HP Inc. Deepens Investment in Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Launches Distance Learning Business Challenge

News highlights:

• HP is expanding its partnership with HBCUs by providing financial support during COVID-19 and implementing an innovative pilot learning program focused on 3D printing at North Carolina A&T State University.
• HBCU students will tackle critical business problems, gain valuable experience to kickstart their career journeys, expand employer networks and identify job opportunities.
• Previous challenges attracted more than 300 students across 44 HBCUs, select participants later becoming full-time employees or interns at HP.

PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 08, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 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.”