Olympia, WA – Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland (WA-10), a member of the Congressional Bipartisan HBCU Caucus, and Congresswoman Alma Adams (NC-12), Co-Chair of the Congressional Bipartisan HBCU Caucus, led a bipartisan, bicameral letter to Congressional leadership urging them to expand the use of Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds (HEERF) for Historically Black Colleges and Universities. These funds will allow HBCUs to address deferred maintenance, improve public safety measures and preserve historic buildings on their campuses. Please find the letter text and list of signers attached and below.
“As a graduate of Clark Atlanta University, I recognize the powerful impact that HBCUs have on the students and communities they serve when it comes to educational access and economic opportunity. We must ensure these historic institutions have the resources needed to preserve and sustain themselves for generations to come,” said Strickland.
Since her start in Congress, Strickland has been a strong proponent of supporting HBCUs. This includes advocating for robust funding for infrastructure on the campuses of HBCUs and Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs), and helping to secure an amendment in the America COMPETES Act to increase funding for the Capacity Building Program for Developing Universities. Strickland is also a cosponsor of the IGNITE HBCU Excellence Act which provides funding for capital improvements, procurement, renovations, preservation, and extending broadband at HBCUs.
The full letter text can be found below.
Dear Chair DeLauro, Chair Leahy, Ranking Member Granger, and Vice Chairman Shelby:
As Congress considers funding for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022, we urge you to consider language to expand the allowable use of Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds (HEERF) provided to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to permit HBCUs to address deferred maintenance, improve public safety measures, and preserve historic buildings on their campuses.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress provided funding in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 (CRRSAA), and the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to support students and institutions of higher education. However, current guidance on the allowable use of funds prevents HBCUs from addressing significant campus infrastructure needs. HEERF funds have allowable uses for infrastructure improvements that are related to COVID-19. However, if an HBCU has an infrastructure request unrelated to the impacts of COVID-19, such as building a new set of classrooms, then this request would not be allowed. Expansion of the allowable use of HEERF is needed to address longstanding and emerging concerns on HBCU campuses.
HBCUs were founded to provide postsecondary educational opportunities to Black Americans and others without regard to race, ethnicity, or socio-economic strata. Despite HBCUs’ contributions to the American society, economy, and culture, infrastructural issues at HBCUs present significant challenges to fulfilling HBCUs’ educational and social mission of supporting their students, faculty, staff, and the communities beyond. As such, we urge you to consider broadening the allowable uses of HEERF funds during FY22 appropriations to ensure HBCU campuses can continue to invest in generations to come.
In June 2018, the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) issued a report detailing the infrastructure needs of HBCUs based on a survey of all 101 accredited HBCUs, as well as additional research undertaken by GAO (“Report”). The GAO identified three principal sources of capital project needs: (i) a backlog of deferred maintenance; (ii) efforts to modernize campus to be more competitive; and (iii) a continuing need to meet historical building requirements.
The infrastructure needs of HBCUs were further underscored by recent bomb threats made at several HBCUs across the country in January and February 2022. Campus public safety measures are a vital part of the infrastructure at any college campus. It is imperative that HBCUs receive the resources necessary to protect students and faculty. Threats of violence have no place on college campuses. While one substantive bill, H.R. 3294, the IGNITE HBCU Excellence Act, contains language permitting institutions of higher educations to apply for grants which “strengthen the safety and security of the[ir] campus,” relying on legislation that has yet to be passed does not address the limited ways in which HBCUs can address their infrastructure needs using HEERF funds. Expanding the allowable uses for HEERF funds already allocated to HBCUs ensures that HBCUs will be able to fully make use of the federal resources already provided to them to make much-needed improvements to their infrastructure.
HBCUs were founded to provide postsecondary educational opportunities to Black Americans and others without regard to race, ethnicity, or socio-economic strata. Despite HBCUs’ contributions to the American society, economy, and culture, infrastructural issues at HBCUs present significant challenges to fulfilling HBCUs’ educational and social mission of supporting their students, faculty, staff, and the communities beyond. As such, we urge you to consider broadening the allowable uses of HEERF funds during FY22 appropriations to ensure HBCU campuses can continue to invest in generations to come.
Sincerely,
Rep. Marilyn Strickland, Rep. Alma S. Adams, Ph.D., Rep. Terri A. Sewell, Rep. Bennie Thompson, Rep. Nikema Williams, Rep. Ted W. Lieu Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, Rep. Rick Larsen, Rep. Deborah K. Ross, Rep. Troy A. Carter, Sr., Rep. David Scott, Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, Rep. Kathy Manning, Rep. Anthony G. Brown, Rep. Adam Smith, Rep. Kweisi Mfume, Rep. G.K. Butterfield, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, Rep. Madeleine Dean, Rep. Al Green, Rep. John Yarmuth, Rep. Lucy McBath, Rep. Joyce Beatty, Rep. Frederica S. Wilson, Rep. A. Donald McEachin, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, Rep. Sanford Bishop Jr., Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, Rep. Andre Carson, Rep. Jahana Hayes, Rep. Steve Cohen, Rep. Ritchie Torres, Del. Stacey Plaskett, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Sen. Reverend Raphael Warnock, Sen. Christopher A. Coons, Sen. Mark R. Warner, Sen. Cory A. Booker, Sen. Tim Kaine, Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, Sen. Robert P. Casey, Jr., Sen. Elizabeth Warren
U.S. Representative Marilyn Strickland serves on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and is the only African-American woman who serves on the House Armed Services Committee. She is a member of the New Democrat Coalition, is one of the first Korean-American women elected to Congress and is the first African-American elected to represent the Pacific Northwest at the federal level.
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