Biden Celebrates Investments in Black Colleges While Promoting Harris

President Biden took the stage at an event for historically Black colleges and universities on Monday to promote a list investments and grants made to many of those schools under his watch, including a new $1.3 billion round of federal investments aimed in part at giving historically Black schools a competitive edge in research.

The president’s appearance at the conference in Philadelphia helped underscore a pledge to support historically Black institutions that he has returned to throughout his term, both in symbolic gestures such as addressing graduates at Howard University and Morehouse College, as well as more concrete measures such as boosting federal investment.

“The promise of America, and I mean this sincerely, is big enough for everyone to succeed,” Mr. Biden said. “And there’s been no more important voice for that truth in the Black community than our H.B.C.U.s.”

Including the new funding announced on Monday, the Biden administration has directed more than $17 billion to historically Black colleges and universities, including $4 billion to help those schools bounce back from the pandemic through the American Rescue Plan and other Covid relief.

The administration has also allocated more than $1 billion to help schools build out their research capacity and facilities, with an eye to helping improve their position in competitions for lucrative federal research grants.

Under Mr. Biden, numerous agencies have also worked to jump-start research and development partnerships, including a $90 million collaboration between the Air Force and eight universities to develop autonomous military technologies, as well as an $11.7 million program through NASA focused on artificial intelligence and machine learning.