House of Representatives passes HBCU PARTNERS Act

The U.S. House of Representatives has now made it much easier for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to build greater capacity between themselves and federal agencies. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the “HBCU Propelling Agency Relations Towards a New Era of Results for Students Act” (HBCU PARTNERS Act) which now requires federal agencies with relevant grants and programs to, on an annual basis, develop plans to expand the participation of HBCUs in their agency activities and track their progress towards engagement–related goals.

Projecting Illinois crime rates and the impact of further prison population reductions

In this study, funded by The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, the authors conclude that Illinois crime rates, which have been on the decline since the 1990s, will continue to decline in a fluctuating pattern, with moderate year-to-year changes. This will be true even if Illinois reduces its prison population by an additional 25% over five years. The authors reached this conclusion by constructing a quantitative model that accounts for Illinois crime trends over nearly four decades and provides a basis for predicting crime rates in the near future. This study is a companion to the 2020 Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation report Explaining the Past and Projecting Future Crime Rates, which examined national crime trends and reached similar conclusions about crime rates in the near future.