Dominion Energy deserves praise for its support of Black colleges and universities

Dominion Energy is still a relatively new company here in South Carolina, though they now operate a long-standing corporate citizen, South Carolina Electric & Gas Company.

Shortly after Dominion merged with the then-SCANA Corp., it adopted the tag line “Actions speak louder.”

It is a concept that sets a high bar, but it’s one that is little more than empty words if what you do doesn’t match what you say.

I can tell you that Dominion has lived up to its tagline of “Actions speak louder” — and that its actions have been impressive.

A strong record

In June 2019 Dominion Energy made a major gift in June 2019 to the International African American Museum in Charleston. And earlier this year, the company pledged $5 million to help promote equality, social justice and small business relief in their territory.

In the spirit of full disclosure, the Columbia Urban League was one of the recipients in the initial round of grants from this initiative.

The funding will help us open our Gateway Empowerment Center on North Main Street, which will be a community economic and job resource hub.

But this commitment is not a one-time engagement for either our organization or Dominion Energy; it is part of an ongoing partnership.

Dominion’s commitment to sustained support is why I was pleased to recently learn about the company’s $35 million commitment to higher education equity.

This six-year commitment includes $25 million in direct support to Historically Black Colleges and Universities here in South Carolina and North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia.

It also includes $10 million in scholarships to African Americans and other underrepresented minority students across the company’s service area.

The $35 million figure is significant, and its importance cannot be overstated. But there is another figure that is equally important to me, and that is the number “39.”

It has been 39 years since Dominion first started to support Historically Black Colleges and Universities when it made a gift in 1981 to the then-Hampton Institute — now Hampton University — in Virginia.

So in reality Dominion’s track record of strong support has been sustained for decades, and it deserves to be applauded.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities have educated multiple generations of leaders across the nation. This is particularly true here in South Carolina, which has numerous educators, doctors, lawyers, ministers, business people, community leaders and political and government officials who are graduates of Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

I am a graduate of North Carolina A&T State University, and I can personally speak to the important role that it and other Historically Black Colleges and Universities continue to play in our country.

During this hot and challenging summer of 2020 all colleges and universities are struggling, but Historically Black Colleges and Universities face especially daunting challenges.

Declining birth rates have led to enrollment pressures that will continue well into the future.

Meanwhile, justifiable concerns about student debt and college affordability are causing too many young people to forego pursuing the higher education opportunities that would enable them to reach their full potential.

The COVID-19 crisis, of course, has only made things worse.

Higher education helps to make our communities and our society more functional, prosperous and equitable. But our traditional means of funding higher education — which sees public colleges rely on state support and tuition dollars while private institutions rely on endowments and tuition dollars — no longer makes sense for any institution these days.

This issue is especially true for Historically Black Colleges and Universities: one of the core missions of these institutions is to serve first-generation college students who are typically from families who struggle to afford higher education.

The truth is that we need all hands on deck in our communities to keep the promise of higher education — and the many dreams it can help students attain — within reach.

In this regard and in many others, the actions of our partners at Dominion Energy are speaking very clearly.

And very loudly!

James T. McLawhorn Jr. is CEO of the Columbia Urban League in Columbia.

This story was originally published August 3, 2020 at 1:22 PM.