Apple and The Southern Company partnered to invest $25 million each to build the Propel Center, a first-of-its-kind innovation and learning hub for the HBCU community in Atlanta. “Designed to support the next generation of diverse leaders,” according to Apple, the new digital learning environment focuses on business incubation and global innovation.
The companies will work together to help develop curricula and offer mentorship, learning support, fellowships, internships, and career opportunities. Digital learning labs will be equipped with Apple technology.
The center will offer a range of educational tracks including AI and machine learning, agricultural technologies, social justice, entertainment arts, app development, augmented reality, design and creative arts, career preparation and entrepreneurship. In-person and remote coaching will be provided by distinguished industry leaders, professionals, startup founders and scholars.
Apple’s contribution, part of the company’s $100 million Racial Equity and Justice Initiative, enables the Propel Center to support HBCU students and faculty through a number of initiatives.
The first of these will be a physical campus in Atlanta with a 50,000 square foot facility housing lecture halls, learning labs and common areas to facilitate group learning. The Propel Center building will serve as a central nexus for HBCU collaboration across the country.
A virtual learning platform will be available to all HBCU students nationally engaging students in virtual master classes delivered by luminaries and thought leaders in higher education and industry.
“We want to develop thinkers who can envision the future and can see a way forward for us all in that future.”
vann R. Newkirk, President, Fisk University
The center is already offering several programs based on HBCU partner campuses and extension sites including Propel Pathway, a one-year program for low-income high school graduates who are “college-capable but not yet college-ready.” The program provides free academic support and wraparound services to prepare students for college success. In addition, Propel Impact grants fund experiential learning programs coinciding with coursework.
“The Propel Center is going to fill a void that HBCUs have,” says Hiram Powell, interim president of Bethune-Cookman University. “One of the things I found missing in HBCU institutions is that there is a huge imbalance of capacity and capability, not in the students that come, but in what institutions have been able to do based upon their geographical location. What it will offer is level of technology and innovation that most of us would never have on our campus.”
Atlanta-area HBCU students will access the center through the Atlanta University Center (AUC) Consortium comprised of Spelman College, Morehouse College, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Clark Atlanta University.
