Scaling Success: The Movement Driving a New Era for HBCUs

Media July 31, 2025

“The goals are ambitious: a 40% increase in enrollment at HBCUs, a 54% increase in graduates, and $1.1 billion added to Black net worth annually. That vision has drawn significant support from the philanthropic community. Blue Meridian Partners, a New York-based funder focused on scalable solutions to social challenges, invested $60 million to help launch the initiative and committed an additional $124 million in 2023 based on early progress.

‘This very significantly scaled grant from them signals to the philanthropic community that this is a really good investment to make,’ said Michael Lomax, president and CEO of UNCF, in an interview with the Associated Press. [. . .]

Blue Meridian’s Jim Shelton said the organization would rather see schools ‘set ambitious goals and miss them’ than aim too low.”

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