By Don Dike-Anukam
Democratic candidates for president continue to advance their campaigns in Nevada. Just last week both Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) paid visits to the Biggest Little City.
But on Thursday, presidential candidate, climate change activist and philanthropist Tom Steyer (D-Calif.) announced via a phone conference call his plan to improve funding for higher education.
He specifically wants better funding for historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Steyer took a number of questions from media, including This Is Reno.
“That’s why I am pledging, if elected president, the boldest historically black college and university support of any candidate,” he said.
Nevada does not have HBCUs, but Steyer noted that his plan would cover community colleges.
“I’m sure you know, but I’ll just mention in case you don’t … I’m from California,” he said. “We don’t have HBCUs here either. [Community colleges] perform a lot of the same function that HBCUs do, and I’m in favor of two years of free community college, across the country because … that provides access to disadvantaged kids to actually let them live up to their potential.”
Steyer’s push appears to mirror many fellow Democratic candidates appealing to African American and minority voters, vital voters to Democratic party candidates and in the upcoming Presidential primaries in Nevada and South Carolina in February.
In Nevada African Americans (10.1 percent) and Latinos (29 percent) are projected to make up about 40 percent of the population statewide, according to Census data.
