In 2016, Dr. Stacey Patton —a nationally-recognized journalist, advocate, and educator— began teaching at Morgan State University in Baltimore . However, she soon realized that many of her students faced a pretty serious issue: keeping up with the cost of textbooks. "When I began teaching journalism at Morgan State University in 2016, I noticed that a number of my students were struggling to keep up with their assignments," Dr. Patton recalled. "Upon further investigation, I discovered that they had not purchased books for class because they could not afford them." To help mitigate her students' financial hardships, Dr. Patton launched the Ida B. Wells-Barnett Textbook Fund. The initiative is named for the noteworthy Ida B. Wells , a civil rights pioneer who helped blast the evils of lynching through her journalism . Dr. Patton has raised over $150,000 over the past nine academic semesters through this initiative, and she currently has a goal of raising $25,000 through GoFundMe.