Ford Motor Company and Ford Motor Credit Company are taking part in the Congressional HBCU Partnership Challenge, which is designed to promote corporate engagement and support for HBCUs. The main goal of the initiative is to help students develop new career opportunities and to improve diversity and inclusion across all industries. Emphasis will also be placed on building stronger relationships with HBCUs and expanding current ones.
“We are thrilled to join the HBCU Partnership Challenge,” Ford Credit CEO Marion Harris said. “As part of our commitment to treating customers like family, our company makeup needs to look more like the public we serve. We also know that greater diversity of thought, experience, and backgrounds leads to better decision-making and more innovation in our business. We have long worked with HBCUs in recruiting, and we’re looking forward to expanding and strengthening those bonds.”
“Ford Motor Company and Ford Fund are both proud of and grateful for our longstanding relationship partnering with and recruiting from HBCUs,” Ford Chief Diversity Officer Lori Costew said. “The HBCU Partnership Challenge will serve to amplify our efforts.”
The Ford Motor Company Fund has been a supporter of HBCUs for many years. The programs they’ve created thus far include the Ford FirstGen program, which combines scholarships and mentoring along with other resources to encourage the success of first-generation HBCU students. The company has also supported organizations such as UNCF and the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund, as has also participated in initiatives to improve infrastructure such as the HBCU Mobility Challenge. In addition, Ford has taken part in career fairs at a number of HBCUs where they actively recruit.
The HBCU Caucus with the help of corporations, has created a guideline for what the best practices are when it comes to recruiting and retaining diverse talent. Having signed the HBCU Partnership Challenge, Ford and Ford Credit have committed to developing and following these best practices in an effort to build and deepen strategic relationships with HBCUs.
“I welcome Ford and Ford Credit to the Congressional HBCU Partnership Challenge,” said U.S. Representative Alma Adams, D-N.C., co-chair of the HBCU Caucus and co-founder of the challenge. “It is vital that government and industry work together to ensure that HBCUs and their graduates have equal access to 21st-century opportunities. Ford and Ford Credit taking the HBCU Partnership Challenge pledge speaks to their long-term commitment to HBCUs and their students, both as a vital source of workforce talent and as an integral part of communities across our nation.”