San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced her efforts to bring Historically Black Colleges and Universities to the city’s downtown area, according to a press release on Feb. 2.
This summer, the city will start hosting HBCU programming and begin partnerships with different college campuses, including San Francisco State University.
According to a press release from the Mayor’s office, SFSU will offer space for classrooms. The University of San Francisco will provide student housing accommodations and the University of California, San Francisco will partner with HBCUs to improve mental health resources.
“As part of the CSU-wide Elevating Black Excellence initiative, SF State is actively engaged in advancing Black student success, and this partnership with Mayor Breed and the San Francisco Human Rights Commission is a promising collaboration that will help enhance future opportunities for participants in the program,” said SFSU President Lynn Mahoney.
This is a portion of the “Black 2 San Francisco” movement led by San Francisco’s Human Rights Commission and is part of the city’s reparations plan for the Black community. Breed said in the press release that establishing HBCU satellite campuses will contribute to the revitalization of the city.
Frederick Smith, associate vice president of equity and community inclusion at SFSU, says the university is still in the preliminary stages of establishing the partnership — the primary focus is networking with HBCUs that want to be involved.
“The initial conversation was really about engagement,” Smith said. “It’s letting HBCU campuses know that San Francisco and the Bay Area is a viable and strong place where their graduates will find success, career-wise and academically.”
HBCUs have long been prominent in the Southern and Eastern regions of the United States, but are still in the process of establishing a significant presence on the West Coast.
SFSU’s Black Student Union external vice president Tyson Haddock says that he looks forward to seeing this partnership come to fruition as someone who, while applying to colleges, considered attending an HBCU.
“I feel like an experience I shared with other Black students was applying to colleges and making that decision,” Haddock said. “I think it would be amazing to have a connection between our school and HBCUs.”
Even though SFSU has a diverse student population, the benefits of an HBCU partnership will help establish networks for Black students at different colleges throughout the city, according to Haddock.
As part of his role as external vice president, he is in charge of reaching out to diverse communities and connecting them with SF State’s Black Student Union. He says he looks forward to being a liaison between HBCU campuses and the BSU in the future.
“I feel like it would be beneficial to Black students on our campus because it can expose them to new connections or new ventures that they didn’t even know were possible,” Haddock said. “If you want to get out of your comfort zone and meet people from all walks of life, this is the place to be.”
Smith says he believes that HBCUs do a great job of connecting students to their cultures and this partnership will help SFSU nourish that relationship for students.
“If there’s any way that San Francisco can play a part in the success of HBCU students and graduates, I think that would be great,” Smith said.
