, MS 39175

Website: www.hindscc.edu

Grant years: 2001, 2004, 2007

Goals of 2007 grant: To support new and existing 

local businesses and to address community housing, 

employment, and revitalization issues.

Jackson State University

Jackson, MS 39204

Website: www.jsums.edu

Grant years: 1998, 2000, 2001

Goal of 2001 grant: To strengthen the housing 

market in Jackson’s Washington Addition neighborhood by increasing homeownership, reducing substandard housing, eliminating abandoned and vacant 

housing, and increasing the supply of affordable 

housing.

Rust College

Holly Springs, MS 38635

Website: www.rustcollege.edu

Grant year: 2002, 2005, 2007

Goals of 2007 grant: To expand and promote 

homeownership opportunities for low- and moderateincome residents, to support local businesses that 

build affordable housing, and to increase local awareness of preventive healthcare practices.

Tougaloo College

Tougaloo, MS 39174

Website: www.tougaloo.edu

Grant year: 2000

Goals of 2000 grant: To develop a business incubator, to renovate houses in the Jackson Enterprise 

Community, and to redevelop a brownfield site.

MISSOURI

Harris-Stowe State University

St. Louis, MO 63103

Website: www.hssu.edu

Grant year: 2001

Goals of 2001 grant: To develop a comprehensive 

plan for the community, to carry out home repairs 

through the Grand Rock Community Development 

Corporation’s forgivable loan program, and to offer 

tutorial and other educational services for area youth.

NORTH CAROLINA

Barber-Scotia College

Concord, NC 28025

Website: www.b-sc.edu

Grant years: 2000, 2001, 2003

Goal of 2003 grant: To assist one neighborhood in 

Concord and two in Kannapolis by providing housing 

assistance, increasing the economic capacity of lowincome residents, and helping a community development corporation undertake various activities.
section III: Appendix • 107 

Bennett College

Greensboro, NC 27401 

Website: www.bennett.edu

Grant year: 1998

Goals of 1998 grant: To complete an on-campus 

residential facility for Challenge Opportunity participants, to establish an off-campus commuter 

Challenge Opportunity facility, and to implement the 

college’s comprehensive neighborhood revitalization 

program.

Elizabeth City State University

Elizabeth City, NC 27909

Website: www.ecsu.edu

Grant years: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001

Goals of 2001 grant: To rehabilitate substandard 

homes and provide homeownership counseling, to 

rehabilitate a facility for local youth, and to expand 

technology training and educational activities at 

existing Neighborhood Networks centers.

Fayetteville State University

Fayetteville, NC 28301

Website: www.uncfsu.edu

Grant year: 1998

Goal of 1998 grant: To develop a neighborhood 

retail plaza for microenterprises in order to stimulate 

revitalization in an economically depressed area and 

create jobs for low- to moderate-income individuals.

Johnson C. Smith University

Charlotte, NC 28216

Website: www.jcsu.edu

Grant years: 1999, 2001, 2003, 2007

Goals of 2007 grant: To alleviate unsafe housing 

conditions in owner-occupied homes, to initiate 

a neighborhood safety patrol, and to help lowto moderate-income women develop their own 

businesses.

Livingstone College

Salisbury, NC 28144

Website: www.livingstone.edu

Grant year: 2004

Goal of 2004 grant: To increase the supply of 

affordable housing by constructing affordable housing 

units and undertaking planning and pre-development 

work for an affordable housing subdivision.

North Carolina A&T State University

Greensboro, NC 27411

Website: www.ncat.edu

Grant years: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 

2006, 2008

Goals of 2006 grant: To implement activities that 

will increase homeownership, to create and stabilize 

small and minority-owned businesses, and to provide 

direct assistance to grassroots and community 

organizations. 

North Carolina Central University

Durham, NC 27707

Website: www.nccu.edu

Grant years: 1999, 2002, 2008

Goal of 2002 grant: To establish a Community 

Economic Development Center that will promote 

commercial revitalization, support small businesses, 

and increase wealth in the target area. 

