UNCF Receives $50 Million Grant to Help HBCU Graduates Find Jobs

By: Jarrett Carter Sr. – @jlcarter_sr

The United Negro College Fund today announced a new seven-year, $50 million partnership with the Lilly Endowment, designed to aid students from historically and predominantly black colleges in finding work after graduation.

The UNCF Career Pathways program will provide internships, learning opportunities, networking and mentoring resources to campuses who demonstrate innovative approaches to improving post-graduate job placement, with an eye towards improving collective job placement rates for students at HBCUs and PBIs by 15 percent.

Officials called the gift, the second largest in UNCF history, a crucial investment in preparing and placing black students into the careers of the future.

“We have designed a program that we envision will serve as a model of best practices to solve the unemployment and underemployment crisis among recent college graduates,” said UNCF President and CEO Dr. Michael L. Lomax. “In today’s marketplace, students need both the knowledge and soft skills to compete in the global economy. Sadly, too many of our nation’s talented students are having difficulty finding good jobs after graduation. Our goal is to work with students, faculty, colleges, alumni, and employers to better connect the student experience with the jobs of the future.”

According to labor statistics, more than 12 percent of black college graduates between ages 22 and 27 were unemployed, and more than 56 percent of African American grads were classified as underemployed in 2014.