The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation has pledged $50 million over ten years to support four historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in Atlanta: Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Morris Brown College. The funds are intended as “gap scholarships” — to help students nearing graduation who have good academic standing but have exhausted all other sources of support.
According to the foundation, the goal is to raise graduation rates and prevent students from dropping out due to financial shortfalls. Fay Twersky, president of the foundation, described the grants as “a material investment in hope.”
This donation is the largest the foundation has made to Georgia’s HBCUs. In past years, it has contributed to campus upgrades and academic investments — for example, $10 million to a Spelman innovation lab and $6 million to improve athletic fields at several colleges.
Atlanta’s HBCUs are viewed as economically important to the region. In its announcement, the foundation cited data showing these institutions generate roughly $1 billion annually in regional economic impact, and are especially effective in lifting students from lower-income backgrounds up the income ladder.
Leaders from the participating colleges praised the gift, noting that it allows students to remain focused on studying rather than financial stress, and helps ensure that ambition and effort, not finances, determine outcomes.
(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
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