101 HBCU Digital Pathways to Success empowers the nation’s 101 HBCUs to deliver critical social programs and services to all 101 communities.
Project Locations
Current
Lead Organization
North Carolina Central University School of Law
Durham, North Carolina, United States
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To learn more about – or provide significant funding to – this project, please contact Lever for Change.
Project Summary
The one-hundred-and-one Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the United States share one critical problem: these institutions are rooted in communities with urgent social and economic challenges. There are poor and working-class people of color in these communities who have been systemically marginalized in our society, without access to quality educational, legal, economic, or medical resources. Consequently, HBCU communities are challenged with low educational attainment, high rates of criminal records, unemployment and underemployment, and poor psychological and behavioral health. 101 HBCU Digital Pathways to Success (101 Pathways) is an ambitious, technology-forward plan to attack the critical problem through robust social programs and services. 101 Pathways will build a digital communications network and portal, leverage existing HBCU partnerships and model programs, and extend vital pre-law academic, legal literacy, business legal education, business consulting, and telehealth services to all 101 communities to help them thrive.
Problem Statement
The one-hundred-and-one Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the United States share one critical problem: these institutions are rooted in communities with urgent social and economic challenges. While the communities are diverse and rich in various ways, challenges of low educational attainment, high rates of unemployment and underemployment, poor physical health, and high rates of criminal records are consistent across the landscape. Additionally, many of the communities are significantly characterized as poor and working-class people of color who have been systemically marginalized in our society, without the benefit of our best educational, legal, medical, or economic resources. HBCUs are among the most durable and dedicated institutions in those communities, and our success is inexorably tied to the strength and progress of the community. The mission statements at each HBCU reflect that interdependence with the surrounding community and the commitment to its progress and development. HBCUs offer programs and social services in partnership with community stakeholders that have had meaningful positive impacts on critical social challenges, yet those urgent problems persist. Further, the more our institutions engage with the social challenges that impede progress in the community, the more we recognize that our solutions could have much greater impact if they were adapted to the digital age and scaled across the HBCU network. A new technology forward-approach, one that leverages the very best of each institution, would enable HBCUs to more effectively help solve critical problems in HBCU communities.
Solution Overview
101 HBCU Digital Pathways to Success will empower all 101 HBCUs to connect people who have urgent social challenges to information and direct services that will improve their lives. The project is a digital approach that first builds up the technology at each HBCU and creates a network through which those institutions can reach one another and their respective communities. Through the digital portal, HBCUs with successful model programs will extend those services to target beneficiaries in all 101 communities. The NCCU School of Law’s well-established “Virtual Justice Project” is the strongest example of a proven program that will effectively scale for 101 Pathways. The NCCU School of Business and Southern University Law Center will collaborate to connect business consulting and management and technical assistance (M&TA) experts and business legal education to aspiring and small business owners through their existing programs. 101 Pathways will likewise leverage existing telehealth and academic support programs. We will see the positive impact of the project in the number of individuals and families who no longer experience the law as a pitfall to their progress, but as an area of knowledge that empowers them to pursue their goals. We will see positive impact by the number of students graduating from HBCUs and finding career opportunities in local economies that have been stimulated by the project. And we will see positive impact in the HBCU institutions themselves, where their ability to accomplish their missions and goals is made more possible and durable across the HBCU network.
The one-hundred-and-one Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the United States share one critical problem: these institutions are rooted in communities with urgent social and economic challenges. There are poor and working-class people of color in these communities who have been systemically marginalized in our society, without access to quality educational, legal, economic, or medical resources. Consequently, HBCU communities are challenged with low educational attainment, high rates of criminal records, unemployment and underemployment, and poor psychological and behavioral health. 101 HBCU Digital Pathways to Success (101 Pathways) is an ambitious, technology-forward plan to attack the critical problem through robust social programs and services. 101 Pathways will build a digital communications network and portal, leverage existing HBCU partnerships and model programs, and extend vital pre-law academic, legal literacy, business legal education, business consulting, and telehealth services to all 101 communities to help them thrive.
Problem Statement
The one-hundred-and-one Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the United States share one critical problem: these institutions are rooted in communities with urgent social and economic challenges. While the communities are diverse and rich in various ways, challenges of low educational attainment, high rates of unemployment and underemployment, poor physical health, and high rates of criminal records are consistent across the landscape. Additionally, many of the communities are significantly characterized as poor and working-class people of color who have been systemically marginalized in our society, without the benefit of our best educational, legal, medical, or economic resources. HBCUs are among the most durable and dedicated institutions in those communities, and our success is inexorably tied to the strength and progress of the community. The mission statements at each HBCU reflect that interdependence with the surrounding community and the commitment to its progress and development. HBCUs offer programs and social services in partnership with community stakeholders that have had meaningful positive impacts on critical social challenges, yet those urgent problems persist. Further, the more our institutions engage with the social challenges that impede progress in the community, the more we recognize that our solutions could have much greater impact if they were adapted to the digital age and scaled across the HBCU network. A new technology forward-approach, one that leverages the very best of each institution, would enable HBCUs to more effectively help solve critical problems in HBCU communities.
Solution Overview
101 HBCU Digital Pathways to Success will empower all 101 HBCUs to connect people who have urgent social challenges to information and direct services that will improve their lives. The project is a digital approach that first builds up the technology at each HBCU and creates a network through which those institutions can reach one another and their respective communities. Through the digital portal, HBCUs with successful model programs will extend those services to target beneficiaries in all 101 communities. The NCCU School of Law’s well-established “Virtual Justice Project” is the strongest example of a proven program that will effectively scale for 101 Pathways. The NCCU School of Business and Southern University Law Center will collaborate to connect business consulting and management and technical assistance (M&TA) experts and business legal education to aspiring and small business owners through their existing programs. 101 Pathways will likewise leverage existing telehealth and academic support programs. We will see the positive impact of the project in the number of individuals and families who no longer experience the law as a pitfall to their progress, but as an area of knowledge that empowers them to pursue their goals. We will see positive impact by the number of students graduating from HBCUs and finding career opportunities in local economies that have been stimulated by the project. And we will see positive impact in the HBCU institutions themselves, where their ability to accomplish their missions and goals is made more possible and durable across the HBCU network.
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