Daily Lumina News 092721

At a moment when the nation’s spotlight is shining on the achievements and promise of historically Black colleges, the attention is exposing cracks in their foundations.
For decades, states have been funding their white campuses while starving their Black ones. In Tennessee, that could finally change.

Diana Natalicio was a pioneer in higher education, praised for growing a small El Paso campus into a national research institution while expanding college access for Latinos.
Natalicio died Sept. 24 at the age of 82.

The Biden administration estimates that if the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill passes, it could add two million jobs per year over a decade.
But those jobs, many in construction, may be difficult to fill in an industry that is already experiencing labor shortages. One way some industry leaders see to address the scarcity of skilled workers? Diversify the industry.

Christelle Louis is a first-generation college student. Her mother, a Haitian immigrant, pushed her to get the education she needed to end up in a good job—maybe as a doctor or an engineer.
But no matter how hard Louis worked, that payoff would turn out to be tougher to realize for a first-generation student than for her better-connected classmates. Some colleges are launching programs and other supports to counter these disparities.

The impact of incarceration rarely ends after a prison sentence is completed. Employers are often unwilling or hesitant to hire those with criminal records.
That may be changing. As companies struggle to find workers in a labor market disrupted by the pandemic, there are signs that the competition for talent is benefiting an often-sidelined group: the estimated one in three U.S. adults who have a criminal record.

Reporter Jason Gonzales spends his professional life telling the stories of students who struggle to obtain a college degree. For Gonzales, the work is personal.
Gonzales describes his own story in this essay—and the power of caring mentors to motivate and inspire students who need that extra nudge to get through college.