The 10 Best Deals of August 8, 2019

We see a lot of deals around the web over on Kinja Deals, but these were our ten favorites today.

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Morehouse Launches New Fund to Help Eliminate Student Loan Debt

In light of America’s massive student loan debt crisis, which has ballooned to a whopping $1.5 trillion, Morehouse College announced a new program designed to help relieve the burden of debt for its graduates.

According to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), 80% of HBCU students use federal loans to fund their education, compared to 55% of their peers at other private and state institutions. HBCU graduates also borrow nearly twice as much than non-HBCU students, while 1 in 4 HBCU students borrow at least $40,000 to attend college. At Morehouse, the average graduate owes between $35,000 and $40,000 in student loans.

To help offset the stress of student debt on alumni, Morehouse is launching a funding initiative that will solicit and accept donations made specifically to reduce or eliminate the student loan debt of Morehouse Men. The goal of the Morehouse College Student Success program is to give grads greater financial freedom and the opportunity to pursue advanced degrees, start careers, and build wealth.

The program, which was established by the HBCU’s Board of Trustees, will also function as a fund-raising and research initiative that will study the impact of the cost of higher education on Morehouse Men compared to the freedom that alumni experience in their careers when their student loan balances are paid in full or reduced.

“The Morehouse College Student Success Program will provide students with a liberating gift that will wipe away or greatly reduce their student loans, allowing them to pursue their dreams and lead lives of leadership and service immediately after graduation,” said David A. Thomas, president of Morehouse College, in a statement. “We, at Morehouse, see the Student Success Program as an important step toward improving outcomes for our graduates and addressing the income disparities that people of color experience when they are overburdened by debt.”

UNCF officials applauded Morehouse’s Student Success Program as a potential model for other HBCUs and liberal arts institutions. “Morehouse’s program to provide debt relief to new graduates is a fund-raising opportunity that should be studied and duplicated nationally,” said UNCF president and CEO Michael L. Lomax. “The impact of such a gift, particularly for minority or economically disadvantaged families, could accelerate the growth of a more diverse and robust middle class.”

The new program comes months after black billionaire Robert F. Smith, the CEO of Vista Equity Partners, committed to donating $40 million to pay off the student debt of the entire Morehouse 2019 graduating class. “My family is going to create a grant to eliminate your student loans,” Smith said in May at Morehouse’s commencement ceremony. “You great Morehouse men are bound only by the limits of your own conviction and creativity.”

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NRA Head Reportedly Called Trump to Warn Him That Pushing Firearm Background Checks Wouldn’t Play Well With His Base

Vladimir Putin’s most beloved Russian operative walked onto the White House lawn and told the press that he was “all in favor” of “background checks like we’ve never had before.”

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'She's Your Queen to Be': KiKi Layne and Leslie Jones Are the Latest Talents Coming 2 America

Looks like one of our most beloved films is getting some fresh female energy for its reboot; according to The Hollywood Reporter, If Beale Street Could Talk’s KiKi Layne and Saturday Night Live’s Leslie Jones will be joining the cast of Coming 2 America!

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She Took Over Her Family’s 114-Year-Old Construction Company and Turned It Into a $50 Million Powerhouse

Steadily finding ways to excel in the $1.2 trillion construction industry, Cheryl McKissack Daniel is using her business savvy to equip New York-based McKissack & McKissack, the oldest black construction company (and No. 64 on the top 100 list of the nation’s largest black businesses–the ‘BE 100s’–with $50 million in revenues), for future growth. As such, her company is a freshman among the BE 100s.

McKissack Daniel became the company’s fifth-generation owner, president and CEO in 2000. Now, she is ready to take the nation’s oldest minority and woman-owned design and construction firm to higher ground. The 114-year-old company mainly provides construction management services to municipalities, major companies, and government agencies operating largely in the infrastructure, transit, healthcare, and education sectors.

[RELATED: VIEW THE FULL LIST OF THE NATION’S 100 MOST SUCCESSFUL BLACK-OWNED BUSINESSES–THE ‘BE 100s’]

Driven to build upon the family business legacy, McKissack Daniel  is clearly attuned to the struggles of her ancestors who had to overcome an inhospitable environment (the family’s beginnings in the building trade began during slavery) as well as their achievements that have propelled the firm to its current status. She maintains that the continuation of the firm’s growth is vital for the creation of jobs and wealth-building opportunities in the black communities where her firm’s projects are located.

On Track to Make $30 Million in Six Years 

McKissack & McKissack is currently working on more than 55 projects mainly in New York and Pennsylvania. Its largest undertaking is serving as project manager of the $8 billion JFK International Airport Terminal One redevelopment in New York City. Moreover, McKissack Daniel’s company is teaming with notable firms like Magic Johnson Enterprises and Loop Capital (a top black-owned investment bank) to engage in infrastructure work on the project expected to be completed in 2025. McKissack Daniel estimates her firm’s take will be conservatively about $30 million over the next six years.

In addition, her company is also serving as an independent engineer for the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) Capital Budget Program. It will provide operational audits for 50 large projects as part of the agency’s $32 billion capital budget to help enhance its massive transit system. McKissack Daniel says the contract will produce an $80 million fee paid to her firm over a seven-year period. Future growth plans call for pursuing new work at Terminal Six at JFK Airport and an estimated $30 billion rail tunnel project linking New York and New Jersey called the Gateway Terminal.

McKissack Daniel says an ongoing challenge is gaining access to large contracts as a prime contractor. “We still have to really force that issue and break into more private sector work with Fortune 100 companies,” she says. “We need to continue to win mega-projects as a prime contractor.”

In another venture, McKissack Daniel’s firm is investing $100,000 in Legacy Engineering, a new mechanical, electrical, and plumbing startup that will target government, private corporations, and cultural centers among its clients. “We are really building this firm to assist black engineering entrepreneurs to become their own business owners.”

-Editors’ note: This article originally appeared in the Summer 2019 edition of Black Enterprise Magazine. Order the magazine today. 

 

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