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Interior Secretary Announces $14M in Recovery Funds for HBCUs
Howard University receives $800K

WASHINGTON (Sept. 18. 2009) – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar visited Howard University today to announce $14.25 million in historic preservation grants for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Salazar in a press conference outside the historic Miner Teacher’s College (formerly Miner Normal School), now home to the Howard University School of Education, noted that these funds were made available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA),

“This investment continues a long and important partnership between the Historically Black Colleges and Universities and the Department of the Interior,” Salazar said. “As result of the 1980 White House Initiative [on HBCUs], the Department of Interior Historic Preservation Initiative was formed. It identifies and restores the most historically significant and threatened structures on HBCU campuses. Since then, the Initiative has helped HBCUs save structures that likely would have been lost without immediate rehabilitation.”

President Sidney A. Ribeau thanked Secretary Salazar and the Obama administration for their commitment to restoring national treasures across these historic campuses.

“I say thanks on behalf of Howard and the 19 other HBCUs,” Ribeau said. “Your investment in HBCUs is more than an investment in buildings; it is an investment in our history, our academic mission, our traditions, and it is the investment in the building of a new and different America.”

Education Dean Leslie Fenwick, Ph.D., as well as faculty and students, took the secretary on a tour of the Miner Building. The 1913 neo-colonial architecture will undergo infrastructural renovation to its windows and roof with the $800,000 made possible by the HBCU Economic Recovery Grant. To date, the University has invested $1.5 million in renovations to the first floor. It houses 80 percent of the classes in the Howard University School of Education.

Kim Lambert, president of the Department of Interior chapter of Blacks in Government, attended today’s event and lauded the allocation of federal stimulus money to preserve historic buildings at Black colleges.

The following 21 projects were selected from more than 107 applications submitted in June.

HBCU ARRA GRANT RECIPIENTS

Alcorn State University, Alcorn State, Miss. Belles Lettres Hall – $400,000

Allen University, Columbia, S.C. Chappelle Auditorium – $1,000,000

Bennett College, Greensboro, N.C. Ethel Black Hall – $400,000

Central State University, Wilberforce, Ohio Emery Hall – $1,750,000

Cheyney University, Cheyney, Pa. Melrose Cottage – $300,000

Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta Trevor Arnett Hall – $400,000

Dillard University, New Orleans Camphor/Hartzell Complex – $800,000

Elizabeth City State University, Elizabeth City, N.C. Moore Hall – $500,000

Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn. John Wesley Work House – $89,516

Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, Fla. George M. Sampson Hall – $700,000

Harris Stowe State University, St. Louis Vashon Community Center – $1,000,000

Howard University, Washington, D.C. Miner Normal School – Grant

Kentucky State University, Frankfort, KY Old Federal Building and Post Office – $1,000,000

Langston University, Langston, OK Cottage Row Historic District – $500,000

Meharry Medical College, Nashville Hulda Margaret Lyttle Hall – $1,000,000

St. Paul's College, Lawrenceville, Va. The Saul Building – $349,706; Fine Arts Building – $245,000

Talladega College, Talladega, Ala. Foster Hall – $700,000

Tougaloo College, Tougaloo, Miss. John W. Boddie House – $829,007

West Virginia State University, Institute, W.Va. African Zion Baptist Church – $123,570

Xavier University, New Orleans Administration Building – $463,201