Apple expands partnership with African American institutions to stimulate creativity and programming

Apple today announced that it is expanding its partnership with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (Historically Black Colleges and Universities, or HBCUs) – Higher Education Institutions established in the United States with a focus on the African American community -, adding ten more regional programming centers.

This effort is part of the Community Education Initiative (Community Education Initiative) from Apple, launched in 2019 and created to “stimulate diversity, creativity and programming in students of all ages”.

This initiative shares the premises of another program, the Apple Equity and Racial Justice Initiative, launched last month (amid anti-racism demonstrations in the USA), which aims to challenge barriers against communities of color by “promoting education, economic equality and criminal justice reform efforts”, as highlighted by the vice president of Apple’s environmental, political and social initiatives, Lisa Jackson:

Apple is committed to working alongside communities of color to promote educational equity. We see this expansion of our Community Education Initiative and the partnership with HBCUs as another step to help black students realize their dreams and solve tomorrow’s problems.

Apple points out that its Community Education Initiative now includes 24 locations in the U.S., half of which are HBCUs, of which 21 units “serve predominantly black and brown students.” Also according to the company, “thousands of students” have already been able to learn from their free curricula Program for all (“Everyone Can Code”) and Creativity for all (“Everyone Can Create”).

Check out the locations of the new HBCU teaching centers:

New Apple centers on HBCUs

Apple expects to double the number of HBCU partners in the coming months, expanding the network of schools that offer programming, creativity and career opportunities.