By COLLIN BINKLEY, AP Education Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is redirecting nearly $500 million in federal funding toward historically Black colleges and tribal colleges, a one-time investment covered primarily by cuts to other colleges serving large numbers of minority students.

The Education Department announced the funding boost days after cutting $350 million from other grants, mostly from programs reserved for colleges that have large numbers of Hispanic students. Agency leaders said those grants were unconstitutional because they’re available only to colleges with certain minority enrollment thresholds.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the changes will redirect money away from “from ineffective and discriminatory programs toward those which support student success.”

“The Department has carefully scrutinized our federal grants, ensuring that taxpayers are not funding racially discriminatory programs but those programs which promote merit and excellence in education,” McMahon said in a statement.

The department is also redirecting about $60 million toward funding for charter schools and $137 million toward American history and civics grants. President Donald Trump in January issued an executive action ordering the agency to repurpose federal money toward charter schools and other school choice initiatives.

It amounts to a one-time federal funding boost of 48% increase for HBCUs and it more than doubles funding for tribal colleges and universities, the department said.

The department is flexing its power to repurpose discretionary funding to match the president’s priorities — made possible through a stopgap funding bill passed by Congress this year that gives the executive branch more authority over spending decisions.

Trump has long called himself a champion of HBCUs. During his first term, Congress added $250 million a year for HBCUs. This year Trump signed an executive action that pledges an annual White House summit, an advisory board and other support for HBCUs.

The Education Department said the money comes from programs found to be “not in the best interest of students and families.” It previously said the other minority-serving grants would be redirected to programs that do not rely on racial quotas.

A person familiar with the decision said money is also being directed away from programs that support gifted and talented programs, magnet schools, international education and teacher training. Most of those programs would be zeroed out in Trump’s 2026 budget request, said the person, who was not authorized to discuss the decision and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Related Articles

Youth mental health challenges keep mounting 2 years after Maui wildfires

Annunciation Catholic School programming to resume

Belwin opens $3.6M accessible outdoor-education facility with ‘first-class experience’ — for all

Dakota County charter school a first-of-its-kind for Eagan

The rise of AI tools forces schools to reconsider what counts as cheating

Last week’s cuts to the the Hispanic Serving Institution program reversed decades of precedent. Congress created the program in 1998 after finding that Latino students were going to college and graduating at far lower rates than white students. The department also cut several smaller programs for colleges serving certain percentages of Asian American, Black or Native American students.

The cuts drew swift blowback from Democrats, who said those programs have long had bipartisan support and fueled social mobility for working-class Americans.

A July memo from the Justice Department argues that the Hispanic Serving Institution grants are unconstitutional because they’re open only to colleges where a quarter of undergraduates or more are Hispanic. The department declined to defend the program in a suit brought by the state of Tennessee and Students for Fair Admissions, an anti-affirmative action group.

The lawsuit asks a federal judge to halt the grants. Tennessee argued all of its public universities serve Hispanic students but none meet the “arbitrary ethnic threshold” to be eligible for the funding. Those schools miss out on tens of millions of dollars because of discriminatory requirements, the suit said.

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

FERNANDA FIGUEROA, Associated Press

Each year during Hispanic Heritage Month, huge celebrations can be expected across the U.S. to showcase the diversity and culture of Hispanic people.

This year, the Trump administration’s immigration crackdowns, a federally led English-only initiative and an anti-diversity, equity and inclusion push have changed the national climate in which these celebrations occur. Organizers across the country, from Massachusetts and North Carolina to California and Washington state, have postponed or canceled heritage month festivals altogether.

Celebrated each year from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, the month is a chance for many in the U.S. to learn about and celebrate the contributions of Hispanic cultures, the country’s fastest-growing racial or ethnic minority, according to the U.S. Census. The group includes people whose ancestors come from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America.

More than 68 million people identify as ethnically Hispanic in the U.S., according to the latest census estimates.

FILE – National flags from Latin American countries are displayed on the field during a celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month before an NFL football game between the Baltimore Ravens and Dallas Cowboys in Arlington, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson, FILE)

How did Hispanic Heritage Month start?

Before there was National Hispanic Heritage Month, there was Hispanic Heritage Week, which was created through legislation sponsored by Mexican American U.S. Rep Edward R. Roybal of Los Angeles and signed into law in 1968 by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

The weeklong commemoration was expanded to a month two decades later, with legislation signed into law by President Ronald Reagan.

