Push to open up Black college satellite campuses in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO - There is a push in San Francisco to encourage Historically Black Colleges and Universities - also known as HBCUs - to open up new, satellite campuses downtown. 

Downtown San Francisco has some space and vacant buildings that city leaders would like to fill. 

Part of their plan to do that includes attracting more students and academic institutions.

At a kick-off event for the start of Black History Month at the War Memorial Veterans Building Friday, San Francisco Mayor London Breed spoke about the long-term plan to bring in HBCUs that the City's Human Rights Commission has been working on with her office.

The mayor said city workers have been speaking with representatives from the following HBCUs: Charles R. Drew University, Howard University, Morehouse College, Morgan State University, Morris Brown College, Tuskegee University and the University of the District of Columbia, to participate.

"If you think about it, we don't have any historically black college campuses for students on the West Coast," Breed said. "They are all in the South and East Coast. How do we bring that experience to San Francisco? We do that by looking at a long-term opportunity."

In the immediate future, starting this summer, 28 students from several HBCUs will take in-person summer courses in San Francisco.

A trio of San Francisco-based schools will step in to help.

The 28 students will live in the dorms at the University of San Francisco, San Francisco State will lend classroom space, and UCSF will offer the students paid internships, mentoring and training.

The longer-term goal of opening satellite campuses is still in the planning stages.

There's no timeline yet on exactly when the first campuses could become a reality.