LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, Pa., July 30, 2020 – Lincoln University announced Wednesday it is proud to be among the historically black colleges and universities to partner with nonprofit Testing for American to bring accurate, frequent COVID-19 tests for students, faculty, and staff as part of a broader plan to help safely reopen campus.
“Our partnership with Testing for America helps us remain focused on our core mission: ensuring our students can safely continue their education. Access to frequent, affordable, accurate testing is essential to protecting and caring for our students, faculty, and staff,” said Dr. Brenda A. Allen, president of Lincoln University.
It is especially important for HBCUs to safely reopen this fall as communities of color across the US have been disproportionately affected by the health and economic crises caused by COVID-19. HBCUs can and will play a vital role in our nation's recovery.
The Thurgood Marshall College Fund and The United Negro College Fund announced earlier this week they had joined with Testing for America to help HBCUs across the nation. Combined, the organizations represent almost 300,000 students at more than 80 historically black colleges and universities.
Lincoln University, with 2,200 students, is the nation’s first degree-granting HBCU and alma mater of Thurgood Marshall. Classes are scheduled to begin Aug. 17.
The HBCU testing program through Testing for America is being pioneered at Delaware State University, and more than half-dozen other HBCUs have since become partners along with Lincoln.
At Delaware State, up to 3,000 students, staff and faculty will be tested frequently in combination with other safety protocols such as social distancing, a hybrid of virtual and in-person classes, mandatory masks, and contact tracing. Special accommodations have been set up for students who test positive.
TFA is a nonprofit established by leading academics, engineers, and entrepreneurs to solve the testing crisis in America. The organization has identified and is supporting a portfolio of high-quality, scale-ready technologies that can complete millions of tests per day at a very low cost.
"We don't need to wait for new innovations. We have the technology now to dramatically increase access to meaningful, affordable, repeat testing to help us safely and permanently reopen schools, businesses, and ultimately the US economy," said TFA Founder Jason Yeung.
Current TFA partners include Cerner, a global health care technology company, and Illumina, the world leader in genomic sequencing, as well as philanthropic donors.
About Testing for America (TFA):
Testing for America (TFA) is a non-profit organization whose goal is to make low-cost, highly reliable testing abundant and empower Americans with the information they need to make public health decisions and ultimately reopen schools, businesses, and the US economy. Testing for America is a nonprofit LLC structured within the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology (501c3). For more information: www.testingforamerica.org.