Related Articles

West African nationals deported by US to Ghana have all been sent to their home countries

DNA evidence found near scene of Charlie Kirk’s shooting matches suspect, FBI director says

US Army reveals Typhon missile system in Japan as tensions rise with China

Wall Street ticks toward another record as Tesla vrooms higher

Today in History: September 15, Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy

“It was clustered around big celebrations for the community,” Alberto Lammers, director of communications at the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute said. “It became a chance for people to know Hispanic cultures, for Latinos to get to know a community better and for the American public to understand a little better the long history of Latinos in the U.S.”

Sept. 15 was chosen as the starting point to coincide with the anniversary of “El Grito de Dolores,” or the “Cry of Dolores,” which was issued in 1810 from a town in Mexico that launched the country’s war for independence from Spain.

The Central American nations of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica celebrate their independence on Sept. 15 and Mexico marks its national day on Sept. 16, the day after the cry for independence.

Also during National Hispanic Heritage Month, the South American nation of Chile observes its independence day on Sept. 18.

The White House so far has not mentioned any planned events. Last year, President Joe Biden hosted a reception and issued a proclamation for the occasion.

Who is Hispanic?

Hispanic was a term coined by the federal government for people descended from Spanish-speaking cultures. But for some, the label has a connotation of political conservatism and emphasizes a connection to Spain. It sometimes gets mistakenly interchanged with “Latino” or “Latinx.”

For some, Latino reflects their ties to Latin America. So some celebrations are referred to as Latinx or Latin Heritage Month.

Latin Americans are not a monolith. There are several other identifiers for Latin Americans, depending largely on personal preference. Mexican Americans who grew up during the 1960s Civil Rights era may identify as Chicano. Other may go by their family’s nation of origin such as Colombian American or Salvadoran American.

Each culture has unique differences when it comes to music, food, art and other cultural touchstones.

A folklorico dance group performs at haltfime of an NFL football game between the Baltimore Ravens and Dallas Cowboys in Arlington, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter)

Immigration fears lead to celebration cancellations

September typically has no shortage of festivities. Events often include traditional Latin foods and entertainment like mariachi bands, folklórico and salsa dance lessons. The intent is to showcase the culture of Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and other Latin countries.

Masked ICE agents carrying out President Donald Trump’s policies via workplace raids at farms, manufacturing plants and elsewhere — which has included detaining legal residents — led some to fear large gatherings would become additional targets for raids. Another obstacle heritage celebrations face is the perception that they’d violate bans on DEI programming — something Trump has discouraged across federal agencies. Some companies and universities have followed suit.

Early in September, organizers of a Mexican Independence festival in Chicago announced they would postpone celebrations due to Trump’s promises of an immigration crackdown in the city.

“It was a painful decision, but holding El Grito Chicago at this time puts the safety of our community at stake — and that’s a risk we are unwilling to take,” said the organizers of the festival.

A new date has not yet been announced. Though Mexican Independence Day falls on Sept. 16, celebrations in Chicago typically span more than a week and draw hundreds of thousands of participants for lively parades, festivals, street parties and car caravans.

“The fact that the federal government is sending troops as we start these celebrations is an insult,” Illinois state Sen. Karina Villa, a Democrat, said at a news conference. “It is a fear tactic. It’s unforgivable.”

Similarly, Sacramento’s annual Mexican Independence Day festival was canceled with organizers citing the political climate and safety concerns.

Other events that have been canceled include the Hispanic Heritage Festival of the Carolinas, Hispanic Heritage Fest in Kenner, Louisiana and FIESTA Indianapolis.

Protests may take the place of canceled festivals

Ivan Sandoval-Cervantes, an anthropology professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said when celebrations are canceled from the top down it affects how we see them throughout the country. Used to seeing celebrations in Las Vegas advertised, he has seen very little leading up to this year’s heritage month.

“If it’s not being celebrated by a specific state that doesn’t mean they won’t be celebrated but they might go into the private sphere,” Sandoval-Cervantes said. “Where it’s safer to embrace the symbols or even speak Spanish.”

In Mexico, the government launched a new appeal to raise awareness among Mexican migrants to take every possible precaution during the holidays because any incident, such as while driving, could lead to a deportation.

“Rather than not celebrating, be cautious” and gather at the consulates, President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday.

On Thursday, Mexico’s foreign affairs secretary said there would be more consular staff on duty to respond to any emergency. Mexican nationals stopped by U.S. authorities are advised to not flee, remain silent and not sign any documents.

