Senate Democrats on Thursday asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to immediately reinstate a fellowship program for educators at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), including community colleges designated as HSIs.
Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California), chair of the Senate HSI Caucus, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, led 11 Democratic senators in asking USDA to take action on the agency’s HSI E. Kika De La Garza (EKDLG) Fellowship Program, which the Trump administration has suspended.
HSIs are not-for-profit institutions of higher learning with 25% or higher total undergraduate Hispanic or Latino full-time students. There are 600 HSIs in the U.S. that enroll more than 5.2 million Hispanic students — two-thirds of all Hispanic undergraduates — and almost one-third of all Pell Grant recipients.
The 27-year-old EKDLG program aims to strengthen educational partnerships with faculty, staff and administrators from HSIs to collaborate with USDA to gain insight and understanding of the federal government.
“The Department’s decision to suspend EKDLG Fellowship Program threatens the U.S. agricultural workforce pipeline and the opportunities this program provides educators and students nationwide,” the senators wrote in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.
Of the 31 institutions that had 2024 EKDLG Fellows, nearly one-quarter were community colleges, including the following members of the American Association of Community Colleges:
- Arizona Western College
- Coastal Bend College (Texas)
- Harold Washington College of City Colleges of Chicago
- Hartnell College (California)
- Maricopa Community Colleges (Arizona)
- Mesa Community College (Arizona)
- Waubonsee Community College (Illinois)