Winston-Salem State University

Winston-Salem, NC 27110

Website: www.wssu.edu

Grant years: 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008

Goal of 2007 grant: To address community needs 

and revitalize neighborhoods along the Martin Luther 

King, Jr. Drive Corridor by developing a master plan 

to drive investment in the area.
108 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

OKLAHOMA

Langston University

Oklahoma City, OK 73105

Website: www.lunet.edu

Grant years: 1999, 2006

Goals of 2006 grant: To establish a retail incubator 

in a 10,000-square-foot shopping plaza, to expand 

the capacity of the Langston Community Development 

Corporation, and to provide job training and homeownership training to local residents.

SOUTH CAROLINA

Allen University

Columbia, SC 29204

Website: www.allenuniversity.edu

Grant years: 2000, 2004

Goals of 2004 grant: To renovate older homes 

and construct new homes, to increase homeownership capacity though training and counseling, and to 

provide on-the-job housing construction/renovation 

training opportunities.

Benedict College

Columbia, SC 29204

Website: www.benedict.edu

Grant years: 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 

2006, 2007

Goal of 2007 grant: To conduct the second phase 

of a comprehensive community development effort 

focused on revitalizing neighborhoods located within 

the Columbia Empowerment Zone.

Claflin University

Orangeburg, SC 29115

Website: www.claflin.edu

Grant years: 2000, 2003, 2004

Goal of 2004 grant: To address community 

development needs in the city of Orangeburg through 

housing rehabilitation and development and a 

program to increase academic achievement among 

K-12 students.

Clinton Junior College

Rock Hill, SC 29730

Website: www.clintonjuniorcollege.edu

Grant years: 2005, 2007

Goals of 2007 grant: To build four new homes, 

rehabilitate three deteriorating owner-occupied 

homes, and perform renovations to an 11-acre public 

park adjacent to campus.

Morris College

Sumter, SC 29150

Website: www.morris.edu

Grant year: 2006

Goal of 2006 grant: To build and sell three new 

affordable, quality homes and rehabilitate six deteriorating homes owned and occupied by low-income 

persons.

South Carolina State University

Orangeburg, SC 29117

Website: www.scsu.edu

Grant years: 2002, 2005, 2007

Goal of 2007 grant: To stabilize the local housing 

market by acquiring and demolishing vacant and 

dilapidated homes, building new homes on the 

cleared sites, and rehabilitating existing housing 

units. 

Voorhees College

Denmark, SC 29042

Website: www.voorhees.edu

Grant year: 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2008

Goals of 2005 grant: To continue the operation 

of the Voorhees-Denmark Community Development 

Corporation, to provide homeownership opportunities 

to low- and moderate-income citizens, and to expand 

the college’s microenterprise/community center. 
section III: Appendix • 109 

TENNESSEE

Fisk University

Nashville, TN 37208

Website: www.fisk.edu

Grant years: 2000, 2002

Goals of 2002 grant: To provide operating support 

for the North Nashville Community Development 

Corporation, to build the capacity of the North 

Nashville Small Business Development Center, and 

to support the marketing and promotion of a local 

commercial corridor.

Lane College

Jackson, TN 38301

Website: www.lanecollege.edu

Grant year: 2003

Goal of 2003 grant: To establish and institutionalize 

the Lane College Community Development Corporation, which will serve moderate- and low-income 

persons living in and adjacent to the college.

LeMoyne-Owen College

Memphis, TN 38126

Website: www.loc.edu

HBCU Website: www.loc.edu/administration/

loccdc.htm

Grant years: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 

2007

Goals of 2007 grant: To offer health and wellness activities, job training, education programs, 

and entrepreneurship training to local residents and 

to build affordable housing for low- and moderateincome individuals.

