INROADS News

INROADS AWARDED $250,000 EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION GRANT FOR PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM

Oct 19, 2011

INROADS AWARDED $250,000 EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION GRANT FOR PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM

Provides Career Development & College Prep for 200 Washington, DC & Chicago Underserved Youth

The Executive Leadership Foundation (ELF), non-profit affiliate of the Executive Leadership Council (ELC), awards INROADS the 2011 Community Impact Initiative Grant for $250,000 for African American students to participate in INROADS College Links Program.  College Links prepares promising high school students from underserved communities, in the first stage in their career life cycle,for successful transition to college and then to careers through: Career emersion, college prep, life skills, leadership development, and mentorship by the ELC members and INROADS Alumni, followed by INROADS College Internships. INROADS, the nation’s largest nonprofit source of paid corporate internships, has graduated 24,000+ Alumni from Internships into management careers in business and industry. The Executive Leadership Council is the nation’s premier leadership organization comprised of the most senior African-American corporate executives in Fortune 500companies, representing over 380 major corporations. Laysha Ward, President of Community Relations & TARGET Foundation and ELF Chair, is presenting the Grant to INROADS. During the ELC’s 25^thAnniversary Gala, Ursula Burns, Chairman & CEO, Xerox Corporation, is to receive the ELC Achievement Award. Hazel O’Leary, President of Fisk University is to receive the Alvaro Martin Heritage Award, and PricewaterhouseCoopers is to receive the Corporate Award, accepted by its Chairman Dennis Nally.  Gala Hosts areNBC’s Al Roker and ABC’s Deborah Roberts.The ELC 25^thAnniversary Gala and Awards takes place at the Gaylord National Hotel, 201 Waterfront Street, National Harbor, MD 20745, on Thursday, October 20^th, with a check presentation to INROADS at the 3:30 p.m. CEO Reception and Grant Award Presentation at the 7:00 p.m. Gala Awards Ceremony.

The Extreme Need for ELT to Partner with INROADS College Links:African American high school students are 50% less likely than Caucasian students to graduate high school, enroll in college, and graduate college to enter professional careers, based on U.S. Department of Education statistics.  The grant will provide African American students interested in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) business careers opportunities to participate in College Links to gain training and career exploration to develop their career paths. Over 41 years, INROADS Alumni, now executives and many CEOs, launched careers pre-college programs followed by INROADS College Internships including: Steve Davis, CEO/Board Chair for Bob Evans Farms (Photo above right mentoring Interns), Teri P. McClure, General Counsel for UPS and ELC member, and Jeffery Perry, Americas Operational Transaction Services Practice Leader for Ernst & Young, LLP and an ELC Member.

INROADS President and CEO, Forest T. Harper, Jr.stated, “We deeply appreciate the ELF’s grant and the chance to have a measurable impact on African American youth through The College Links Program. The ELC and INROADS share a common purpose to ‘Transform Corporate America’ through diverse and inclusive leadership, fueled by early career development for underserved youth. The College Links Program meets this objective by starting the executive leadership preparation process at the high school level, thus creating an earlier pipeline for the emerging generation of diverse executive leaders.” (Click here to Forest Harper's Thank You video to the ELF)

 “The INROADS model is a natural complement to the ELC’s work in building the pipeline of the next generation of African American corporate executives and board directors,” said Arnold Donald, president and CEO of the ELC. “INROADS College Links Program is so closely aligned with ELC’s pipeline development efforts that we hope to continue this relationship beyond the term of our grant,” said Lynton Scotland, an executive with Sustainable Star and co-chair of ELC’s Community Impact Committee, along with co-chair Susan Chapman of American Express.