Biden releases action plan to improve funding for minority students, reduce recidivism
Supreme Court’s affirmative action strikedown hasn’t stopped the Biden admin’s plan to reduce student debt, improve funding and graduation for minority students
President Joe Biden’s camp has been making the rounds to hear from educators, including in listening sessions, roundtables and other community visits.
Eight months after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down college affirmative action programs, Biden implemented updates to his executive order for the "Further Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through The Federal Government” plan.
Recommended Read: “Black students, get serious about minority scholarship applications ~ With Affirmative Action outlawed, Republicans are trying to block black scholarships altogether”
According to the U.S. Department of Education (Department), this five-part plan is geared toward underserved students, families and communities (including students of color, students from low-income backgrounds and students who are not native English speakers).
Updates to the Equity Action plan (released on Valentine’s Day this year) will focus on the following goals:
Address and close barriers to college access and improve graduation rates. Offer affordable credentials for academic classes that lead to careers with economic mobility.
Allocate $122 billion in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds for Title I schools and ARP’s Maintenance of Equity requirements to protect high-poverty schools from lower funding in state and city education.
Expand education in higher education, correctional and accrediting agencies, and community-based organizations for those who are currently or formerly incarcerated. These individuals will have more opportunities for workforce readiness to reduce recidivism.
Reduce segregation by gender, race, and ethnicity in high school career and technical education (CTE) programs by investing more heavily in well-paying careers and technical education.
Increase funding for mental health resources, primarily within the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. This act is partially geared toward combating the youth mental health crisis via local educational agencies (LEAs). Its three-part plan involves:
Educating existing, statewide school personnel
Increasing available mental health professionals to work with students
Using Medicaid to support school health services
This executive order further confirms that the current presidential leadership hasn’t given up on the first-ever Equity Action Plan from January 2022. New changes further assist colleges and universities with lawful actions to ensure diversity and educational opportunities. Additionally, over $40 million in GEAR UP and TRIO Upward Bound grants in fiscal year 2023 were released to help low-income students, first-generation students and college students with disabilities.
ADVERTISEMENT ~ Recommended Read from Amazon
As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn a percentage for each purchase with my referral links.
Even after the 6-3 Supreme Court ruling that the Biden administration overstepped its authority by trying to cancel up to $400 billion in student loans, the current administration has still approved $127 billion in debt relief for more than 3.6 million Americans — via income-driven repayment (IDR) and Public Student Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) programs.
Additional educational assistance between the Department and the Biden administration includes relaunching the Raise the Bar: Attaining College Excellence & Equity initiative; enrolling more than 4 million borrowers into the Saving on A Valuable Education (SAVE) plan; $1 billion used to fund 264 grants with the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) funds; releasing a Resource Document on confronting racial discrimination in student discipline, and a toolkit for inclusion of LGBTQI+ students.
Did you enjoy this post? You’re also welcome to check out my Substack columns “Black Girl In a Doggone World,” “BlackTechLogy,” “Homegrown Tales,” “I Do See Color,” “One Black Woman’s Vote” and “Window Shopping” too. Subscribe to this newsletter for the weekly posts every Wednesday.
If you’re not ready to subscribe but want to support my writing, you’re welcome to tip me for this post! I’ll buy a dark hot chocolate on you. Thanks for reading!