Paul Quinn College is a private, faith-based, four-year, liberal arts-inspired college that was founded on April 4, 1872, by a group of African Methodist Episcopal Church preachers in Austin, Texas. The school’s original purpose was to educate freed slaves and their offspring. Today, we proudly educate students of all races and socio-economic classes under the banner of our institutional ethos, WE Over Me. Our mission is to provide a quality, faith-based education that addresses the academic, social, and Christian development of students and prepares them to servant leaders and agents of change in the global marketplace.

Beginning in the fall of 2015, Paul Quinn College adopted a new student financial structure called the “New Urban College Model” which, among other characteristics, reduced student tuition and fees and provides students with the ability to graduate with less than $10,000 of student loan debt. The centerpiece of the New Urban College Model is Paul Quinn’s decision to become the country’s only urban Work College. There are currently eight work colleges in the nation. Paul Quinn is the ninth federally funded work college in the United States, the first Minority Serving Institution (“MSI”) in the Work College Consortium, and the first work college in Texas.

The vision of the Paul Quinn College Work Program is to transform ability into action and potential into achievement by encouraging all students to embrace the ideals of disciplined work, servant leadership, and initiative in preparation for lives of financial freedom, community engagement, and outstanding character.

WASHINGTON — The Black Economic Alliance, a nonpartisan group founded by Black executives and business leaders, announced today that former Congressman Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) will join the growing list of top-tier 2020 candidates participating in the Presidential Candidates Forum focused on expanding economic opportunity for Black Americans.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – BET and the Black Economic Alliance will partner this June for a Democratic presidential forum in Charleston.

The forum will be moderated by award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien and will be broadcast on Black Entertainment Television (BET).

The first-of-its-kind forum is expected to feature several of the top Democratic presidential candidates and will take place at the Charleston Music Hall on June 15th.

Candidates are expected to address how they would advance work, wages, and wealth within the black community.

Part 1

Start Cutting Pollution on Day One and Taking Executive Actions to Lead on Climate

Beto’s four-part framework starts with a forceful day-one agenda because he knows that delay is tantamount to denial — to misunderstanding the severity and scale of this growing crisis. We will cut pollution on day one, improving the quality of our air, our water, and our public health right away. At the same time, we will create jobs, support communities, and strengthen our economy — not just to compete, but to lead the world in addressing this crisis.

As President, Beto will use his executive authority not only to reverse the problematic decisions made by the current administration, but also to go beyond the climate actions under previous presidents:

- Re-enter the Paris Agreement and lead the negotiations for an even more ambitious global plan for 2030 and beyond;

- Reduce methane leakage from existing sources in the oil and natural gas industry for the first time and rapidly phase-out hydrofluorocarbons, the super-polluting greenhouse gas that is up to 9,000 times worse for climate change than carbon dioxide;

- Strengthen the clean air and hazardous waste limits for power plants and fuel economy standards that save consumers money and improve public health, while setting a trajectory to rapidly accelerate the adoption of zero-emission vehicles;

- Increase consumer savings through new, modernized, and ambitious appliance- and building-efficiency standards;

- Create unprecedented access to the technologies and markets that allow farmers and ranchers to profit from the reductions in greenhouse gas emissions they secure;

- Leverage $500 billion in annual government procurement to decarbonize across all sectors for the first time, including a new “buy clean” program for steel, glass, and cement;

- Require any federal permitting decision to fully account for climate costs and community impacts;

- Set a first-ever, net-zero emissions by 2030 carbon budget for federal lands, stopping new fossil fuel leases, changing royalties to reflect climate costs, and accelerating renewables development and forestation; and

- Protect our most wild, beautiful, and biodiverse places for generations to come — including more of the Arctic and of our sensitive landscapes and seascapes than ever before — and establish National Parks and Monuments that more fully tell our American story.