Harris-Stowe State University is on an amazing trajectory right now. We are the fastest-growing four-year public institution in the state of Missouri. In the past four years, we’ve had a 34 percent increase in overall enrollment and a 35 percent increase in our graduates. Plus, we’ve gone from 14 degree programs to over 50 degree programs.
There was recently an independent economic impact study put out by UNCF and University of Georgia. They talk about all of the 100-plus HBCUs and their respective impact on economic regions. Harris-Stowe State University receives a whopping $9 million from the state to run this institution, but according to the study this institution has a $65 million economic impact yearly on the St. Louis region. If I were an investment banker, that’s the type of return I’d want all day long.
Seventy nine percent of the 2014 graduates are the first in their family to graduate college. Those graduates will earn 71 percent more than they would if they had not earned their degree. This institution is doing transformational work for the least of those.
I say this not as the chair of this MLK commission, and not as the president of this institution. I say this as a young black male who grew up in the projects of Detroit to a single mom on welfare with limited resources. I am fortunate and blessed to be able stand in front of you.
I think about Dr. King and how he lost his life on April 4, 1968, and why he flew to Memphis, Tennessee on April 3 and his purpose for being there – for The Poor People’s Campaign. He was there for the sanitation workers, for the least of these.
St. Louis has a 12 percent poverty rate. But if you extrapolate that data and look at the African-American community, it’s over 50 percent. Fifty years ago, Dr. King was fighting for the same issues we have here right now in St. Louis.
Ninety five percent of the African-Americans in St. Louis region don’t have a master’s degree. Eighty five percent don’t have a bachelor’s degree.
There’s a direct correlation between crime, poverty and violence. It’s simple. If you educate them and gainfully employ them, you will eliminate crime violence and poverty.
I have to be a voice for the unvoiced. When I grew up and was shot at 16, I was told I wasn’t college material. My brother is serving a 42-year sentence in the penitentiary, and I have another brother who served five years. I know what it’s like to feel hopeless and that’s all you know. I am a living witness to what an education can do, what can happen when an institution like Harris-Stowe takes a chance on someone like me.
There are two institutions that are mandated by the state and federal government to serve the African-American population, Harris-Stowe and Lincoln University. They receive a total of three percent of the state appropriations. It’s not rocket science. Invest in those two institutions, and you will see a transformation happen. That’s not from a Harris-Stowe perspective. That’s not from a Lincoln University perspective. It’s clear: if you don’t have the resources, you are going to continue to have the crime, poverty and violence.
Dr. King said, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” If you want to see the transformation, invest in the people that matter.
Dwaun J. Warmack is president of Harris-Stowe State University.
Edited from remarks given at the 33rd Annual Missouri Statewide Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Kickoff hosted by Harris-Stowe State University on February 12.
