Major Utility Makes a Commitment to Students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Southern Company, a major provider of power in the southeastern United States, and its subsidiaries announced a $50 million multi-year initiative to provide students attending historically Black colleges and universities with scholarships, internships, leadership development, and access to technology and innovation to support career readiness. This initiative will provide support for students attending select HBCUs within the Southern Company system’s service footprint in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.

Southern Company’s $50 million HBCU initiative is envisioned as a leadership development platform. It seeks to provide funding for programs that address four priorities necessary for producing HBCU graduates who are ready to become innovative leaders:

• Provide critical scholarship dollars to ensure talented students can attend and complete college;
• Equip HBCU students with access to new technology and train them to use the technology to solve real-world problems;
• Expose HBCU students to curricula, mentoring, and pathways to funding that increase their access to entrepreneurship; and
• Develop a corporate pipeline for leadership and career development, beginning with internships provided by Southern Company and corporate partners, to create avenues to prosperity.

“This investment is a statement of our belief that America needs these HBCU graduates in order to ensure a thriving economy for generations to come,” said Thomas A. Fanning, chairman, president and CEO of Southern Company. “We invite others to partner with us to create the scholarships, internships, and opportunities to train the leaders of tomorrow.”