Walmart and North Carolina A&T State University Launch New Education Initiative For Black STEM Grads

Walmart is teaming up with the country’s largest HBCU institution, North Carolina A&T State University, to make a difference for Black graduates and professionals working in STEM. The two announced their collaboration for the launch of the Equity in Education Initiative.

Walmart will be investing $5 million into the new program with the goal of increasing the number of Black graduates in the fields of engineering, business, and other professional disciplines. The initiative will include scholarship support, leadership counseling workshops, and support academic performance.

“We applaud Walmart’s commitment to the Equity in Education program, allowing us to bring the Black Male Initiative to a broader group of N.C. A&T students,” says Crystal E. Ashby, interim president and CEO of The Executive Leadership Council, in a press statement on the company website.

“We designed the Black Male Initiative with a specific intent of investing in and changing the trajectory of the lives of young Black men. We value Walmart’s action to close the performance gap between young Black men and women, and young Black men and the majority population, at the college level.”

The initiative is slated to begin in 2021 and to go on over the course of five years where participants will have the opportunity to also practice business case studies provided by Walmart. “As a leading STEM university with longstanding strengths in business education, we are always interested in growing the size and academic strength of our student body and the number of outstanding graduates we send into the world,” said N.C. A&T Chancellor Harold L. Martin Sr. in a statement.

“We are profoundly grateful for the support of Walmart and the partnership of our colleagues at The ELC and MLT. Their collective involvement in the Equity in Education Initiative will ensure this initiative pays dividends for many years to come.”