‘1 in 5’ Season 2, Bonus Episode 1: Building Intergenerational Prosperity at HBCUs and TCUs

What does college success look like for Black and Native student parents? Dr. Deana Around Him and Julian Thompson shed light on student parents’ and administrators’ experiences
at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, or HBCUs, and Tribal Colleges and Universities, or TCUs. In conversation with David Croom, Associate Director for the Postsecondary
Success for Parents (PSP) initiative at Ascend, they discuss how Ascend’s new Black and Native Family Futures Fund is advancing student parent success on these campuses and what other colleges can learn from HBCUs’ and TCUs’ institutional cultures.

Julian Thompson is Director of Strategy at UNCF’s Institute for Capacity Building, and Dr. Deana Around Him is a 2022 Aspen Institute Ascend Fellow and senior research scholar at Child Trends.

Ascend’s Black and Native Family Futures Fund is a new capacity-building fund that provides financial support and expert technical assistance to selected Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) campuses that are committed to improving the success of their student parents.

Grambling State University (Grambling, LA) is a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) and Black and Native Family Futures Fund Partner. Taking a strong two-generation (2Gen) approach, Grambling provides early literacy and developmentally appropriate science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM) curriculum to children enrolled in their campus child development center, while also providing wrap-around support services to their parents who are enrolled at the university.

Stone Child College (Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation; Box Elder, MT) is a Tribal College and University (TCU) and Black and Native Family Futures Fund Partner. Through the fund, Stone Child is expanding current child care support and offering a variety of developmental activities, access to non-academic resources, and a case management approach to academic advising. The college will also offer parenting classes grounded in Chippewa Cree culture and workshops on such topics as financial literacy, time management, and healthy food preparation.