Not less than 48 hrs. after FL Governor Ron DeSantis’ announced a ban on a new Advanced Placement course for high school students on African American studies FAMU has launched a three-year partnership to advance racial equity. The DeSantis administration which has waged a public "war on woke" in education ,called the the teaching of African American studies “inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.”
The Building Black Dynasties, as it is called, is a partnership between FAMU, the Concept Creative Group and Blackstone LaunchPad. The goal is to advance racial equity in FAMU’s entrepreneurship ecosystem, with the ultimate goal of working to close the racial wealth gap through entrepreneurial execution.
Jason Black, campus director for Blackstone LaunchPad at FAMU, said one of the major barriers to African-Americans entering the entrepreneurial landscape is lack of access to resources and information.
"At Blackstone LaunchPad @ FAMU, we are committed to helping students develop an entrepreneurial mindset and to strengthening those skills needed to launch and maintain successful and thriving businesses. We are also aware that sustaining these resources is paramount to entrepreneurial success, so establishing dynastic black wealth is at the core of what we do. We are looking forward to the opportunities this relationship will create for our students.”
The new program comes on the heels of DeSantis’ late December memo to Florida’s 12 university presidents requesting details on their spending on programs related to diversity, equity, inclusion, or critical race theory.
While the new program appears to be funded entirely from private sources the timing of the announcement could be viewed as a public act of defiance to Florida's governor.