 Everybody this is Jared Carter senior HBCU digest radio joining you for the final sign-off and the final Appearance of mine or formal appearance of mine as the editor of the HBCU digest or education newsflash In case you haven't heard over the last week Didn't I recently joined the family at Howard University? Well, I'll be serving as the director of operation strategy and communications and part Of my time and tenure at Howard were require And only appropriate to appropriately so that I no longer serve as the face of an independent news operation And so I just wanted to drop a video To to let folks know who haven't heard that this is what's happening To specifically talk to everybody who's invested in and finds valuable the HBCU digest and education newsflash Over the better part of a decade And to thank some folks for the success that the digest has enjoyed and by way of that How my family has been able to benefit I'm gonna try to do this in one take without crying And I failed at that over the last couple days So we're gonna try to make it this time Part of part of the question that I've getting or I've gotten over the last couple days is why are you leaving? Why are you going to an institution when you've dedicated so much time to covering these institutions? And the reality is is that even five years in to the digest I realized that it wasn't responsible And it wasn't the best fit for the sector to have one person Serving as the primary beat writer so to speak of a hundred plus institutions two year and four year schools All throughout the United States different cultures different political spectrums Different areas that impacted these schools and really powerful Positive and negative ways and even though I attempted to do it. I never thought that it was it was fair Just for one person to do it even though I came up with the idea I never thought that it was it was reasonable or sustainable to do it that way So you need to know that this wasn't a snap decision Over the last month over the last year, you know the last five years This is something I've been thinking about for a while and to that point the first three people that I want to thank Imani Jackson Audemar net and dr. Crystal de Gregory These are three sisters Who wrote for the digest who believed in it? They landed their expertise their intelligence their charisma And their impact to the digest and helped it grow in immeasurable ways And without them the digest wouldn't have been able to to really Impact issues in the way that it needed to do so over these last ten years and they're foundational to that So I'm grateful to those two sisters for all of their hard work And their intentionality in supporting the digest in the various terms that they did The reason that the digest is able or was able to be successful Over the ten years I think is in large part because the HBCU community really quickly saw That I was trying to be serious That I wanted to cover HBCU's in more ways than just culture and marching band and nurturing environments And I wanted to talk about workforce development. I wanted to talk about finance and construction and federal policy and compliance and all the things that Comprised higher ed but from the historically black Context and I think that the way That I was able to do that is because first and foremost people invested in it And so I want to specifically think there's so many people that I have to think but I want to specifically think several people Tammy Thomas formerly of Boat State University, Yuri Milligan formerly of Hampton University, Sharon Saunders formerly of Florida A&M and Bennett, Yana Hernandez and North Carolina Central, Alanda Thomas, Famu Howard, Jackson State David Horwitt from Jackson State, Kansas Johnson at Prairie View A&M, Kelly Sharp, Tennessee State, Keisha Pickett at Bethune Cookman, Archie Tucker Alabama A&M, Stan Donaldson in Norfolk State, Edwina Hanby at Fisk, George Johnson from Oakwood and now at Claffey University, Melinda Spaulding in Texas Southern, Matt White at Hampton These are just some people who specifically from a public relations and marketing perspective believed in the digest continually And I don't mean that just through advertising. I mean that Through providing press releases and making people available for interviews. That's the currency with which the digest was able to operate That's the reason You know, I was able to interview on the record more HBC presidents than anybody in history And it's the reason I was able to break so much important news on research on policy on fundraising all of these things It's because of those those folks who oversaw the PR and the marketing function of the institutions and without them The digest wouldn't have existed even 10 years So I'm grateful to every one of them Along those lines the presidents of these institutions Have availed themselves to have really tough conversations to have honest conversations both on and off the record They were able to help me to think like a president And to write like a president and to to to approach this craft with a certain sobriety And a seriousness That even when I started when I was 29 They didn't they didn't allow, you know, my arrogance and brashness To get in the way of what they saw would be positive for the culture And so I'm grateful to folks like Harold Martin Chancellor North Carolina and T Paulette Diller at Shaw Ronald Mason formerly a Jackson state in southern now UDC Andrew Hugenie Alabama and M Michael Sorrell at Paul Quinn in Christopher Brown II formerly of all corn in Kentucky State McCulloch Dull at Virginia State Ryzen Cochartus Florida Memorial and now Benedict George G. French formula of miles now Clark