Chicago Latino leaders called on residents to remain peaceful during expected protests at Mexican Independence Day celebrations, arguing that any unrest could be used as justification for sending federal troops to the city.

“We will not allow others to use our fear or our anger against us,” said Berto Aguayo, of the Chicago Latino Caucus Association. “We will not take the bait. We will know our rights. We will protect each other and peacefully protest.”

Associated Press writers Christine Fernando in Chicago and María Verza in Mexico City contributed to this report.

By EDWARD ACQUAH and WILSON MCMAKIN, Associated Press

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — A group of 14 West Africans deported from the U.S. to Ghana have all been sent to their home countries of Nigeria and Gambia, the Ghanaian government spokesman told The Associated Press on Monday.

Related Articles

Letters: A madness in the land

Appeals court rules Trump administration can end legal protections for more than 400,000 migrants

California lawmakers pass bill barring authorities from wearing face masks

Lawsuit says US held West African migrants in straitjackets for 16 hours on flight to Ghana

St. Paul, legal centers, Progressive Baptist partner on program on immigrant rights

Authorities in Ghana have defended accepting the deportees on humanitarian grounds. The deportees, including 13 Nigerians and one Gambian, “have since left for their home countries,” Felix Kwakye Ofosu, Ghana’s minister for government communications, told the AP.

At a press briefing in the capital of Accra on Monday, Ghana’s Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa pushed back on criticism that the decision was an endorsement of U.S. President Donald Trump’s migration policies, saying that Ghana accepted the third-country deportees “purely on humanitarian principle.”

A U.S. federal judge had ordered the U.S. government to detail Saturday night how it was trying to ensure Ghana would not send the immigrants elsewhere in violation of domestic U.S. court orders. The administration’s agreements with so-called third countries like Ghana are part of a sweeping immigration crackdown seeking to deport millions of people who are living in the United States illegally.

A U.S. lawsuit filed on behalf of some of the migrants said they were held in “straitjackets” for 16 hours on a flight to Ghana and detained for days in “squalid conditions” after they arrived there.

It wasn’t clear when they were deported to Ghana, but first news came from the government on Wednesday.

The opposition and activists in Ghana have criticized the decision to accept the third-country deportees as going against the law. Opposition lawmakers said it raises “serious constitutional, sovereignty and foreign policy concerns which cannot be overlooked.”

None of the 14 deportees were originally from Ghana and the five West Africans who filed the lawsuit did not have ties with the country or designate it as a potential country of removal, according to the complaint.

Lawyers and activists have said the Trump administration appears to be making such deportation requests to the nations most affected by his policies on trade, migration and aid.

By MEGAN TAGAMI of Honolulu Civil Beat, CAROLYN JONES of CalMatters and TATIANA DÍAZ RAMOS of Centro de Periodismo Investigativo

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Mia Palacio felt like she lost a piece of herself when wildfires destroyed her hometown of Lahaina.

She isolated from loved ones after the 2023 disaster while struggling to process the grief, often angry that her family didn’t have a permanent place to stay and that so many others were unable to evacuate.

Moving between high schools, she never felt welcome, Palacio said, and the pain only intensified as the months wore on. Finally, near the first anniversary of the fires, Palacio reached out for help.

Hundreds of students like Palacio have struggled mentally since the fires – and not all have received the help they need.

The Hawaii Department of Education estimates more than a third of Maui students lost a family member, sustained a serious injury or had a parent lose a job after the fires, which killed 102 people and damaged more than 3,300 properties in Lahaina.

AP is collaborating with Honolulu Civil Beat, CalMatters, Blue Ridge Public Radio, and Centro de Periodismo Investigativo in Puerto Rico to examine how school communities are recovering from the disruption of natural disasters.

Two years later, many in Lahaina are ready to return to normal. But therapists say students’ mental health challenges continue to mount.

That’s common after a disaster, especially at the two-year mark, when adrenaline wears off and stress remains high, said Christopher Knightsbridge, one of several researchers at the University of Hawaii who has studied the well-being of Lahaina fire survivors. While kids may feel numb immediately following a disaster, after two years, they’re facing the toll of constant uncertainty and change, he said.

It’s a phenomenon seen wherever schooling has been disrupted by natural disasters, reporting by Honolulu Civil Beat, The Associated Press and several other news outlets shows. But a couple years after the disaster, schools are not always prepared with extra mental health supports.

On Maui, the island is dealing with an ongoing shortage of specialists. In the past few years, the number of psychiatrists serving youth has dropped from four to two, even as demand has grown.

