Fisk is the only HBCU awarded funding under the Civil Discourse priority area of the national competition
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Fisk University has been awarded a $4 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) to expand the Justice Propulsion Lab (JPL) and its work in civil discourse, constitutional literacy and conflict transformation.
Fisk is the only Historically Black College or University awarded funding under the Civil Discourse priority area of the national competition. The four-year award represents a significant federal investment in Fisk’s growing work at the intersection of justice, civic leadership and higher education.
“At a time when polarization threatens trust in institutions and in one another, Fisk University is investing in the disciplined practice of critical dialogue,” said Dr. James B. Pratt Jr., Founding Director of the Justice Propulsion Lab and principal investigator of the grant. “This award affirms our historic role in shaping leaders who think rigorously, speak courageously and act justly. Through the Justice Propulsion Lab, we are preparing students and communities beyond our campus not simply to argue, but to listen, mediate and build.”
Founded in 2019 at Albany State University and based at Fisk University since 2022, JPL is a research, policy and practice center that brings scholarship into direct engagement with some of the most pressing challenges facing institutions and communities.
The grant proposal was authored and secured by April Clark, who served as Fisk University’s Associate Director of Corporate & Foundation Relations during the grant development and submission process.
The federal investment will support the Lab’s next phase of growth, including new technology and research infrastructure, full-time professional staff, faculty affiliates, expanded cohorts of Justice Propulsion Agents (JPAs), new learning and research opportunities, community and institutional partnerships, and national convenings.
Building on JPL’s model of developing Justice Propulsion Agents, the grant will significantly expand student participation and deepen the involvement of Fisk faculty and staff. The work will also allow Fisk to develop approaches that can be adapted by other HBCUs, liberal arts institutions and community partners.
The Lab’s expanded work will be highlighted Oct. 22 during the 3rd Annual Kelly Miller Smith Convocation, featuring the Social Crisis Triptych under the theme Violence, Education and the Child. The gathering will connect the legacy of Rev. Dr. Kelly Miller Smith Sr. with a new generation of students, scholars and community partners engaging questions of violence, education, justice and civic life.
“For generations, Fisk has understood that education carries a responsibility beyond individual achievement,” said Dr. Agenia Walker Clark, President of Fisk University. “Our students inherit a tradition shaped by people who used their education to transform the world around them. This investment gives another generation of Fiskites the opportunity to carry that legacy forward, equipped for the realities of the world they are entering and prepared to help build what comes next.”
The $4 million award builds on JPL’s existing partnerships and a period of significant growth, including core relationships with the Kelly Miller Smith Foundation and Nollie Jenkins Family Center, as well as grant support from the MacArthur Foundation and the Volcker Alliance. Recent work has included civic voting simulations with Metro Nashville elementary students, research on corporal punishment and school discipline, and summer programming with North Nashville’s Free Community Food Program, where Justice Propulsion Agents helped prepare more than 1,000 meals for local children.
The grant concludes in 2029, marking the Justice Propulsion Lab’s tenth anniversary. JPL plans to commemorate the milestone with a national Justice in Action Conference, convening students, scholars, practitioners, alumni and civic leaders around the future of justice-centered civic leadership.