Meharry Medical College

Nashville, TN 37208

Website: www.mmc.edu

Grant year: 2000

Goals of 2000 grant: To focus on physical improvements along Nashville’s historic Jefferson Street 

and conduct neighborhood cleanup, to update the 

neighborhood Master Plan, and to provide capacitybuilding support to the college’s community development corporation.

Tennessee State University

Nashville, TN 37209

Website: www.tnstate.edu

Grant years: 2000, 2005, 2007

Goals of 2007 grant: To renovate the facilities of 

three community-based organizations, to upgrade 

young persons’ access to educational and technology, 

and to provide operational support and technical 

assistance to three neighborhood associations.

TEXAS

Huston-Tillotson University

Austin, TX 78702

Website: www.htu.edu

Grant years: 1998, 2000

Goal of 2000 grant: To establish a community 

engagement center that offers educational programs, 

technology training, community empowerment, and 

computer services. 

Jarvis Christian College

Hawkins, TX 75765

Website: www.jarvis.edu

Grant year: 2002

Goal of 2002 grant: To build a community and technology center on campus that helps local residents 

obtain affordable housing, become economically selfsufficient, and learn the skills they need to participate 

in a technology-driven economy. 
110 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

Paul Quinn College

Dallas, TX 75241

Website: www.pqc.edu

Grant years: 1998, 2002

Goal of 2002 grant: To continue economic development activities within the Simpson Stuart Community 

of Dallas, including façade improvements at the Highland Hills Shopping Center and business development 

classes for existing businesses.

St. Philip’s College

San Antonio, TX 78203

Website: www.accd.edu/spc/spcmain/spc.htm

Grant years: 1999, 2000, 2001

Goals of 2001 grant: To provide classroom and 

on-the-job training in the construction trades to youth 

and to renovate and restore the historic Brackenridge School Building so it can house a Community 

Education Service Center.

Texas College

Tyler, TX 75712

Website: www.texascollege.edu

Grant years: 1999, 2000

Goals of 2000 grant: To establish a comprehensive 

community development outreach services center, 

to open a Neighborhood Networks center, and to 

implement a preventive health/community education 

program. 

Texas Southern University

Houston, TX 77004

Website: www.tsu.edu

Grant years: 1998, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007

Goals of 2007 grant: To help community-based 

development organizations carry out neighborhood 

revitalization and community economic development, 

to provide assistance to microenterprises, and to 

help unemployed and homeless individuals 

find employment.

U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS

University of the Virgin Islands

St. Thomas, VI 00802

Website: www.uvi.edu/pub-relations/uvi/home.html

Grant years: 2001, 2003

Goal of 2003 grant: To address needs on the 

island of St. Croix through expanded participation 

in a public-private partnership.

VIRGINIA

Hampton University

Hampton, VA 23668

Website: www.hamptonu.edu

Grant years: 2000, 2002

Goals of 2002 grant: To develop and implement 

education programs for area youth, their teachers 

and parents; to enhance fair housing outreach strategies; and to develop prototype designs for affordable 

and accessible housing for the elderly and persons 

with disabilities.

Norfolk State University

Norfolk, VA 23504

Website: www.nsu.edu

Grant year: 1999, 2000, 2002, 2006

Goal of 2006 grant: To improve the local wireless 

technology infrastructure; to offer health, educational, recreational, and cultural programs; and to 

support existing programs for homeless people.

Saint Paul’s College

Lawrenceville, VA 23868

Website: www.saintpauls.edu

Grant year: 1999

Goals of 1999 grant: To create a microenterprise 

revolving loan fund, to provide assistance to local 

recreation centers that serve families, and to build 

affordable housing.
section III: Appendix • 111 

Virginia State University

Petersburg, VA 23806

Website: www.vsu.edu

Grant year: 1998

Goal of 1998 grant: To rehabilitate the historic 

Virginia Hall Auditorium so it can be used to conduct 

activities that enhance the provision of public service, 

promote economic expansion, and provide stimulus to 

neighborhood development. 

