“Detroit Export, HBCU Import: Detroit Students on the Yard and Back Home Again,” is a groundbreaking 18-month study examining how Detroit students can successfully enroll in, graduate from, and return home after attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). This comprehensive research reveals that when Detroit students leave Michigan for a four-year college, 86% choose to enroll at an HBCU. The report explores why this matters: Black students who enroll at HBCUs increase their probability of earning a college degree by 30% compared to Black students at other institutions with similar characteristics. These institutions excel at economic mobility, achieving a 67.6% success rate in moving students to higher income brackets.

Conducted by Woods & Watts Effect in partnership with College Career & Beyond’s Midnight Golf Program, the study engaged more than 350 participants—including current HBCU students, recent graduates, parents, high school counselors, college administrators, HBCU coaches, and Detroit employers. The research identifies critical gaps and opportunities across five key areas: exposure and access, enrollment and matriculation, financial support, degree completion, and post-graduation return

The report offers more than 30 strategic recommendations to strengthen what researchers call the “Detroit HBCU Ecosystem.” Key recommendations include creating formal parent exposure programs to HBCUs, hiring HBCU-trained college transition advisors, providing renewable gap-closing scholarships, securing paid internships for Detroit HBCU students, and supporting mental