September 21, 2021

HUD: HBCU Center of Excellence Grants Announced

Howard University and Texas Southern University to receive $5.5 million total in housing and economic development research grants

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Tuesday announced a total of $5.5 million will be awarded to two Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Howard University and Texas Southern University will received $4.5 million and $1 million, respectively, to establish Centers of Excellence (COE) for housing and economic development research.

“HUD is proud to forge new partnerships with academia to build on research and innovation that will better inform the housing and community development needs of historically underserved communities,” said HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge. “We look forward to the advancements and contributions Howard University and Texas Southern University-both esteemed HBCUs-will make using these grants.”

The grants will be used to provide the universities with funding to conduct research on the topics of housing and economic development, particularly in underserved communities. The universities submitted proposals to carry out a series of reports focused on housing, community, and economic development in underserved communities that can serve as national, local, or regional benchmarks and will also assist in support of COE(s) that expand the housing and community development research efforts at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU).

Project Descriptions:

  1. Howard University was awarded $4.5M from HUD to fund their proposal to establish a Center of Excellence (COE), setting a goal of achieving an equitable and inclusionary society where currently underserved populations come to be properly served and inequities in housing, health, education, economic well-being, and community development, are overcome through policy implementation.
  2. Texas Southern University (TSU) was awarded $1M by HUD to fund their proposal to establish a Center of Excellence, that will advance transdisciplinary academic and empirical research and debate on affordable housing and community development policy for racial equity benefiting low-income communities of color in the six major Texas cities (Austin, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio).
This post was originally published here.