Atlanta Roderick's mother's Atlanta Smith Quinn Ross at Alabama State Thomas Hudson at Jackson State Herman Felton formerly of Wilberforce now Wiley Do I warm act formulae at Harris Stoke? And now at Claflin Azak Phaezon Now Edward Waters David Thomas at Morehouse James Hildre And my Harry medical Jamon Adams gas in Norfolk State Glenda Glover at Tennessee State Bay and New Kirk at Fist Leslie Pollard at Oakwood Ernest McNeely at Allen formerly of Stillman these presidents Made it a priority for the HBCU digest to be a part of Their news coverage and the way that they wanted the word to get out about their schools And he had very honest conversations with me About things they often didn't want to talk about And so I'm so grateful that presidents Saw that what the digest was trying to do and really Turned the tide on HBCU coverage by making themselves available To me and to the digest and by way of that to the HBCU community I'm just in debt But because of the way they believed in me, so thank you brothers and sisters for that Also critical to the digest success in the way that I Tried to think about policy and read through, you know countless hours of policy documents and coverage local coverage all over the country A lot of folks don't know on our on a daily basis. I would read 30 40 newspapers Even those that didn't have HBCU coverage in them just to try to get an understanding of how states and counties and regions were looking at higher education and Their way that I was raised to do that is because of some really impactful former presidents Who were serving or begun serving when I started to digest or during the course of my work with the digest Are now not In official presidential capacities, but still very much Giants in the culture. And so Diane Suber Dr. Yancey Cynthia Jackson Hammond a genie Freeman James Anderson Charlie Nelms Frank Pogue the great late Fred Humphries folks like that You know, they would they would have a really serious conversations with me and when I screwed up they would call And essentially say you're screwing up But like a son like a son and so I Think that I was able to mature as a man and as a professional Because of folks like that. Obviously because of the sitting presidents too But the former presidents were really on my behind And really took time to help me understand nuance about things like accreditation Interface with lawmakers And just really schooled me to think of our sector even in a more dynamic way Also can't forget on my romangum You know Just so much that they poured into me And at the risk of not melting down and crying like I have over the last couple of days Just leave it there that those are dynamic people Really working and and save this culture from itself a lot of times I'm also grateful to a Lot of the content creators With whom I came up Eric Moore was a at onydan.com Was a great influence on any dance sports. A lot of people don't know that started out as HBCU sports blog calm And in January of 2010 shifted to HBCU digest calm and along the way Met some really great brothers Steven gate there of HBCU game day Tyler me Tali car Also of HBCU game day William Foster at HBCU money These were the peers that I always tried to keep pace with because they were they were so good and are so good at What they do in covering HBCU athletics and finance and so I Just thank you. Thank you brothers for the example And and for the competition and I hope I was able to keep pace Because you guys are out of this world and doing the service of great and doing the sector a great justice And then there are some folks who were just Kind of God tier in my life in changing the direction of the digest Just in powerful ways Jelani Zarif Who helped me come up with HBCU voices of STEM excellence, which was a a Interview series where we highlighted brothers and sisters at PhD levels of research across all different kinds of sciences that really broke the mold And it will continue to break the mold. Hopefully my brother Jelani will continue on his hopes Hopefully after I'm gone And that is something that was groundbreaking. It's particularly to showcase black women In in natural applied and medical science. That was just something that has never been seen before From a first-person perspective of these brothers and sisters explaining How did they get from somewhere like Jackson, Mississippi to Johns Hopkins University or how do you become the first? you know black woman astrophysicist On a PhD astrophysicist from Norfolk state. These are the kind of stories that we told And Jelani was was key and is key to that So thank you brother for your your kind words nick Perkins You guys know this brother. He's from Fayetteville State and Howard University He's not an owner of flood records, but before that he was Perkins management service company ink And he was one of the first investors in the HBCU digest and There would be no digest. There would be no HBCU awards without him And so nick, uh, you know that you're one of About six or seven cues On the earth that I just adore. Um, and I appreciate you brother And you know that and I try to tell you every time I think about it Um, and I hope you know that so thank you, uh, Johnny Taylor Uh the former president and CEO of Durga Marshall College one Just an extraordinary uh advocate on behalf of the HBCU even when I I got in trouble He would be the first to try to bail me out of it with people I mean as high up as the White House and as low down as as you know A dean at a campus He schooled me You know, he protected me in a lot of ways And he's always supported me. So attorney Taylor brother. Um, I love you and I appreciate you, man. Um Bill Harvey at Hampton president