Source: IndyWeek
One day after the Martin Luther King holiday, Fidelity announced a major initiative that will have a substantial impact on North Carolina students. The investment firm has committed $250 million to provide access to education and support for up to 50,000 Black, Latinx, and historically underserved students.
The initiative, called “Invest in My Education (ME),” is a partnership with Fidelity and nonprofits, including the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). The program will provide scholarship funding, mentorship and career guidance, as well as internships and job placement services. The goal is to increase college completion rates among Black and Lantix students and to close the gap in college matriculation and graduation rates between white and non-white students. The Triangle has been selected as one of the three regions where the ME’s pilot program will start.
The ME initiative will “focus on financial wellbeing, bringing together scholarships, mentoring, student success and education expertise, as well as experienced nonprofit partners to improve the long-term outcomes of thousands of Black, Latinx, and underserved students,” according to the release.
The ME initiative is the latest step in Fidelity’s ongoing commitment to historically underserved communities. The success of the initiative will be measured through students’ college completion rates, their capacity to graduate without student debt, and their ability to secure good-paying jobs that facilitate greater economic mobility and financially firm futures.
