Historically Black Colleges and Universities have long been at the middle of economic development throughout the Black community by educating our country’s best and brightest and providing a bunch of employment opportunities.

Within the wake of George Floyd’s tragic 2020murder, many corporations made guarantees to donate to our HBCUs as a method to show their solidarity with the Black community. Now greater than two years later, while a few of those guarantees have never materialized, some corporations have invested within the futures of HBCUs and by default, the futures of our communities, by not only making a financial contribution, but in addition providing resources, opportunities and more. Morehouse and Spelman Colleges teamed up with MasterCard to launch the Center for Black Entrepreneurship (CEB), while Bank of America partnered with Howard University to open the Center for Applied Data Science and Analytics. Speaking on a panel presented by Mastercard on the Wealth & Power stage throughout the 2022 ESSENCE Festival of Culture, CEB Director Melissa L. Bradley emphasized that deep-seated corporate partnerships like these transcend just the cash.

“Having the ability to provide faculty support, with the ability to put money into research, with the ability to bring recent technologies to the campus and in fact, if anybody paid attention, we saw the large launch of Ralph Lauren with Spelman and Morehouse and a few people might say, was that basically good,” she noted. “I can say that it was an enormous economic driver for the schools and likewise, it allowed several students with an interest in the sector to maneuver into jobs.”

While monetary donations are welcomed, Howard University Professor William Southerland implored more corporations to thin beyond a one-time gift in the event that they really intend to make a difference.

“ For instance, it’s very easy for a corporation or company to make a contribution, but I woulds suggest that they think long-term and give it some thought from philanthropic partnering perspective after which they might really understand the needs of an establishment and never just give a present” he emphasized. “Solve the issue. Because, sometimes you’ll be able to give a present and yet the issue remains to be not solved.”

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Take a look at the video above to listen to the conversation in full. For more of the whole lot you missed on the 2022 ESSENCE Festival of Culture, visit our official video content hub HERE.