Hampton Um for his wise words, this is another part of that that that omega sci-fi contingency um For which I'm grateful. Um Just thank you for everything. Thank you for everything um All your words all your calls all your investment Allow me to have the HBCU awards there allowing us to name our lifetime achievement award after you You're the greatest man. I don't I don't know how else to put it And then Earl S Richardson, uh, the president emeritus of Morgan State University Who was my president um as a student and as an employee at Morgan Just just an absolute Genius and savant At leadership and advocacy and so much of what I know I learned from him While I was a student And I'm forever his student. And so Doc brother, um, thank you. I love you and I you don't know. Uh, how much you mean Uh to me and my family um And then obviously, you know, my my um immediate family my parents Herman and Evelyn Uh, Bobby and Iris Harris my my I can't even call them in-laws. They're like my second set of parents my second mom and dad My brothers and my sisters Uh, Jason and Jamila, uh, Steve and Erica Um for all their support and cheerleading. Um Thank you, um immense amount of gratitude for you and then obviously, um My peach cobbler family Erin Baltimore. Thank you Uh for all of your support And then, um my wife and babies, uh, Dr. Lakita Carter, uh, Jared Jr. Landon Colton and Elise all of this And everything to follow. Um, it's for you guys and so Thank you, uh For allowing me to do this The way I wanted to do it I know there was a bunch of times where we were eating dinner. Um And uh, you know, I had a laptop with me trying to write stories. Um, there were a lot of late nights when I got started Kita that You wanted to throw the laptop out the window and you didn't um And you constantly would tell me how much you believed in me. Um And how much you cheered on what I was doing And that meant a lot when I didn't believe that what I was doing made a difference And so And I'm grateful to you and the little ones, uh for the constant drive in my life The constant love in my life Um, even when I thought I didn't deserve it um You guys made me a believer in myself and I believe that uh I was worthy of love In that way and in other ways. So thank you. Um Um So before I melt down people Ask what the future is Um, and right now I don't know and the last set of folks that uh, I want to thank uh, and to charge formally Are the folks uh from Dodgers at the dark. So that's uh, canella eatman Taylor Smith, Lord Brooks or his kill go Eric price, Winston coffee Kevin davis my brother. Thank you um And I hope that you guys uh with me in some respects, um Without me in most respects we'll figure out a way to responsibly do this Most of all tiffany brockington um My sister Um, and i'm so proud of you Uh for what not only what you've done with the digest but what you've done In your career The tenacity with which you face Working with me And talking to me on a daily basis I appreciate you And i'm excited to see uh with the digest at the dark Project, uh, we'll do next um You have you guys in this video have heard me name a lot of black women And that is the final thing that I will say about the digest and where it should go It's one thing, uh, you know for me or anybody else to have an idea like this And it's another thing for the idea to effectively Work for the community It is only Fitting and appropriate that whatever direction the digest takes next um That it is intimately and holistically involving of black women Uh black women not just from the perspective that they need to be heard And that they lead our communities in so many ways Uh, but the numbers just make sense There are no hbcu's there are no hbcu communities. There is no hbcu philanthropy without black women And so to that point if there is to be a future of the hbcu digest and education newsflash It should be a black women or some black women in charge of it And so I am hopeful uh that I can play a role in more black women Uh being a part of the digest and being a part of the future direction and to Everyone who has ever invested a dollar In this project as a subscriber as an advertiser In any way I am Completely grateful for you um There are so many things to which or in which you can invest your resources your hard earned money And that you would choose The digest to be among those things Means more to me than you will ever know Um, and I hope that you continue your investment Even though I can't be a part of it I will always be a part of it In working to direct your investment To responsible writers and content creators and ideas that promote the survival and the growth of hbcu's So if you are watching this Please stay As a subscriber as an investor as a believer as a commenter Everything please stay Because the best is yet to come I may have started it I may have even done a good job at it But the better days are ahead And I hope you'll stick around to see him Um to everyone Thank you. Thank you. Thank you None of this Was me it was all you It was always about you And will always be about our success together um And for everybody who's glad to see me go You should know That Whoever replaces me Is going to be more thorough than I am so you shouldn't rest easy You shouldn't rest easy Because the work is just getting started Thank you again To doctors Wayne a frederick and tashney de brog at howard. Thank you for an amazing opportunity Um, I won't let you down Howard university community. I won't let you down I'm excited to join you And for the rest of the hbcu community um I'm looking forward to the fight with you In a different way But I'm looking forward to Being in the fight with you Thank you