Vision
Recognized as the hallmark of extended matriculation for Black Americans, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are a source of achievement, pride, and pivotal impact for all Americans. CDC is committed to sustaining outreach and improving partnership to HBCUs, so that we may remain a pinnacle in public health and STEM.
Our agency will continue to develop, calibrate, and evolve strategies that increase HBCU roles and engagements in addressing our public health agenda. The commitments below describe CDC’s proposed efforts to increase opportunities for HBCUs to participate in CDC programs and to create measurable objectives for proposed actions to achieve the purposes of Executive Order 14041 – White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic and Economic Opportunity through HBCUs.
Capacity Building: Establish a sustainable platform to support HBCUs in efforts to compete for available grant/funding opportunities by raising awareness and providing guidance on the application process.
Communications: Develop culturally tailored content to highlight current and planned HBCU engagement and amplify the stories of HBCU students and alumni. Routine outreach will provide opportunities to disseminate information about CDC priorities and opportunities for HBCUs and HBCU networks to collaborate.
Infrastructure: Create an agency plan to govern, monitor, evaluate CDC HBCU efforts and initiatives and maintain accountability to the CDC 2022 – 2027 Strategic Plan. The agency will also create an intra-agency HBCU working group to implement ideas that will strengthen the capacity of HBCUs to compete for CDC funding opportunities and play meaningful roles in CDC’s implementation of public health actions.
Policy & Partnership: Explore policy levers and promote opportunities for formal long-term partnership between CDC and HBCUs to advance shared public health priorities.
Workforce Development: Establish and maintain effective working relationships with HBCU career services and faculty to create change agents who fulfill the CDC’s mission of forging a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforce. Our agency will continue to prioritize HBCU graduate recruitment, retention and advancement through a portfolio of initiatives including CDC’s pathways for students and graduates to public health careers.