Financial Services Company Synchrony Launches $50M Initiative To Advance Education Equity

Synchrony, a financial services provider, has announced that they’ve launched a series of initiatives to advance education equity in the United States. The value of these initiatives totals $50 million.

In a press release announcement, the company said that their approach to education equity would be based on three things, which would have equal investments across the board.

The first thing, of course, would be to create pathways to college completion. Through the non-profit arm of their company known as The Synchrony Foundation, the company will provide scholarships, mentorships, and internships to help low-income and underrepresented students graduate college and navigate their future paths.

To do that, they will team up with College Possible, and partner with several Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), to offer mentorship programs to underserved minority communities.

This mentorship program also provides access to such things as nutritional food, which can be difficult to get when underserved minority communities tend to live in so-called “food deserts.”

The second thing would be to build both current skills and skills for the future.  Synchrony and the Synchrony Foundation will offer career training and certifications in fast-growing fields such as cybersecurity, software engineering, data science, and UX design. The company will collaborate with local governments, schools, and skills-credentialing organizations to prepare students and individuals seeking to reskill or reenter the workforce.

Finally, Synchrony will close the financial gap between minority communities and their white counterparts.

As AfroTech previously reported, minority communities — specifically, Black communities — were the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, so they are in the most need of financial services.

But these financial services don’t just come in the form of loans and grants (which aren’t offered under this program). Rather, they also come in the form of financial literacy — which Synchrony provides — including things like saving, budgeting, managing debt, and student loans. Synchrony will also provide virtual workshops for students on financial topics such as credit, savings, debt, and investments.