Virginia Union University

Richmond, VA 23220

Website: www.vuu.edu

Grant year: 2000

Goals of 2000 grant: To create the Virginia Union 

University Community Development Corporation, 

to implement a public informational lecture series, 

and to develop plans for a small business incubator 

program. 

Virginia University of Lynchburg

Lynchburg, VA 24501

Website: www.vul.edu

Grant year: 2008

WEST VIRGINIA

Bluefield State College

Bluefield, WV 24701

Website: www.bluefieldstate.edu

Grant year: 2001

Goals of 2001 grant: To establish a community 

development corporation, to create a redevelopment 

plan for the college’s neighborhood, and to help to 

establish or expand microbusinesses.

West Virginia State University

Institute, WV 25112

Website: www.wvstateu.edu

Grant years: 1999, 2000, 2004, 2008

Goal of 2004 grant: To purchase, furnish, and 

operate a Community Economic Development Center, 

which will provide a needed training and meeting 

facility for local community development groups.

Tribal Colleges and Universities 

Program (TCUP)

ARIZONA

Tohono O’odham Community College

Sells, AZ 85634

Website: www.tocc.cc.az.us

Grant year: 2008

MICHIGAN

Bay Mills Community College

Brimley, MI 49774

Website: www.bmcc.org

Grant year: 2008

Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College

Baraga, MI 49908

Website: www.kbocc.org

Grant year: 2002

Goal of 2002 grant: To build a new Technology 

Resource Center that will provide expanded and 

upgraded educational facilities to meet current and 

future program needs. 

MINNESOTA

Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College

Cloquet, MN 55720

Website: www.fdltcc.edu

Grant year: 2002

Goal of 2002 grant: To double the size of the 

college by constructing 34,363 square feet of new 

building space.
112 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

Leech Lake Tribal College

Cass Lake, MN 56633

Website: www.lltc.org

Grant year: 2003

Goal of 2003 grant: To construct a Career and 

Technical Building and one wing of a campus building 

that will house classrooms and administrative offices.

MONTANA

Blackfeet Community College

Browning, MT 59417

Website: www.bfcc.edu

Grant year: 2003

Goal of 2003 grant: To renovate and expand 

existing campus facilities so the college can develop 

additional academic programs and expand current 

degree programs. 

Chief Dull Knife College

Lame Deer, MT 59043

Website: www.cdkc.edu

Grant year: 2003

Goal of 2003 grant: To build an energy-efficient 

Early Childhood Learning Center that will function as 

a traditional daycare facility and provide a place for 

the college to offer classes in special education, early 

childhood development, and parenting.

Fort Belknap College

Harlem, MT 59526

Website: www.fbcc.edu

Grant years: 2001, 2005

Goal of 2005 grant: To build a new library that 

meets the requirements of the Americans with 

Disabilities Act, offers convenient parking for students 

and community members, and houses an instructional classroom for use in library outreach and training 

activities. 

Fort Peck Community College

Poplar, MT 59255

Website: www.fpcc.edu

Grant years: 2002, 2006

Goal of 2006 grant: To develop a comprehensive student housing program that will allow more 

students to attend the college. 

Little Big Horn College

Crow Agency, MT 59022

Website: www.lbhc.cc.mt.us

Grant years: 2001, 2006

Goal of 2006 grant: To build an administration and 

archives building that will provide needed space for 

staff and students and will house cultural materials 

that are currently stored in a substandard building.

Salish Kootenai College

Pablo, MT 59855

Website: www.skc.edu

Grant years: 2003, 2005, 2008 

Goal of 2005 grant: To build an addition to the 

college’s Health Fitness Center so the college can 

provide health education and screening activities to 

1,500 Indian students and HUD housing residents. 

