For organizations like the United Negro College Fund that are stakeholders in national education policy decisions, a new Congress provides an opportunity to take a fresh look at legislative missions and policy agendas. And when control of both the House and Senate shifts from one party to the other, as it has for the 110th Congress that convened last month, it’s an especially good time to take a fresh look at your own mission and to think about what federal help you can realistically hope for to get to where you need to go.

UNCF’s mission addresses an educational fact of life that will be all too familiar to readers of Diverse: More than 50 years after Brown v. Board of Education, and after all the progress that’s been made in creating educational opportunities for African-Americans, the Black-White educational attainment gap is not only still there, it’s getting wider.

UNCF’s mission is to close that gap by doing everything it can to help qualified minority students get the college education they need to start their professional careers. We’ll do that by raising funds to support the 39 private historically Black colleges and universities that make up UNCF, and by providing thousands of scholarships to help students across the country overcome the financial barriers that stand between them and the college degrees they want and need. We also serve as a national advocate for minority higher education through mass media — like our annual music-and-education special “An Evening of Stars” — and through taking part in Washington’s policy debates.

Unlike many other organizations, we don’t seek federal funding. But our schools and students are all affected by federal  policies. So we maintain an active presence in Washington, sometimes on our own, sometimes in collaboration with other groups committed to expanding the reach of higher education. And the measures we support are those that help the colleges and students that depend on us to fulfill their roles of teaching and learning.