II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3149 

To encourage the growth of research partnerships between historically Black 

colleges and universities and Federal agencies to advance development 

in sub-Saharan Africa. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 26, 2023 

Mr. COONS (for himself, Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina, Mr. KAINE, and Mr. 

WICKER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To encourage the growth of research partnerships between 

historically Black colleges and universities and Federal 

agencies to advance development in sub-Saharan Africa. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘HBCU Africa Partnerships Act’’. 

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

7 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Findings. 

Sec. 3. Sense of Congress. 


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Sec. 4. Purposes. 

Sec. 5. Definitions. 

Sec. 6. Expanding partnerships between relevant departments and agencies and 

historically Black colleges and universities. 

Sec. 7. Expanding exchange programming for scholars from Sub-Saharan Africa. 

Sec. 8. Communications and outreach programming. 

Sec. 9. Congressional briefing. 

1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) High-quality education is central to eco4 nomic prosperity and social well-being in the United 

5 States and around the world. 

6 (2) Historically Black colleges and universities 

7 and other minority serving institutions play a critical 

8 role in ensuring that students of all races, 

9 ethnicities, and backgrounds have access to high10 quality educational opportunities. 

11 (3) HBCUs have a long and rich history in edu12 cating and facilitating relationships between mem13 bers of the African diaspora in the United States 

14 and throughout the world, from Europe and the 

15 Western Hemisphere to Asia and the African con16 tinent. 

17 (4) HBCU alumni have made important con18 tributions to relations between the United States 

19 and Africa in the areas of— 

20 (A) democracy and political governance; 

21 (B) food and agricultural security; 


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1 (C) education and human capital; 

2 (D) youth development; and 

3 (E) public health infrastructure. 

4 (5) The United States Government has 

5 partnered with HBCUs and other United States col6 leges and universities, including through— 

7 (A) the Department of State’s educational 

8 and cultural exchange programs; 

9 (B) the Young African Leaders Initiative, 

10 which supports United States Government ef11 forts to invest in the next generation of African 

12 leaders; and 

13 (C) USAID’s Minority Serving Partnership 

14 Initiative to facilitate research partnerships and 

15 engagements with minority-serving institutions, 

16 including HBCUs. 

17 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

18 It is the sense of Congress that— 

19 (1) the United States should promote and ex20 pand collaborative research partnerships between 

21 Federal agencies and HBCUs that advance joint 

22 partnerships in education, economic growth, food se23 curity, democracy and governance, agriculture, envi24 ronmental conservation, small and medium-sized 


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1 business development, humanitarian assistance, and 

2 conflict stabilization in developing countries; and 

3 (2) the United States should continue to facili4 tate and deepen partnerships between HBCUs and 

5 Sub-Saharan Africa. 

6 SEC. 4. PURPOSES. 

7 The purposes of this Act are— 

8 (1) to strengthen the capacity of HBCUs to 

9 partner with relevant Federal departments and 

10 agencies in support of United States and African 

11 joint interests, including in the areas of democracy 

12 and good governance, food and agricultural security, 

13 education and human capital, youth development, 

14 trade and economic development, and public health 

15 infrastructure; 

16 (2) to help integrate the work of HBCUs with 

17 the foreign policy and foreign assistance priorities of 

18 the United States, as appropriate; 

19 (3) to bolster and facilitate productive inter20 actions between HBCUs and relevant Federal de21 partments and agencies; 

22 (4) to encourage HBCU participation in rel23 evant Federal programs, grants, contracts, and co24 operative agreements; 


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1 (5) to expand existing partnership initiatives 

2 between HBCUs and relevant Federal departments 

3 and agencies; and 

4 (6) to recognize the historic contributions of 

5 HBCUs to relations between the United States and 

6 Africa. 

7 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

8 In this Act: 

9 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT10 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com11 mittees’’ means— 

12 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of 

13 the Senate; and 

14 (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 

15 the House of Representatives. 

16 (2) EDUCATIONAL EXCHANGE.—The term 

17 ‘‘educational exchange’’ means an activity listed in 

18 section 602(a) of the Mutual Educational and Cul19 tural Exchange Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2452a(a)). 

20 (3) HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGE OR UNI21 VERSITY; HBCU.—The terms ‘‘historically Black col22 lege or university’’ and ‘‘HBCU’’ mean a part B in23 stitution described in section 322(2) of the Higher 

24 Education Act of 1965 (22 U.S.C. 1061(2)). 


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1 (4) MINORITY-SERVING INSTITUTION.—The 

2 term ‘‘minority-serving institution’’ means an insti3 tution listed in section 371(a) of the Higher Edu4 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1067q(a)). 