Stone Child College

Box Elder, MT 59521

Website: www.montana.edu/wwwscc

Grant years: 2002, 2004, 2006

Goal of 2006 grant: To establish a technology 

laboratory and two technology/vocational education 

classrooms within a new learning center. 
section III: Appendix • 113 

NEBRASKA

Little Priest Tribal College

Winnebago, NE 68071

Website: www.lptc.bia.edu

Grant year: 2002

Goals of 2002 grant: To purchase equipment for 

a Tribal Museum and a Tribal Language Program; to 

purchase furniture, equipment, and security services 

for a new college/community library; and to establish 

a Technology Center in the library.

NEW MEXICO

Diné College

Tsaile, AZ 86556

Website: www.dinecollege.edu

Grant year: 2006

Goal of 2006 grant: To plan and construct a library 

at Diné’s main New Mexico campus.

Institute of American Indian Arts

Santa Fe, NM 87508

Website: www.iaia.edu/college/index.php

Grant years: 2001, 2007, 2008

Goal of 2007 grant: To renovate the campus’ 

existing 20,800-square-foot dormitory into a 

“family casitas” that features affordable, 2-bedroom 

apartments for students who are married or single 

parents. 

Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute

Albuquerque, NM 87184

Website: native.sipi.bia.edu

Grant year: 2001

Goal of 2001 grant: To create a Child Development 

and Family Support Training Center that provides 

childcare and early childhood educational resources 

for low- and moderate-income residents of NativeAmerican communities. 

NORTH DAKOTA

Cankdeska Cikana Community College

Fort Totten, ND 58335

Website: www.littlehoop.edu

Grant years: 2002, 2004, 2007

Goal of 2007 grant: To construct a new building 

for the college’s agricultural science programs that 

includes lecture and laboratory classroom space and 

a garage area for equipment.

Fort Berthold Community College

New Town, ND 58763

Website: www.fbcc.bia.edu

Grant years: 2005, 2007

Goals of 2007 grant: To build a storage and garage 

facility and equip it; to renovate the college’s library, 

cultural center, classrooms, and administrative 

offices; and to complete site development for future 

expansion. 

Sitting Bull College

Fort Yates, ND 58538

Website: www.sittingbull.edu

Grant years: 2005, 2007

Goal of 2007 grant: To build a student support 

center that includes a library and a developmental 

education center featuring classrooms, computer 

laboratories, and offices for student support staff.

Turtle Mountain Community College

Belcourt, ND 58316

Website: www.tm.edu

Grant years: 2001, 2003, 2006

Goal of 2006 grant: To construct a facility that can 

be used to train students in the college’s Auto Body 

Repair and Refinishing Program.
114 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

United Tribes Technical College

Bismarck, ND 58504

Website: www.unitedtribestech.com

Grant year: 2003, 2008

Goal of 2003 grant: To expand a campus center 

that will create a focal point for community health 

and wellness.

SOUTH DAKOTA

Oglala Lakota College

Kyle, SD 57752

Website: www.olc.edu

Grant years: 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007

Goal of 2007 grant: To build a bookstore that will 

provide text books and school supplies and serve as 

a source of Native American and Lakota language 

books.

Si Tanka University

Eagle Butte, SD

Grant year: 2002

Goal of 2002 grant: To renovate, equip, and 

operate four smart/interactive classrooms that 

will enable the college to develop its instructional 

technology and distance-learning capability.

Sinte Gleska University

Mission, SD 57555

Website: www.sintegleska.edu

Grant year: 2003

Goal of 2003 grant: To build an Administration and 

Student Service Center.

Sisseton Wahpeton Community College

Sisseton, SD 57262

Website: www.swc.tc

Grant year: 2002

Goal of 2002 grant: To make extensive renovations 

to the current college facility by installing a working 

fire alarm system; making repairs to the heating, 

air conditioning, plumbing, and electrical systems; 

and giving the college’s grounds a face-lift.

