Apple Investing $40 Million to Inspire HBCU Students to Pursue Tech Careers
The technology industry has been challenged in recent years to increase the diversity of its workforce as one in 14 tech workers are Black or Latino. Apple is jumping ahead of other tech firms in their efforts to develop the future of African-Americans in technology.
The company has partnered with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund to invest $40 million in HBCUs and to inspire Black students to pursue careers in technology. This is the largest and most comprehensive corporate investment ever into HBCUs, TMCF writes.
“Working with the most innovative company on the planet, we’re going to expose more African-American students to the possibilities of a career in technology and inspire them to become future tech innovators, entrepreneurs and leaders,” said Johnny C. Taylor, the Thurgood Marshall College Fund's president and CEO, in a statement.
The fund will be shelled out over multiple years and students will have opportunities to visit Apple's campus, land internships and be part of a talent database.
Current HBCU students are excited to know about Apple's initiative to create a pipeline of talent from their schools to the big world of technology.
“The commitment Apple is making to recruit students like me from HBCUs means the future for my graduating class just got even brighter and that’s what diversity should be about," said Tony Burrus, a senior at North Carolina A&T State University.
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