$7 million from chevron for historically black colleges and universities

Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) routinely produce talented graduates who ascend to the highest ranks in corporate America. But these institutions continue to struggle with being underestimated and underfunded compared to predominantly white colleges and universities.

Chevron has long tapped HBCUs for graduates interested in entering our industry. As part of our racial equity commitment, we recently pledged financial contributions to support the success of future graduates at seven HBCUs.

In 2020, Chevron committed a total of $7 million over five years to the following HBCUs:

• Florida A&M University
• Fort Valley State University
• Howard University
• North Carolina Agricultural and Technical University
• Prairie View A&M University
• Southern University and A&M College
• Tuskegee University

The funds are intended to support scholarships, recruiting and campus programs that will provide students with resources leading into corporate careers.

“We have some of the best and brightest minds there are to offer in this world that are coming to HBCUs,” said Kristan Crapps, senior advisor to Chevron’s chief diversity and inclusion officer. Crapps is a proud Florida A&M University alum. “Black excellence. That’s the kind of value that we’re bringing every day to Chevron and to any company.”

HBCUs provide a place where bright minds, who may have experienced inequality, unfair treatment or judgment, can thrive. Makamba Sackey, a Howard University graduate and currently a Chevron digital scholar at Rice University earning a master's degree in data science, said she was asked to leave her grade school. Officials maintained her academic excellence was hurting the self-esteem of other students.

“When I got to Howard, I wasn’t operating under the lens of Blackness where it was a qualifier, like ‘She’s smart for a Black girl,’” said Sackey. “It was just ‘She’s smart.’”

Gia Lott, a Chevron HR manager and Texas Southern University graduate, is passionate about campus recruiting. “It just re-energizes me to be able to go back on campus for career fairs,” she said, “to see the future of corporate America, to talk with them about what a career at Chevron could look like and how my HBCU prepared me for where I am today.”

For Donald Jefferson, Chevron’s IT Cyber Resiliency program manager, the college experience has also come full circle. The company recruited him from Southern University in 1997. Now, he helps bring graduates onboard, recruiting from his alma mater.

“We have folks who are true leaders within this company, who came from HBCUs,” he said, “who are contributing, who are using their unique experiences to add value, to problem solve, and continue to launch Chevron into our future successes.”