WASHINGTON

Northwest Indian College

Bellingham, WA 98226

Website: www.nwic.edu

Grant year: 2008

WISCONSIN

College of Menominee Nation

Keshena, WI 54135

Website: www.menominee.edu

Grant years: 2001, 2004, 2008

Goal of 2004 grant: To build an addition to 

the science wing that will include four additional 

classrooms and future expansion space.

Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College

Hayward, WI 54843

Website: www.lco.edu

Grant year: 2004

Goal of 2004 grant: To expand the college library, 

a need that has been identified by library patrons, 

college employees, external evaluators, and the 

Higher Learning Commission of the North Central 

Association of Colleges and Schools accreditation 

team. 
section III: Appendix • 115 

Universities Rebuilding America 

Partnerships (URAP)-HBCU

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Howard University

Washington, DC 20059

Website: www.howard.edu

Grant year: 2005

Goal of 2005 grant: To address housing needs of 

low- to moderate-income individuals in New Orleans by 

developing and implementing two training programs 

in Environmentally Safe Renovation and Rehabilitation 

Work Practices for Housing. 

LOUISIANA

Grambling State University

Grambling, LA 71245

Website: www.gram.edu

Grant year: 2005

Goals of 2005 grant: To renovate one public building and five homes; to implement critical education, 

social services, technical assistance, and job training 

programs for the hurricane-impacted evacuees; and 

to open the university’s childcare program to evacuated children.

Southern University and A&M College

Baton Rouge, LA 70813

Website: www.subr.edu

Grant year: 2005

Goals of 2005 grant: To develop programs in life 

skills, technical training certification, job placement, 

and entrepreneurship training, and to establish a 

Neighborhood Networks center.

Southern University at New Orleans

New Orleans, LA 70126

Website: www.suno.edu

Grant year: 2005

Goals of 2005 grant: To develop online community 

modules to help support the recovery and rebuilding 

activities of neighborhood organizations, to establish 

community technology labs, and to conduct citizen 

participation workshops.

Southern University at Shreveport

Shreveport, LA 71107

Website: www.susla.edu

Grant year: 2005

Goal of 2005 grant: To help displaced citizens of 

the Gulf Coast region who relocated to Shreveport 

by offering financial and technical small business 

support, construction training, homeownership 

counseling; and youth services. 

Xavier University of Louisiana

New Orleans, LA 70125

Website: www.xula.edu

Grant year: 2005

Goals of 2005 grant: To establish the Neighborhood Technology and Health Information Center; to 

recruit, train, and track a cadre of volunteers; and to 

provide technical assistance related to clearance and 

demolition of damaged homes.

MISSISSIPPI

Alcorn State University

Natchez, MS 39120

Website: www.alcorn.edu

Grant year: 2005

Goals of 2005 grant: To restore healthcare 

networks and infrastructure in areas affected by 

Hurricane Katrina and to identify resources for 

meeting housing rehabilitation needs.
116 • Minority-Serving Institutions of Higher Education: Serving Communities, Revitalizing the Nation

NORTH CAROLINA

Elizabeth City State University

Elizabeth City, NC 27909

Website: www.ecsu.edu

Grant year: 2005

Goals of 2005 grant: To implement a comprehensive housing counseling, technical assistance, and 

downpayment assistance program; and to provide 

technical assistance to local organizations.

TENNESSEE

Tennessee State University

Nashville, TN 37209

Website: www.tnstate.edu

Grant year: 2005

Goal of 2005 grant: To develop the Supercharge 

Summer Day Camp, a safe and educationally stimulating environment where young hurricane victims will be 

engaged in high-quality academic learning activities, 

emotional counseling, mentoring, and recreation. 

First-Class Mail

Postage & Fees Paid

HUD

Permit No. G–795

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Office of University Partnerships

451 Seventh Street, SW

Washington, DC 20410–3000

Official Business

Penalty for Private Use $300

Return Service Requested

www.oup.org

March 2009