The African American Trade Association promotes trade, commerce, economic development, and well-being through education, collaboration, and lucrative partnerships that advance opportunities for Black communities.¹⁵⁸

Denver, Colorado

The Albuquerque African American Chamber of Commerce focuses on education, advocacy, mentorship, and networking to promote Black- owned businesses.¹⁵⁷

Albuquerque, New Mexico

NAACP partnered with Google to expand a high school program preparing students for tech fields. 155 Additionally, Grow with Google supports HBCUs to encourage Black learners to pursue technology fields.¹⁵⁶

Baltimore, Maryland

Lawmakers established a congressional caucus focused on predominantly Black institutions to educate policymakers on the important role these institutions play in serving low-income, first-generation, and minority students.¹²⁵

Washington, D.C

Recent changes to gainful employment regulations ensure that 32,000 federally supported career training programs require graduates to have an affordable level of debt and receive an earnings premium to qualify for federal financial aid.¹²⁴

Washington, D.C

The former Leveraging Educational Assistance Program can serve as a blueprint to develop a strong federal-state partnership that expands access to underrepresented and low-income students.¹²³

Washington, D.C

Oregon created an advisory group composed of members of the Black community that developed a statewide education plan for Black learners from early childhood through postsecondary education.⁷²

Salem, Oregon

California authorized:

• A cradle-to-career, consumer-facing longitudinal data system. A diverse group of community leaders, educators, and researchers is developing the data infrastructure.⁷⁰

• Community colleges to include prison course costs in their standard budgets and use the universal fee waiver.⁸⁸ The participation and performance of incarcerated students are strong. This is a critical strategy, because 28.5% of the state’s male incarcerated individuals are African American.⁸⁹

Sacramento, California

Washington has:

• A need-based grant entitlement program that covers short-term credentials and degrees, serves low- and middle income students, and provides generous award amounts.⁶⁴

• Invested $22 million to create community partnerships supporting underrepresented students to expand enrollment and credential completion.73 In addition, the state established a permanent legislative committee the Educational Opportunity Gap Oversight and Accountability Committee to recommend strategies to state education agencies and develop policy reforms.⁷⁴

• Enacted legislation creating a permanent faculty professional development program focused on diversity, equity, inclusion, and antiracism. In addition, the Washington community college system created a college faculty consortium that is working to change teaching and writing assessments to be free of negative racial biases.⁹⁸

• A large technology employers that supported a tax for businesses that rely on employees with advanced degrees to partially fund the statewide guaranteed financial aid program.¹⁴⁸

Olympia, Washington

New Jersey has:

• Created an online navigation tool to connect college students to basic needs resources.

• Enacted legislation to protect students from tuition increases deemed unreasonably high, based on anticipated wages and the ability to repay. Agencies are required to develop minimum performance standards for short term career programs.⁷¹

Trenton, New Jersey

Northwestern University conducted a holistic review of Black learner outcomes and experiences and analyzed key data-driven themes to inform actions. After reviewing recommendations and incorporating student feedback, three top priorities were identified. A steering committee was then formed to lead implementation.²⁷

Evanston, Illinois

Washington & Lee established a philanthropic effort for Black alumni to support students, organized career panels, and created affinity groups. The class of 1994 committed to a $1 million endowment.²⁶

Lexington, Virginia

The North Carolina Community College system has established the REACH (Racial Equity for Adult Credentials in Higher Education) collaborative in which 24 colleges will set equity goals, identify needs, select pathways, provide college-wide training, and receive technical assistance.²⁵

Raleigh, North Carolina

California State University created a strategic workgroup charged with developing recommendations to advance the university system as a nationwide leader in Black student outreach, recruitment, enrollment, and success. This work provided strategic direction and integrated Black student success with the established Graduation Initiative 2025 goals.²⁴

Long Beach, California