{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://davidscott.house.gov/blog/?postid=397793", "Land-grant HBCUs Seeking Aid from Congress", "2016-12-04", "2016", "2016-12", "Democrat", "House", "GA", "David Scott", "S001157", "davidscott.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Diverse Issues in Higher Education, December 4, 2016 Land-grant HBCUs Seeking Aid from Congress ---\r\nby Reginald Stuart\r\nThe nation\u2019s 19 historically Black land-grant colleges (the so-called 1890 HBCUs), are expected this week to have a Congressional hearing on a plan to specifically strengthen the institutions\u2019 financial abilities to provide formal education to minorities and others pursuing studies in the agricultural sciences.\r\nThe full House Committee, chaired by Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, plans to hear Wednesday morning from two panels \u2014 one of lawmakers and one of university presidents \u2014 about a House resolution (6020) that would provide each of the 19 institutions $1 million a year for five years to fund scholarships for students planning to pursue careers in the field of agriculture.\r\nThe scholarship funds proposal by Rep. David Scott, D-Ga., represent what Scott notes is a \u201cdrop in the bucket\u201d from the billions spent annually by the federal government to help higher education.\r\nStill, he says, there is positive action on the proposal for a variety of reasons. It would come at a crucial time in history, as the ranks of the nation\u2019s agricultural farming and producer population are declining rapidly. The average age of the declining ranks \u2014 60 years old, according to federal population studies \u2014 is getting higher and higher.\r\nScott\u2019s proposal also would give a needed boost to the 1890 colleges, a specific group of public colleges created to fulfill a post-Civil War effort by the government to provide agricultural education training and services to Blacks in 19 states.\r\nThe 1890s have never been funded to address their mission on a comparable basis to their historically White counterparts regardless of the potential size of their target population, federal, state and private research reports say.\r\nThe federal and state funding policies and practices are oft times cited as playing an important role in the demise during the last century of Black farms and Blacks in agriculture.\r\nUntil the 1950s, Blacks were legally barred from attending the historically White land-grant colleges in those states.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://davidscott.house.gov/blog/?postid=397793"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.4322299286723137, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}