The Sentinel

Education leaders seek more funding for Black community colleges

by Mark Richardson
Illinois News Connection

Chicago - Historical and predominantly Black community colleges often get overlooked when it comes to funding for higher education. However, leaders nationwide are seeking ways to improve support for these institutions.

Complete College of America and Lumina Foundation organized a webinar recently to discuss the needs of these colleges and their crucial role in promoting equal opportunities for Black students.

Brandon Nichols, senior vice president for academic affairs at Olive-Harvey College, a historically Black community college, emphasized the need for funding to provide wraparound services to under-resourced students.

"One of the things that we noticed was the food insecurities," he said. "So we actually have a pantry that is now on site for our students to have access to. And we know that our students come to school hungry, may not have had the resources or access to be able to go to the grocery store that impacts the level of success in the classroom."

Olive-Harvey College is part of the Chicago State University system, with more than 7,000 students enrolled in scientific, technical and liberal-arts courses. Nichols said because it is the only group of Historically Black Colleges in Illinois, they feel a special responsibility to offer support to their students.

Nichols pointed out that funding is crucial in supporting what he calls the school's "stranded workforce" - individuals striving for a degree but held back by financial obstacles or other responsibilities. He said a majority of students come from a low-income background, which makes college necessities such as books, laptops, child care and even food sometimes hard to afford.

"We want to make sure that we give our students the resources they need to be the most successful," he said. "Next aspect is that we want to make sure that our students and our community also reflect the faculty that we have that are teaching our courses. We're very intentional to ensure that we have faculty that reflect our students."

Advocates from other states also highlighted the essential resources that historically Black colleges offer to support first-generation students and emphasize the need for impactful research that reflects their community influence.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.

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Protect yourself and family from holiday season scams

Jonathan Hammond /Pixabay

Statepoint Media - In today’s hyper-connected digital universe, cyber criminals have more information than ever before, with the ability to reach you through unsecure public Wi-Fi, your email inbox, via text message, and more.

According to a Scam and Robocall Report from T-Mobile, Americans lost an estimated $39.5 billion to phone scams in 2022. Lucky for you, there are several ways to protect and safeguard your personal information to help prevent scammers from scammin’ this holiday season.

1. Avoid Public USB Ports: Traveling by plane this holiday season? The FCC warns that cyber criminals can download malware to public USB charging ports to gain access to your information. Prevent this by using an AC power outlet instead.

2. Beware of Charity Scams: It’s the season of giving, but the FCC warns many cyber criminals take advantage by creating fake charities staged as real nonprofit organizations to gain access to your payment information. Woof. To prevent this, don’t click on suspicious email or text links and verify the organization is registered at the National Association of State Charity Officials or Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance before donating this holiday season.

3. Screen Your Calls: Scammers are continuously upping their game, with total robocall attempts up 75% from 2021 to 2022. Detecting whether an incoming call is a potential scam isn’t always easy, but T-Mobile’s Scam Shield app makes it simple. Free to all T-Mobile customers, Scam Shield enhances your scam-blocking protections so you can say goodbye to scam calls. In 2022 alone, Scam Shield identified or blocked 41.5 billion scam calls in the T-Mobile network. That’s a whopping 1,317 calls identified or blocked every second. With Scam Shield, when the network detects a potential scam call, it is flagged and displayed as “Scam Likely” on your device. Customers who want even more protection can download the Scam Shield app or dial #662# from their T-Mobile smartphone to enable Scam Block, which automatically blocks any calls that match the database of scam calls. Take that, tricksters. To learn more, visit t-mobile.com/scamshield.

4. Shop Smarter Online: According to Statista, 57% of holiday shoppers plan to use their smartphone to make holiday purchases this year, and scammers are onto them, ramping up activity during the two weeks before Christmas. To minimize any cyber Grinches trying to steal your personal info, monitor your financial accounts regularly for suspicious charges and sign up for your bank or credit card company’s text or email notifications to stay on top of fraudulent activity.

5. Use Secure Tools: Safeguard your online accounts with Multi-Factor Authentication, which requires users to enter two different kinds of information to log in, like a password and one-time PIN code. It’s like having a digital bouncer to make sure only you get into your accounts. Another protection is a password manager, giving you the ability to securely store passwords across multiple platforms and websites. The tool also provides an autofill password function and a new password generator.

To learn more about the industry’s top fraud trends and how to stay protected from scammers year-round, check out T-Mobile’s Scam Shield Report found at t-mobile.com/news.

While cyber threats are on the rise, you can sleigh scams by staying vigilant and incorporating these best practices into your life this holiday season.