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New Guide for Historically Black Colleges and Universities

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-918662.mp3

Kansas City, MO – Historically black colleges and universities were founded in the United States during a time when segregation and Jim Crow excluded blacks from higher education. Today, there are 104 HBCUs, representing just 3% of the nation's colleges and universities. Yet they graduate nearly 30% of African Americans who earn undergraduate degrees.

This past February, President Barack Obama gave HBCUs a boost: a 5% increase in federal funding and an executive order to strengthen the White House Initiative on HBCUs.

But HBCUs face some daunting challenges: declining enrollment, management issues and financial instability. An in an era when higher education is no longer segregated, some question if there is still a need for HBCUs?

To explore the answer to this question, KCUR's Susan B. Wilson talked with architect John Fleming, who recently published a guide to called HBCU Today. He says that when he retired, his son urged him to take on a new venture.

This story was produced for KC Currents. To listen on your own schedule, subscribe to the KC Currents Podcast.

A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Susan admits that her “first love” was radio, being an avid listener since childhood. However, she spent much of her career in mental health, healthcare administration, and sports psychology (Susan holds a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Bloch School of Business at UMKC.) In the meantime, Wilson satisfied her journalistic cravings by doing public speaking, providing “expert” interviews for local television, and being a guest commentator/contributor to KPRS’s morning drive time show and the teen talk show “Generation Rap.”
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