Voorhees officially announces the plan for the UNCF CPI grant

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Voorhees officially announces the plan for the UNCF CPI grant

February 17, 2017

Voorhees College, along with Claflin University and Benedict College, announced receiving a $6 million grant as a Carolina Cluster through the UNCF Career Pathways Initiative Program at a press conference on Thursday, Feb. 16.

During the conference at Benedict College, Dr. Michael Lomax, the chief executive officer and president of UNCF, officially presented the check to the cluster presidents, Dr. W. Franklin Evans of Voorhees, Dr. Henry Tisdale of Claflin, and Dr. David Swinton of Benedict.

In October 2015, Lilly Endowment, Inc. committed $50 million to launch the UNCF Career Pathways Initiative (CPI) to improve the job placement outcomes of graduates from HBCUs and predominantly black institutions.

The three institutions made history by forming the Carolina Cluster team that will collaborate to employ various strategies to achieve this goal, including aligning curricula with local and national workforce needs, developing intentional career pathway options for students across their collegiate experience, and strengthening their career service operations.

Voorhees was awarded $1.2 million of the grant. Dr. Evans said, “It is our job to bond and collaborate with Claflin and Benedict to prepare students for the real competition, which is in the world. The grant will allow us the opportunity to close the skills gaps and re-design the undergraduate experience in order for our students to further understand the importance of education,” Evans said.

As a part of the grant, Voorhees will provide freshman students with a map that will instill competency in the career paths they choose. Evans said Voorhees will steer the students in the right direction by laying out exactly what their desired program of study will fully require in order for them to be successful.

UNCF is a foundation that finically assists 37 HBCUs through awarding more than 10,000 student scholarships and advocating the importance of minority education and community engagement.