HP Inc. Deepens Investment in Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Launches Distance Learning Business Challenge
09 September 2020 - 1:00AM
HP Inc. announced the launch of its annual Historically Black
Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Business Challenge designed
to engage and attract Black students seeking careers in business
and technology.
The fourth annual HBCU Business Challenge will be held virtually
and focus on “Distance Learning,” asking students for creative
problem-solving around the challenges posed by the working and
academic worlds shifting to a remote and digital environment. The
challenge provides students with access to executive leaders,
real-world business knowledge and, ultimately, an onramp into an
industry historically difficult for people of color to break into.
Furthermore, with one in 10 Americans not being able to find work
in a challenging economic environment, this challenge gives
students practical experience at a global corporation to help
kickstart and grow their careers.
“The HBCU Business Challenge is an integral part of our holistic
partnership with the HBCUs and it embodies our commitment to
provide talent with access, knowledge and opportunity. At HP, our
long-term goal is to reinvent the standard for diversity, inclusion
and belonging and this begins with paving the way for more Black
talent to pursue careers in the tech industry,” said Lesley Slaton
Brown, chief diversity officer at HP. “The COVID-19 pandemic and
the recent social movements for racial justice have amplified the
glaring inequalities in how our country is serving communities of
color. HP’s investment in our relationship with HBCUs dates back
several years and stems from our recognition that these disparities
are particularly stark in the tech industry.”
“The HP-HBCU Business Challenge is a valuable event for our
students to engage in experiential learning and has boosted their
industry acumen and likelihood to secure internships and career
opportunities,” said Anthony C. Nelson, dean of the School of
Business at North Carolina Central University. “With the volatility
of the marketplace being further exacerbated by the COVID-19
pandemic, it is increasingly important for our students to receive
opportunities like the one HP is offering to better prepare them
for an ever-changing global economy.”
HP joined the HBCU Business Deans Roundtable as a founding
member back in 2017, and on June 1 2018, led a delegation of HBCU
Business Deans to the New York Stock Exchange to ring the closing
bell in celebration of the conclusion of the annual Roundtable
meeting. Over time, HP has deepened its partnership with
HBCUs with new areas of joint focus including financial
contributions to the HBCUvc’s Student Relief Fund to help
students during COVID-19 and connecting HBCU students to HP’s
reskilling programs including HP LIFE and BeChangeMaker.
In March this year, HP launched a pilot learning program with
North Carolina A&T State University, providing HP MultiJet
Fusion printing equipment (the company’s most advanced plastics 3D
color printing solution) and a commitment for internships and
apprenticeships to the university’s College of Engineering and
College of Science & Technology. Under the supervision of Geoff
Foster, North Carolina A&T adjunct professor and Core
Technology Molding Corporation CEO and founder, this pilot
collaboration will inform and set the stage for a broader program
with other HBCUs in subsequent years.
Government data shows that while about 12 percent of Americans
are Black, African Americans make up only about 7 percent of the US
high-tech workforce and just 3 percent of the total Silicon Valley
workforce. HP’s partnership with HBCUs seeks to dispel the myth of
the "pipeline problem" for qualified young Black candidates.
Challenge participation numbers show that the talent is there: over
the previous three years, almost 300 students across 44 HBCUs
worked in teams to develop business plans tackling real-world
challenges and of them, more than a dozen participants accepted
positions with HP in the Boise, Houston and Rio Rancho offices.
HP remains committed to driving a culture of diversity and
inclusion at all levels of the company and fighting racial
inequality in all forms. HP’s Board of Directors continues to be
the most diverse of any U.S. technology company, comprised of 42
percent women and 58 percent minorities. In 2019, 63 percent of
U.S. hires were from underrepresented groups, and in June this
year, HP set a goal of doubling the number of Black and African
American executives by 2025. About HP HP Inc.
creates technology that makes life better for everyone, everywhere.
Through our product and service portfolio of personal systems,
printers and 3D printing solutions, we engineer experiences that
amaze. More information about HP Inc. is available at
http://www.hp.com. Media contact: Camelia
Gendreaucamelia.gendreau@hp.com www.hp.com/go/newsroom
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