“The crisis isn’t over,” Knightsbridge said.

Anxiety triggered by wind or small fires

Palacio made progress with the help of a school counselor and then a local organization that supports teens’ mental health through outdoor activities and adventures.

The senior at Lahainaluna High School said she’s now more comfortable confiding in others and controlling her emotions. She takes pride in mentoring younger students who also have struggled since the fires.

Two years in, many kids still wrestle with depression and anxiety.

Maui Hero Project intern DayJahiah Valdivia, 16, talks about the group with Kahākūahi Ocean Academy in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (Kevin Fujii/Honolulu Civil Beat via AP)

DayJahiah Valdivia, a senior at Kīhei Charter School, said her stress levels spike when there are strong winds or small brush fires. Valdivia lives in Upcountry Maui, which also faced wildfires that burned over a thousand acres of land on the same day as the 2023 Lahaina fires. Her home was spared, but it took months for her family to return because their property was covered in soot and needed professional cleaning.

She feels less anxious now that her family members have discussed their escape plan for future disasters. But a summer fire near a friend’s home in Central Maui renewed her fears about her loved ones’ safety.

“The anxiety never really wore off,” she said. On windy days, it was especially difficult to concentrate in class or feel safe.

In a University of Hawaii study of fire survivors conducted in 2024, just over half of children reported symptoms of depression, and 30% were likely facing an anxiety disorder. Nearly half of kids in the study, ages 10 to 17, were experiencing PTSD.

Children in disaster-torn towns across the U.S. can relate.

In Paradise, California, where the 2018 Camp Fire took 85 lives, a protracted period of disillusionment followed what some called the “hero phase,” when the community pulled together and vowed to resurrect their town. Both Lahaina and Paradise had housing shortages after their fires, so families had to move away or live with friends to go to school or work in the area. In general, students who don’t have a permanent living arrangement tend to struggle more academically and have more behavioral challenges, research shows.

Many Paradise students still struggle with anxiety and grief, seven years later, making it difficult to fully engage in school. A year after the Camp Fire, 17% of students were homeless, and the suspension rate was 7.4%, compared to 2.5% statewide. The suspension rate remained nearly triple the state average last year, and more than 26% were chronically absent.

Aryah Berkowitz, who lost her home, two dogs and her family’s business in the Paradise blaze, dealt with lingering behavioral challenges following the disaster. For nearly a year afterward, her family of seven, plus a pair of surviving pit bull-Labrador mixes, lived with a friend in nearby Chico, sharing two bedrooms and a bathroom. Berkowitz, then in sixth grade, slept on the couch.

“I was having to help my family a lot and wasn’t able to handle it,” said Berkowitz , once a high-achieving student who was suspended twice after the fire. “I was holding it inside and took it out on other people. Some days I’d just walk out of class.”

Students walk to the temporary Pulelehua campus of King Kamehameha III Elementary School in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Monday, April 1, 2024. The original school was destroyed in the August 2023, fires. (Kevin Fujii/Honolulu Civil Beat via AP)

Back on Maui, many students similarly disengaged from school.

In a state survey of Maui students in the first year after the fires, roughly half of kids said they were having trouble focusing in class or felt upset when they were reminded of the wildfires.

Some have struggled to retain class material or simply stopped attending in-person classes as they moved between hotel rooms and temporary housing, Lahainaluna High teacher Jarrett Chapin said. A few moved to online learning as their families faced continued instability.

“They just sort of vanished,” Chapin said.

Maui’s ongoing shortage of mental health staff

Maui has long dealt with medical workforce challenges. Even before the fires, it faced a shortage of mental health professionals because they struggled with the state’s high cost of living and housing shortage.

The fires brought burnout and greater economic obstacles, only exacerbating the issue. Since then, Hawaii’s education department has tried to bulk up Maui’s mental health staff by bringing in providers from neighbor islands and the mainland and, more recently, using a $2 million federal grant to support students.

But hiring mental health staff has been so difficult that even the federal money hasn’t made much of a dent. In the first nine months of the grant, the state education department primarily used the money to bus displaced students from other parts of the island to Lahaina schools.

The state has used the money to hire five part-time mental health providers working with students and staff, including one specialist who works in the evenings with students living as boarders on Lahainaluna’s campus, said Kimberly Lessard, a Department of Education district specialist.

