When Dr. Herman J. Felton Jr., and others created the Higher Education Leadership Foundation (H.E.L.F.) nearly a decade ago, they had no idea that they would become the vanguard in leading and supporting a new generation of leadership within historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
“The idea was simply to create a space for individuals who were sincerely interested in committing their vocation and uplift to HBCUs. That was it,” says Felton, who is president of Wiley College—the private four-year HBCU located in Marshall, Texas. “At the time, I didn’t understand it was about creating a pipeline or strengthening the pipeline, but we just knew that we needed to take a step.”
Over the last 10 years, those early steps have produced impressive results. More than a thousand individuals have participated in the H.E.L.F. cohort model representing more than 65 HBCUs across the nation. 
Dr. Herman J. Felton
While H.E.L.F. bills itself as a program committed to helping to prepare individuals to become leaders at all stages within HBCUs, the number of past cohort participants who have gone on to become HBCU college presidents is equally remarkable.
“This is an HBCU-centric program, and we are unapologetic about it,” says Dr. Elfred Anthony Pinkard, who served as president of Wilberforce University from 2018 until his retirement in 2023. He most recently was an HBCU presidential fellow at Brown University.
“It’s become a movement, and it was in some ways unexpected, but necessary, based on the love and respect for HBCUs. That is at the core,” says Pinkard. “These institutions are worth celebrating and affirming. And to make sure that they’re around for perpetuity, we have to ensure that there is strong and capable leadership.”
On Felton’s own pathway to leadership, he said that he recognized early on that he needed to hone some skills that would enable him to be both a “generalist” and a “specialist” and wanted the same for others.
“The idea was, how do we create something that allows us to pour into each other, help each other, to expose ourselves to the best in the business so to speak—the practitioners and the scholars—and that was it,” says Felton. “We knew we needed to take a step, and we were open to where the universe led us.”
The response was overwhelming. From the inception, there was more interest in the leadership program than the organizers could handle.
“We don’t have enough time to manage the demand,” says Felton, who adds that the organization has now blossomed into 17 cohorts of fellows. “We do the experiential model. We try to put people in front of individuals who are doing the work right now so that they’re able to glean nuggets that speak not just to the letter of the law but the spirit of the law.”
Once an individual becomes a H.E.L.F. fellow, they’re tied into the broad HBCU network that the Foundation has to offer. The impact has yielded outstanding dividends, with cohort members hiring each other, publishing together, starting consultancies together and encouraging each other to go on to complete their Ph.Ds.
“Once you’re in, you’re in but I hate that we can’t service everyone, but we try,” says Felton, who added that the Foundation has received support across the years from a number of organizations including Lumina Foundation, ECMC Foundation, and the Sea Change Foundation.
“What’s emblematic is that it shows that there are people in the community who are willing to coalesce around ideas that benefit HBCUs, “says Felton, who adds that the focus of H.E.L.F. has always been community-based.
Felton challenges the widening deficit narrative of HBCUs, particularly among its top leadership.
Dr. Elfred Anthony Pinkard
“I aways push back when people talk about the crisis,” he says. “You may have 15 vacancies, but six of them can be retirements. But we look at them as absolute crisis-related departures and I think we really need to move away from that.”
From May 12-14th, H.E.L.F. will sponsor “Ideation. Innovation. Collaboration: The Future of HBCUs” in Charlotte, N.C. The four-day convening will include administrators, faculty members, policy makers, and innovators interested in the latest trends and strategies for enhancing educational practices and leadership. This is the second iteration of the convening.
“The idea is to put everybody in the room under one space that was born out of necessity for us, produced by us, and to get everybody to ideate what’s next for the HBCU,” says Felton, who adds that there will be deep dives into enrollment management, accreditation, athletics and innovation.
“You can’t do innovation without strong human capital,” says Felton, adding that collaboration among HBCUs is the model. “We’re not competing with each other. We need to make sure we all survive in the near future so that we can build upon what our ancestors and those in the clouds have done for us and the foundation that they laid.”
Pinkard notes that the genius of H.E.L.F. is helping its fellows to drill down on why they want to be a leader in the first place.
“HBCUs will be around,” says Pinkard. “We just have to harness the talent and passion.”
Developing a cadre of well-prepared leaders remains the focus of the Foundation, which Pinkard and Felton say has to be intentional, strategic and thoughtful.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I or the founders even imagine that we would have something as incredible as we have today and it’s only getting better.”
This is the first in a series of articles about the H.E.L.F. Foundation and its work to strengthen HBCUs over the past decade.
