The state of Florida is
home to four different historically Black colleges and universities
(HBCUs): Florida A and M University in
Tallahassee, Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida Memorial
University in Miami, and Edward Waters College in Jacksonsville. Each of these four institutions of higher
learning is strategically situated within relatively short driving distances
from large portions of Florida’s growing population. Additionally, the areas removed from the
physical campi of each of the aforementioned Florida HBCUs (Western Florida and
Northwestern Florida, both along the Gulf Coast) are populated with significant
numbers of alumni and students of these schools. The Florida Panhandle, in Northwest Florida,
has the additional logistical benefit of being equidistant from not only FAMU
but also an abundance of HBCUs in neighboring “Gulf States” (Alabama,
Mississippi, Louisiana).
The importance of
Florida’s HBCUs in the asset-building work of the Raise Florida Network (RFN)
is significant. Each of these schools
have a long and storied history of being involved with the very socioeconomic
demographic targeted by RFN’s stated goals.
Like most other Black colleges, Florida’s HBCUs were created in response
to the need to educate and empower hundreds of thousands if not millions of
legally emancipated Americans of African descent throughout the Southern
regions of the United States. These
histories and traditions live on today in the mission statements of each of the
“Florida Four.”
“Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University
(FAMU) is an 1890 land-grant institution dedicated to the advancement of
knowledge, resolution of complex issues and the empowerment of citizens and
communities.”
“The Bethune-Cookman University mission is to
serve in the Christian tradition the diverse educational, social, and cultural
needs of its students and to develop in them the desire and capacity for
continuous intellectual and professional growth, leadership, and service to
others. The University has deep roots in the history of America and continues
to provide services to the broader community through a focus on service
learning and civic engagement.”
“Florida Memorial University endeavors to
instill in students the importance of becoming global citizens through
life-long learning, leadership, character, and service which will enhance their
lives and the lives of others.”
“Edward Waters College strives to prepare
students holistically to advance in a global society through the provision of
intellectually stimulating programs and an environment which emphasizes high
moral and spiritual values in keeping with the African Methodist Episcopal
Church.”
How can Florida’s HBCUs
comply with not only the mandates of RFN but also fulfill the sacred
obligations contained in their mission statements? The opportunities are endless but the
following represents some possibilities.
For example, active
participation in RFN would result in the formulation and implementation of social
development curricula at Florida’s HBCUs with bona fide community outreach
aspects as part of course development for students and staff retention. Also, semi-annual conferences would be organized
and executed among Florida’s HBCU’s with each hosting on a rotating basis. Such
conferences would have to include staff, faculty, administration,
board/regents, students, families of students, local residents and alumni in
such a way that would push the envelopes of inclusion assertively in the
direction of plurality (i.e. having only Christian clergy present would not
represent a diverse spiritual base). In
short, inclusiveness must become institutionalized. Further, admission priority
for new and transfer students would be given to students that dedicated 85% of
their community service hours specifically dedicated towards RFN/HBCU
activities and initiatives.
All of the aforementioned
and following would be developed with an eye towards sustainability.
One particular area that
seems to be a natural avenue for the above is that of individual development
accounts (IDA). RFN and its umbrella
organisation, the Southern Regional Asset Building Coalition, have already
published compelling research on IDAs and their benefits in the lives of people
and communities in need of asset-building support.
In a 2010 report titled “Asset
Building in the South: Organizations
& Services,” it was determined that “educational strategies, including
workshops, information-sharing efforts, trainings, and classes are the most
frequently used intervention of respondent organizations regarding asset-building
initiatives and services.” This suggests
a strong role for the Florida Four.
Indeed, FAMU is already involved with SRABC; it is only fitting that
Florida’ flagship Black college be at the vanguard of a movement that must
include its sister schools.
That report also addressed
the importance of funding. As a means
of ensuring that innovative, community-focused programs maintain the lifeblood
of revenue to sustain its successes, it would be a powerful example of inspired
leadership to have board members allocate at least 5% of their standard level
of liquid giving towards funding of IDA efforts. Again, this is an investment in the
implementation of inclusiveness.
Though not in Florida,
Alabama’s Tuskegee University has long held a position of influence among the
community of HBCUs. Like FAMU, TU is a
member of the SRABC and, in that capacity, published a report by a quintet of
its faculty members (Baharanyi, Zabawa, Paris, Quaye-Wilson, and Kanyi)
entitled “The Impact of IDA Policies
and Programs.”
