Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) will establish a new research center in partnership with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
HUD announced the $4 million grant to the North Carolina HBCU during a visit on Oct. 3, making WSSU one of just four HBCUs in the country to be awarded.
“This is a tremendous honor for Winston-Salem State to lead a game-changing effort focused on rural housing and development,” WSSU’s chancellor, Bonita Brown, said.
HUD’s Centers of Excellence help inform policymaking at through data and evidence-based research.
The research center will be one of HUD’s Research Centers of Excellence, an initiative that focuses on research projects “of strategic interest to HUD.” Areas of focus include housing, economic development, community development and more.
WSSU will use the grant to “study important housing issues in Winston-Salem” and other communities, according to a statement published on the university’s website.
“Universities are anchors in their respective communities; they serve as economic drivers and thought leaders. To build the knowledge and insights we need to drive housing policy, there’s no better place to look to than our nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs),” HUD’s acting secretary Adrianne Todman said. “These funds are a part of an initiative that HUD has to make sure that we are resourcing some of the brilliant minds of HBCUs across the county.”