The Student Freedom Initiative in Washington, D.C., has announced the launch of a $10.35 million investment fund that will support the growth of the endowments of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

Having raised capital from partners of nine participating venture capitalist funds, the Historic Fund will invite selected HBCUs to be limited partners without investing their own assets. In collaboration with the fund, the Student Freedom Initiative will support relationship cultivation and individual school-level support. Each participating HBCU will receive approximately $1.35 million, with the initial recipient cohort to include Benedict, Bennett, Morehouse, and Tougaloo colleges; Fisk, Florida A&M, Hampton, Virginia State, and Virginia Union universities; and Xavier University of Louisiana.

“We are grateful for our collaboration with the Historic Fund because our mission is to close the wealth gap in America through the lens of education,” said Student Freedom Initiative executive director Mark Brown. “The endowments of HBCUs are significantly lower than [those] of other universities that may not have faced similar historical biases. We added up the endowments of 70 percent of the HBCUs and still did not have a total greater than the smallest endowment of our nation’s Ivy League schools. We know there are systemic reasons for this wealth gap, and the Historic Fund is aptly named and focused on helping bridge this gap.”

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