Here is what Baharayi et
al found:
“To this date, IDAs have proven to be one of the
most promising approaches for asset building and thus, an important tool for
achieving family economic success. However since its inception in 1991, and
despite its promising ambitions, growth has been slow. Today, only about 30
states sponsor IDAs and over the past decade, federal and state governments
have dedicated a meager $183 million to related initiatives. Therefore policies
across states and regions must be structured to provide more effective and
sustainable programs.
“There is the need to better ‘advertise’ or ‘market’
asset building policies, to build support for these initiatives among funders,
policymakers, and the public. This can be done by putting a personal face on
success stories and connecting these stories to demonstrate tangible successes
and impacts of various programs. Documenting success stories will not only get
the word out to potential participants and funders, but could also offer best
practices and approaches to other program organizers and administrators.
“Policy initiatives must take into consideration
local community factors that might affect the level of success of programs
administered in rural communities. Such factors may include lack of public
transit systems, predominance of low-wage jobs, access to local public and
private funders among others.”
In light of their
findings, it is imperative that Florida’s HBCUs and their networks of students,
alumni, leaders, supporters, et al begin to advocate for meaningful policy
changes that will benefit the state’s economically marginalized. Concurrently, these institutions of higher
learning must accept the responsibility of figuring out new ways of addressing
long-standing socioeconomic disparities.
Also, the talent and
training to develop a cadre of socially-conscious communicators already exists
among and within Florida’s HBCUs.
English, marketing, and communication majors, to begin with, are being
trained to craft, send, and deliver messages.
What better way to allow them to develop professionally relevant, genuinely
marketable skills in their fields than to enlist them in an initiative that
will also have long-lasting character-building implications, too?
Finally, SRABC has on its
list of online publications an interesting study that revisits another idea whose
merit appears to be as relevant today as it has been previously. Jessica Nembhard of the University of
Maryland authored “Non-Traditional Analyses of Co-operative Economic Impacts:
Preliminary Indicators and a Case Study.”
In her paper, Nembhard
outlines and discusses the benefits cooperatives. Those benefits as listed by Nembhard are:
·
Education,
training, skill development
·
Leadership
development
·
Civic
participation
·
Policy and
Legislative Advocacy
·
Meaningful work/ Livable
wages
·
Wealth creation
·
Affordable
quality products
Each of the benefits of
cooperatives described by Nembhard speak directly to the obligation of each of
Florida’s HBCUs to take a prominent role in the activities of RFN. Where else can one find entities that are already
equipped and endowed with the resources necessary to move forward with each of
the positive outcomes shared by Nembhard?
That said, Nembhard closes
her report with cautions about the challenges inherent in trying to develop
cooperatives.
“Major obstacles to helping co-operatives evaluate
their outcomes and impacts include lack of time and personnel to engage in such
activities, lack of adequate measurement tools and models to apply, and lack of
data or data collection methods. Many cooperatives are preoccupied with securing
their viability as a business based on traditional business evaluations. We
researchers and academics can be the ones to begin to focus on ways to measure
the externalities –the social benefits; the human, social and cultural capital
created and nurtured the spillover effects around the community. Some outcomes
such as job creation, buying from and outsourcing to other local businesses, development
of affiliated businesses, increased skill levels are fairly easy to measure once
we associate them with co-operative outcomes. Others such as leadership
development, more civic participation, wealth creation, and general community
economic stability are more difficult to measure and more difficult to attribute
to cooperative ownership, yet seem to be correlated.”
Nembhard does not list the
above to discourage; she shares it for the purpose of more effective
planning. This important because the
historical record shows that cooperatives have existed in the United States but
the Florida Four specifically and all of the RFN must be vigilant to heed
Nembhard’s advice and avoid being relegated to being an obscure footnote in the
history books such as the old Bayou Bourbeau cooperative in 1930’s
Louisiana.
To truly move forward with
meaningful IDAs for Floridians of limited socioeconomic means, Florida’s HBCUs
will be well-served to use existing federal resources to implement the needed
changes. Case in point, The United
States’ Department of Agriculture’s Extension Service (also known as the
Cooperative Extension Service) “is a non-formal educational program implemented
in the United States designed to help people use research-based knowledge to
improve their lives. The service is provided by the state's designated
land-grant universities.”
FAMU is a land-grant
university and, as such, it is already involved with the CES. What must be done now is to expand that work
not only within itself but with its sister schools, the Florida Four.
Clearly, the work that
must be done to truly address the economic disparities present in the state of
Florida as it relates to asset building cannot be compartmentalized; however,
such a daunting and necessary task can reach fruition more effectively if led
by institutions that were created to address them in the first place.
WORKS CITED
Available upon request