Apple announces racial justice and equity projects, in an investment of US$ 100 million

A Apple announced today during an interview with its CEO, Tim Cook, for the US television network CBS, new projects of the Racial Justice and Equity Initiative in US territory. These projects are part of Apple's previously announced $100 million investment, and aim to break down barriers, provide more opportunities and combat injustices experienced by the black population.

The social aid initiative was announced in June last year by Apple, during the protests of Black Lives Matter (Black Lives Matter), and aims to provide support and help on all possible fronts, from education to employability.

powerful social actions

Among the various actions and financial support that Apple will make as part of the racial justice and equity project, some of them attract more attention. First, it will make a $25 million investment to help create and maintain the Propel Center, a learning and technology center focused on black people that is shaping up to be one of the largest training centers in the US.

With powerful labs, research centers for AI, the arts and social justice, the Propel Center has been billed as one of the biggest steps in education focused on black people in US history, and will now be supported by Apple. Another action that is part of the program released by the company today is that it will be giving two new types of university scholarships to Historically Black Universities (HBCU): Innovation Grants, which will provide grants to university labs to develop their technologies and hardware together with Apple, and Faculty Fellows Program, which will give teachers access to seminars, funds and ways to improve their foundations of study.

Apple will also continue its partnership with Thurgood Marshall College Fund, an institution that grants scholarships to people from communities with fewer resources. In the continuation of the partnership, Apple will be making 100 new scholarships available to these communities, which in addition to financial aid also include mentoring and attention to the development of students who are in the program.

Finally, the company will also showcase equity investments in communities such as Harlem, investing $10 million to give businesses and entrepreneurs located in that community better resources.

First US Apple Developer Academy

Apple also announced that it intends to open the first Developer Academy US, focused on Detroit. From demographics, Apple saw that Detroit is one of the centers in the US with the most black entrepreneurs, with approximately 50.000 businesses owned by people of color. With that, the Developer Academy, as part of the Racial Justice and Equity Initiative, will focus on developing professionals capable of meeting the demands of the ever-changing market.

It will initially have two programs: a 30-day program that will show students interested in entering the app market how it works and a better understanding of what it means to be a developer, and a 12-month program that will teach students everything need to jump right into application development.

Investments in legacy

Continuing its contributions to local organizations whose primary objective is to be centers for the learning of the next generations, Apple will make a contribution to the The King Center, a living memorial of Martin Luther King Jr. that educates generations in what he tried to pass on in life.

This contribution will help support the institution and will also include benefits from Apple programs, with receiving equipment to help educate young people in the community.

All these Apple actions remain on top of a commitment taken by Tim Cook in June of last year, about racism in the US and how everyone should be held accountable.

Source: Apple Newsroom