Wesley Hilliard
Apple has announced four historically Black colleges and universities will receive $5 million of its Racial Equity and Injustice Initiative fund.
The Racial Equity and Injustice Initiative is a $100 million fund supplied by Apple to ensure more positive outcomes for communities of color. It focuses on three areas: education, criminal justice reform, and economic equality.
On Thursday, Apple announced four new schools that would be receiving funds. Alabama A&M University, Howard University, Morgan State University, and Prairie View A&M University will each receive three-year grants to support each school's engineering pipelines.
"The HBCU community is home to incredible Black talent and we are thrilled to work alongside these universities to enhance the opportunities for their students," said Lisa Jackson, Apple's vice president of environment, policy and social Initiatives in a statement. "We know many jobs of the future will be in innovative areas like silicon engineering and we want to help ensure the leaders of tomorrow have access to transformational learning opportunities."
According to USA Today, studies show Black professionals make up only 5% of the tech workforce, 3% of tech executives, and 1% of tech founders. Apple hopes to target historically Black colleges and universities to address such disparity in the workforce.
In addition to the funds, Apple is providing education resources directly. Students will be able to engage with Apple engineers through design projects and internships.
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16 Comments
It's going to take a lot more money and a long time to remove the systemic racism that has kept African Americans in this country from getting an equal shot at success.
That money might be better spent at good Engineering schools by creating scholarships for minority students who qualify for admission.
Top 10
MIT
Stanford
California-Berkeley
Cal Tech
Carnagie Mellon
Purdue
Michigan
Georgia Tech
California - San Diego
Illinois
HBCUs enroll 3% of students, but produce 30% of Black Engineering Degree holders. This is money well-spent and puts actions behind Apple & Cook's words to foster inclusion and diversity.