Morehouse College Scholarship Fundraiser

The debut of HBCU football at MetLife Stadium presented the perfect opportunity to bring our friends and partners in affordable housing together to raise scholarship funds and help subsidize students’ housing costs. Tredway’s namesake—Alfred Tredway White— was ahead of his time in recognizing the important connection between historically Black institutions of higher education and high-quality, high-opportunity affordable housing. As a company, we are proud to build on that foundation with our support of both Morehouse College.

Tredway co-hosted the fundraiser along with Sharif Mitchell of Dantes Community Partners, John Gilmore of Walker & Dunlop, Verdun Perry of Blackstone Strategic Partners, Richard Roberts of Red Stone Equity Partners; bringing together powerhouses of the real estate industry and alumni from both schools to support an important cause.

The lingering impact of COVID-19 combined with a historic housing crunch is being felt on college campuses nationwide but it is particularly acute for the 300,000 students enrolled at the nation’s HBCUs, studies show. A  recent report by The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice at Temple University found that of 5,000 students surveyed across 14 HBCUs, more than half—55 percent—reported being housing insecure in the prior year and 20 percent were homeless during that same period.

Given that HBCUs boast a 34 percent mobility rate of moving students from the bottom 40 percent in household income into the top 60 percent—a figure which is greater than all other categories of higher education, including the Ivy League—it is crucial to recognize that as the cost of housing increases the ability of HBCUs to catalyze upward socioeconomic mobility is curtailed, especially for underserved students.