5 (5) RELEVANT FEDERAL DEPARTMENTS AND

6 AGENCIES.—The term ‘‘relevant Federal depart7 ments and agencies’’ includes— 

8 (A) the Department of State; 

9 (B) the United States Agency for Inter10 national Development; and 

11 (C) any other Federal department or agen12 cy that is engaged in designing, providing, or 

13 supporting United States foreign assistance (in14 cluding development finance) that the President 

15 determines is relevant for the purposes of this 

16 Act. 

17 (6) SHORT-TERM GRADUATE AND TECHNICAL

18 EXPERT EXCHANGE PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘short19 term graduate and technical expert exchange pro20 gram’’ means an exchange program lasting 12 

21 months or shorter, including university exchange 

22 programs, professional non-degree programs, and in23 ternships. 


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1 (7) USAID.—The term ‘‘USAID’’ means the 

2 United States Agency for International Develop3 ment. 

4 SEC. 6. EXPANDING PARTNERSHIPS BETWEEN RELEVANT 

5 DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES AND HISTORI6 CALLY BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES. 

7 To develop educational grant opportunities and ex8 pand partnerships with HBCUs— 

9 (1) the Secretary of State and the USAID Ad10 ministrator should identifying HBCUs that— 

11 (A) have entered into a grant, contract, or 

12 cooperative agreement with the Department of 

13 State or USAID; or 

14 (B) are eligible to participate in programs 

15 and initiatives under the jurisdiction of either 

16 such agency; and 

17 (2) the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Af18 fairs should develop an educational exchange for 

19 HBCUs identified pursuant to paragraph (1) to 

20 deepen relationships between partners in Sub-Saha21 ran African and the United States in ways that ad22 vance United States policy goals in Africa and in23 crease academic collaboration. 


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1 SEC. 7. EXPANDING EXCHANGE PROGRAMMING FOR 

2 SCHOLARS FROM SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State and the 

4 USAID Administrator should seek to strengthen and ex5 pand partnerships and educational exchange opportuni6 ties, including by working with HBCUs, that build the ca7 pacity and expertise of students, scholars, and experts 

8 from Sub-Saharan Africa in key development sectors, in9 cluding— 

10 (1) food systems and agriculture-led economic 

11 growth; 

12 (2) food safety and security, nutrition, and 

13 farming, including aquaculture; 

14 (3) animal health and pathology; 

15 (4) democracy and governance; 

16 (5) water, sanitation, and hygiene; 

17 (6) public health; 

18 (7) microenterprise business development and 

19 entrepreneurship; 

20 (8) water security; and 

21 (9) environmental resilience. 

22 (b) BUREAU OF EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL AF23 FAIRS PROGRAMMING.—The Secretary of State may es24 tablish a short-term graduate and technical expert ex25 change program for African students, scholars, and tech26 nical experts to spend a semester or academic year of nonVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:03 Oct 31, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3149.IS S3149

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1 degree study at institutions referred to in section 6(a) to 

2 support knowledge and skills training in the sectors re3 ferred to in subsection (a). 

4 SEC. 8. COMMUNICATIONS AND OUTREACH PROGRAM5 MING. 

6 The Secretary of State and the USAID Adminis7 trator shall advance outreach and communications be8 tween HBCUs, the Department of State, and USAID and 

9 expand partnerships with HBCUs by— 

10 (1) providing technical assistance in the devel11 opment of grant and partnership applications; and 

12 (2) upon request, providing feedback to 

13 HBCUs, to the maximum extent practicable, after a 

14 grant rejection in order to improve future grant ap15 plications, as appropriate. 

16 SEC. 9. CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING. 

17 Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 

18 of this Act, the Secretary of State, in consultation with 

19 the USAID Administrator, shall brief the appropriate con20 gressional committees regarding— 

21 (1) the implementation of existing partnerships 

22 and programs between relevant Federal departments 

23 and agencies and HBCUs and efforts to expand 

24 such partnerships and programs; 


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1 (2) efforts to strengthen the capacity of 

2 HBCUs to participate, or to be eligible to partici3 pate, in relevant programs and initiatives; 

4 (3) any progress made towards— 

5 (A) advancing plans to develop partner6 ships or programs and initiatives with HBCUs 

7 that are not engaged in existing partnerships 

8 with relevant Federal departments and agen9 cies; and 

10 (B) identifying plans in which an HBCU 

11 may participate; and 

12 (4) any other information that relevant Federal 

13 departments and agencies determine is relevant to 

14 promoting opportunities to fund, partner, contract, 

15 or otherwise interact with HBCUs. 

Æ 


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