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A coalition of activists is aspiring to reclaim and rejuvenate black economic power. The “Million Dollar Black Spending Power” campaign wants all African-American consumers to spend $20 a more a week at black-owned retailers. Bob Law, a radio personality and entrepreneur, estimates $1 million being spent in black American communities if we all support this effort. Law penned an open letter to [...]

The Home Depot announces the kick-off of its fourth annual Retool Your School Campus Improvement Grant Program. The 2013 Retool Your School Grants will total $195,000 to be awarded as one $50,000 Tier I Grant, one $25,000 Campus Pride Grant for the school that receives the most votes and social media activity, and twelve $10,000 Tier II Grants. Schools are [...]

In recognition of Black History Month and in celebration of their continued partnership, Business Wire and Black PR Wire invite you to join us for our 2013 Minority Leadership Series. This two part webinar will feature news and information for the busy communications professional. Join this dynamic panel of HBCU graduates working in newsrooms and leading pr/marketing departments from around [...]

Around the Way is an app for your iPhone or Android device that helps its users locate black owned businesses. The app is important because it uses technology to combat social issues that often deter minority own businesses from thriving. Around the Way App Version 2.0 has a pretty intuitive interface, which mimics the native iPhone maps App. This makes it very simple [...]

Participating in a hackathon is a magical thing. It doesn’t matter if you’re a programmer, designer, marketer, or the person with all the ideas, everybody involved is motivated to put their heads together and create something awesome in an incredibly short amount of time. A hackathon can last anywhere from 24 hours to an entire weekend, and participants compete to [...]

Washington Post National editor Kevin Merida is ascending to the managing editor spot vacated last month by Liz Spayd, according to an announcement by the paper. With Merida’s promotion, the Post is getting its first African-American managing editor—and a reshuffle of portfolios for Merida and the paper’s other managing editor, John Temple. “[Merida] is a journalist of remarkable accomplishment, but also a warm and caring colleague. And [...]

By Ken Thomas, The Associate Press WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama plans to make a public case this week for his strategy for dealing with the looming fiscal cliff, traveling to the Philadelphia suburbs Friday as he pressures Republicans to allow tax increases on the wealthy while extending tax cuts for families earning $250,000 or less. The White House said [...]

A dispute over the administration of a multi-million dollar grant by Alabama A&M University is under investigation by a federal agency. The dispute centers around $1.4 million that Alabama A&M said it is withholding because of questions regarding the grant, which is designed to provide textbooks to children in Ethiopia. A spokesperson for the U.S. Agency for International Development, which [...]

Moody’s Investors Service has cut the credit rating on $1.5 billion borrowed by West Chester University, Cheyney University, and the 12 other Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education colleges to Aa3, from Aa2. The state-owned colleges face “weakening state support” under Gov. Corbett, along with “declining enrollment” – the number of full-time students dropped below 107,000 this fall, from 112,000 [...]

This is the first I’ve seen/read of this, but Boxtorow has just released its latest HBCU Power Rankings. It’s the third week of such rankings, so I guess it’s better late than never. Jackson State isn’t on the list, but several of the Tigers’ opponents are. Alabama A&M comes in at No. 7, Alabama State at No. 5 and Arkansas-Pine Bluff is ranked third. [...]

Morgan State’s president says lack of resources thwarts many African-American students Low graduation rates among African-Americans at Maryland’s historically black colleges and universities present a major issue deserving of systematic analysis for solutions. This problem has been well documented by countless media outlets in HBCU communities nationwide, including in a recent Sun editorial. That editorial also challenged Maryland’s HBCUs on [...]

Fort Valley State University’s cost-cutting measures will mean about 100 mostly temporary and part-time employees will lose their jobs. After getting approval of its plan from the Board of Regents last week, the university notified the impacted employees Friday, said FVSU Vice President Canter Brown. Most of those affected are part-time professors, and that exact number is uncertain because there [...]

Regions Financial Corp. will partner with Alabama A&M University, Alabama State University and four other historically black colleges and universities on a wide-ranging program beginning this fall. The program will support financial education, academics, athletics and alumni engagement at six schools, with plans to expand the program to additional HBCUs in the future. In addition to the Alabama schools, the [...]

The University of Arkansas System said Monday that it will cancel the contract under which QualChoice handles third-party administrator duties for its employee health plan, even though the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences has an ownership interest in the Little Rock health insurance company. The UA System has hired UnitedHealthcare of Hartford, Conn., which on Jan. 1 will begin [...]

When excited students tear into college acceptance packets next spring, many will find something new inside: information that tries to make it easier to understand the costs. The federal government and more than 300 colleges and universities want to make sure students “know before they owe” what could be bills for thousands of dollars awaiting them down the road. That’s [...]

Denmark Technical College suffered through a difficult time from 2007 until 2010, with three individuals acting as president. But it has seen significant growth since Dr. Joann Boyd-Scotland took over as interim president in June 2011. The number of degrees awarded by the college rose by 89 percent in one year, going up from 197 in 2011 to 373 in [...]

The Education Department is awarding $228 million in grants to historically black colleges and universities. The five-year grants will go to schools in 19 states plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Schools can use the money to expand their campuses, acquire science equipment, develop counseling programs and train faculty. Education Secretary Arne Duncan says the grants [...]

While black students are between 10 and 13 percent of the students at two- and four-year public colleges, they’re 22 percent of for-profit colleges. What’s going on? Here’s what Tressie McMillan Cottom, a Ph.D. student in Emory University’s sociology department, told Colorlines: “We have unequal K through 12 schools that haven’t prepared everyone equally for college — and [black students] [...]