Congrats to St. Augustine's! Great news to share! Sandra From: Nevels, Tiwanna S. [mailto:tsnevels@st-aug.edu] Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2016 7:22 AM To: Sandra Phoenix <sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> Subject: FW: UNCF awards the University $50,000 to Help Job Placement Outcomes Good Morning!! Hope you're having a marvelous and blessed week. Here is some news you can use!! From: Office of Marketing and Communications Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2016 4:05 PM To: All Saint Augustine's <allsaintaugustine@st-aug.edu<mailto:allsaintaugustine@st-aug.edu>> Subject: UNCF awards the University $50,000 to Help Job Placement Outcomes [cid:image001.jpg@01D19FD5.62373250] UNCF's (United Negro College Fund) Career Pathways Initiative (CPI) selected Saint Augustine's University as a planning grant awardee to receive $50,000 to help students at the University gain the knowledge, preparation, insight and skills needed for meaningful employment upon graduation. CPI is a highly competitive grant process open to four-year historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and predominantly black institutions (PBIs). UNCF CPI distributed $2.55 million in planning grants with the potential to assist 66,000 students. Saint Augustine's University is one of 30 institutions selected. "As we work to preserve this institution's strong legacy and ensure the future for subsequent generations, this grant will allow us to support our University's current initiatives as we position our students to be leaders of tomorrow," said Dr. Everett B. Ward, president of Saint Augustine's University. The grant was made possible by Lilly Endowment Inc. Lilly Endowment committed $50 million<http://uncf.org/sections/News/SS_PressReleases/pressrelease_details.asp?prID=428> last October to launch the UNCF Career Pathways Initiative, to improve the job placement outcomes of graduates from HBCUs and PBIs. Institutions will employ various strategies to achieve this goal, including aligning curricula with local and national workforce needs, developing intentional career pathway options for students across their collegiate experience, and strengthening their career service operations. "UNCF is elated to invest in better futures for tens of thousands of students at these selected institutions; students who will become the nation's future engineers, educators, and entrepreneurs," said Dr. Michael L. Lomax, UNCF president and CEO. "This was an incredibly rigorous and competitive process. We applaud all the institutions who put their best foot forward in the interest of their students' future careers, and we commend the 30 institutions that were selected for planning grants." The rigorous and competitive grant process opened in December 2015 to 87 eligible public and private institutions, of which 81 were HBCUs and six were PBIs. The eligible institutions must have met select criteria, including being an accredited four-year degree-granting institution that awards most of its degrees at the bachelor's level. Of the 87 eligible institutions, 70 applied for the planning grant and 30 were selected as grantees. Of the 30 recipients, 29 are HBCUs and one is a PBI. Twenty-three of the selected grantees are among the 37 private UNCF-supported institutions. The six-month planning grants are one-time awards that help the institutions research and envision programs that will strengthen their efforts to prepare students for sustaining and meaningful careers. Planning grantees were selected based on how well their proposals reflected understanding of the challenges facing students as they prepare for post-graduate employment. In addition, successful proposals included evidence that the institutions had connected with experts who can help them find innovative solutions. The 30 institutions will be eligible to compete for a smaller number of implementation grants of $1 million to $1.5 million, to be announced this fall.