Related Articles

The nest is empty: Parents grapple with mixed emotions after children move out

Unproven Lyme disease tests and treatments are proliferating

Belwin opens $3.6M accessible outdoor-education facility with ‘first-class experience’ — for all

As insurers struggle with GLP-1 drug costs, some seek to wean patients off

States are taking steps to ease access to COVID-19 vaccines as they await federal recommendation

Two of the six behavioral health specialist positions in Lahaina schools remained unfilled this summer, as they have been for years due to Maui’s housing shortage and high cost of living, Lessard said.

Valdivia, who still struggles with anxiety from the Upcountry Maui fires, has seen the impacts of the provider shortage firsthand. She’s on a two- to three-month waiting list to see a psychiatrist on Maui, and she’s seeing an Oʻahu-based therapist via telehealth because there aren’t enough providers who can meet with her in person.

“Even just to get evaluated (by a psychiatrist), it’s literally months,” she said. “I just think that’s crazy.”

It’s common for disaster-torn communities to struggle with shortages of psychological staff, often because of burnout and a lack of resources.

In Puerto Rico, which has suffered from a series of disasters since Hurricane Maria struck in 2017, students have experienced high rates of anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Yet despite legislation in 2000 to create more school psychologist positions, it wasn’t until the pandemic that the commonwealth’s Education Department dedicated money to hire them. Today, there are 58 vacancies across the archipelago’s 870 schools.

The school psychologists “can’t keep up,” said Nellie Zambrana, a professor of clinical psychology at the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras. Those who are working are overstretched, according to a study by the university’s Psychological Research Institute. One psychologist, the study said, was assigned to more than 100 students at three schools.

Kahākūahi Ocean Academy’s Zane Kekoa Schweizer, left, steers as Maui Hero Project youth paddle into the bay from D.T. Fleming Beach in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (Kevin Fujii/Honolulu Civil Beat via AP)

Seeking solace in adventure, peer support

Loren Lapow wasn’t deterred by the storm clouds gathering one June afternoon over D.T. Fleming Beach on Maui. The social worker helped teens carry an inflatable paddleboard to the water’s edge, cheering them on as they swam.

Amid the fun, Lapow directed the teens to reflect on their fears and losses. He asked them how they feel when they smell smoke or think about Lahaina’s famed Front Street, most of which was destroyed in the blaze.

“Places are like a friend to us,” Lapow said. “When you lose places, it hurts.”

Lapow founded the Maui Hero Project, which his website describes as “adventure-based counseling services.” The eight-week program Lapow started 25 years ago teaches teens basic disaster preparedness skills and immerses them in outdoor activities. It’s also a form of mental health support, which Lapow has leaned into since the wildfires.

Lapow’s approach has become a common strategy for nonprofits and therapists trying to reach kids who have balked at discussing their mental health since the fires. But those efforts don’t always reach the kids who need the most help.

There’s a strong stigma around seeking mental health services, particularly in Filipino and Latino communities that make up a large portion of Lahaina’s population, said Ruben Juarez, a professor at University of Hawaii who led the research study on fire survivors. Families may see counseling as a sign of weakness, and children may be reluctant to open up to therapists out of fear of being judged or scrutinized, he added.

Yet in the study, Latino teens reported the highest rates of severe depressive and PTSD symptoms. Filipino teens reported some of the highest rates of anxiety.

Maui YMCA Director of West Side Resource Center Jaylou Cabrera opens a door to their new space while it’s under renovation in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. The center will offer various services including meeting the community’s mental-health needs after the August 2023, fires destroyed the historic West Maui town. (Kevin Fujii/Honolulu Civil Beat via AP)

The state is hoping struggling students will open up to their peers. A new program called YouthLine will train Hawaii teens to respond to crisis calls, said Keli Acquaro, who oversees youth mental health for the state.

Keakealani Cashman, who graduated from Kamehameha Schools Maui in 2024, is hoping to be part of the state’s solution to provide more mental health support to the next generation of children.

After losing her home to the fires, Cashman spent her senior year talking to Native Hawaiian practitioners and researching how cultural values, such as connections to the land and her ancestors, could help her community heal from the trauma of the fires. The project helped her own mental health improve, said Cashman, who regularly met with her school’s behavioral health specialist.

Now, Cashman is entering her second year at Brigham Young University Hawaii and hopes to work as a behavioral health specialist in Hawaiian language immersion schools

“This horrible, horrible thing happened to me and my family, but I don’t have to let it kill the rest of my life,” Cashman said. “I can really help my family, my community in school, and just make an impact in what I know how to do.”

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.