WASHINGTON, D.C. — Vanessa Nnaji of North Carolina A&T University did not interrupt the tears of joy streaming down her face. She turned her head slightly toward a back wall at the front of the room and continued letting happiness flow.
Nnaji finally composed herself as she fully comprehended the magnitude of standing in front of her peers with three of her teammates (Elijah Karriem of Jackson State, Tre’von Conner of Alabama State, and Christian Herrera of Albany State) holding a prestigious David J. Stern
scholarship $10,000 winning check following the "Innovate the Future" pitch competition hosted by the NBA in April.
Sixteen Historically Black Colleges and University (HBCU) students spent two-and-a-half days at the NBA’s offices in New York to develop a next-generation pitch for existing experiences, products, and content to increase the NBA’s engagement with 18 to 35-year-old African
American consumers while increasing sustainable revenue for the league.
In just the first quarter of 2023, more than 200 students at the 47 publicly-funded HBCUs TMCF supports traveled to Seattle, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Denver, Charlotte, and Cupertino, California, participating in talent pipeline programs curated by Thurgood
Marshall College Fund with renowned corporations Capital One, Aramark, Kiewit, Boeing, Medtronic, Lowes, Citi, Mondelez, and the NBA.
TMCF’s talent pipeline programs equip students with fundamental business skills and professional competencies through leadership development, career readiness, and targeted tech upskilling designed to reduce barriers that have slowed the progress of Black talent in corporate America. Students learned strategies to navigate corporate culture through career-readiness simulations and enhanced their skills to develop into elite leaders and community anchors, which leads to transformative change.
“It means the world to me to be here inside of a Fortune 500 company,” Winston-Salem State sophomore Denay Cuffie said following her experience at Mondelez. “One of the best parts of the TMCF program is being a part of a diverse group of scholars with different majors coming together in a corporate setting to learn and receive career advice from people who believe in our future.”
However, these memorable opportunities serve a deeper purpose, allowing TMCF to successfully fulfill its ambitious mission of changing the world one leader at a time.
TMCF works to advance equity and inclusion by removing the financial barriers to obtaining a college degree and providing access to opportunities and lucrative careers that spur economic mobility for students and their families for generations.
By creating a diverse talent pipeline for corporate hiring managers seeking to advance their DEI goals but not recruit at HBCU campuses, TMCF’s targeted programming provides a one-stop shop solution for hiring and retention strategies. Additionally, with the ongoing national labor
shortages, TMCF offers access to an untapped talent pipeline. Corporate partners benefit significantly from TMCF’s equity and inclusion programming, proven to enhance talent acquisition efforts to attract a broader talent pool. According to a 2021 McKinsey report on race in the workplace, Black employees comprise 14 percent of all U.S. employees. Even more startling is that the Black workforce at the managerial
level is just half of that at seven percent. Black workers are underrepresented in information technology, professional services, and financial services—all sectors that typically have higher wages and job growth.
TMCF has built a framework to accelerate societal change while helping companies gain a competitive edge. In the same McKinsey study, companies with the most diverse executive teams are 36 percent more likely to outperform their peers in profitability. TMCF recognizes that
equity and inclusion are excellent business practices, and its long list of high-profile corporate partners shares this belief.
Ka’Lex Hayes, a student who participated in a TMCF-curated immersion program with Kiewit Corporation in Denver, believes TMCF’s programming is perfect for first-generation students to explore career options.
“Going to the construction site opened my eyes to the many opportunities available,” Hayes said. “There’s so much more that goes into a construction project at many different levels.” While students learn how to add value in various career fields, corporations have an opportunity to expose a new diverse talent pipeline to their culture, careers, business projects, and varied career paths. These programs create a win-win for companies and students, offering new opportunities to advance toward their job and hiring goals.
“Part of our responsibility here at TMCF is to create opportunities so that when students graduate, they walk into a career,” TMCF President & CEO Dr. Harry Williams said. “By walking into a career, they’re walking into an area that gives them the knowledge and skills to
grow and thrive intellectually and economically. That’s why it’s important to create these career opportunities for our students.”
