Leaders of historically Black colleges and universities want their institutions to prepare students for the rapidly changing workforce and careers in industries such as infrastructure, manufacturing, healthcare and education. They also said they want to ensure companies benefiting from the talent HBCUs produce also reinvest in those colleges and communities.The leaders discussed those issues in two panels Wednesday during the first day of DELTA FEST, a three-day event that brought dozens of nonprofit executives, business leaders, entrepreneurs, politicians and community leaders to downtown Jackson. The event focused in part on how communities across Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana and Georgia can benefit from more than $200 billion in capital investment in the region from industries such as manufacturing, healthcare and education.Bobbie Knight, president of Miles College in Fairfield, Alabama, said HBCUs shouldn’t just produce talent that companies can recruit away. Instead, Knight said, leaders should create partnerships with corporations and companies to generate investments and opportunities for students that can also benefit the colleges and their surrounding communities.
