AT&T is investing $10 million to boost economic opportunities for Black and underserved communities.
AT&T will collaborate with YouthBuild USA, Year Up, and others, including an effort to increase diverse viewpoints "critical to eliminating racial bias found in some of today's technologies."
That effort comes as the corporate world is joining the racial discrimination reckoning prompted both by the killing of George Floyd in police custody and the resulting protests, which underscored the anger and frustration built up over hundreds of years of systemic racism and economic inequality.
The program will focus on workforce readiness and technology development and entrepreneurship at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
The funding breaks down this way: $4.5 million to "national work readiness programs": targeting under and unemployed youth (16-24), and another $5.5 million (through its AT&T Believes program) for issues like "homelessness in Dallas and reducing the education gap in Birmingham, Ala."
