NAFEO and AT&T proudly introduce the Inclusion Scholars Program – a new and exciting scholarship program for students with disabilities to compete to receive four years of scholarship assistance to attend one of three Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) that have been designated as Inclusion Institutions.

From a diverse pool of institutional applicants, three HBCUs were selected as the inaugural class of “Inclusion Institutions” based on their responses to an accessibility and sustainability survey: 

• Bethune-Cookman College (Daytona, FL) – www.bethune.edu;
• Morgan State University (Baltimore, MD) - www.Morgan.edu; and
• Tennessee State University (Nashville, TN) - www.tnstate.edu

Each Inclusion Institution will receive a $36,000 grant to provide one student who meets all ISP qualifications as an incoming freshman and is selected as an Inclusion Scholar a $9,000 award toward his or her tuition and fees for each year during the four year scholarship award period.

ISP was created by Career Opportunities for Students with Disabilities and the Solutions Marketing Group to provide assistance and empower students with disabilities to fulfill their educational and career goals at an HBCU.

The National Center for Education Statistics indicates that there will be more than 1.2 million college students with disabilities enrolled in higher education in 2010.  Additionally, Career Opportunities for Students with Disabilities estimates that 10% percent of college students have a disclosed disability.

The Inclusion Scholars Program (ISP) is a scholarship initiative designed to:

• Increase the recruitment, enrollment, and degree completion of students with disabilities at HBCUs;

• Support efforts by HBCUs to increase graduation rates of traditionally underserved students; and

• Encourage and support HBCUs and PBIs to assess their campus readiness to receive, retain and graduate students with disabilities, and to assist them to make adjustments where necessary.

The program seeks to facilitate students with disabilities receiving a comprehensive four-year liberal arts undergraduate education as well as core elements of workforce preparation.

Qualifications & How To Apply

To be considered for eligibility to be a 2011-2015 Inclusion Scholar you must:

• Be accepted as an incoming freshman in the Fall of 2011 and enrolled as a full-time student in one of the three Inclusion Institutions.
• Have a disability as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Each Inclusion Institution will award one four-year scholarship to an Inclusion Scholar who meets
all eligibility requirements throughout the scholarship award period of four consecutive years.  The terms
and conditions of the ISP Scholarship include:

• Each student must be enrolled at one of the three Inclusion Institutions referenced above as a full-time undergraduate student during application and award period.

• Student must complete a minimum course load of 12 credit hours with a 2.75 GPA per semester for a total of 24 credit hours for the academic year (fall and spring semesters combined).

• Suspension, academic probation, dismissal or failure to maintain 2.75 GPA will result in the scholarship being automatically revoked.

In addition to submitting an ISP application, applicants must complete a
500 word essay based on the following questions:

• What do you bring that will make you a real asset to the campus? 
• What do you hope to gain from your college experience at an HBCU/PBI?
• What contributions do you want to make to the world?

 

To Apply:
You may download the application here and submit NAFEO by March 30, 2010.  Students that have been awarded the scholarship will be notified by May 2011.

 

BACKGROUND

America’s HBCUs and Predominantly Black Institutions (PBIs) remain at the creative forefront of American higher education and have a distinguished history of recruiting, enrolling, nurturing and offering a personalized, welcoming and challenging environment to a broad and diverse group of students.

HBCUs and PBIs offer the best value in higher education, offering two and four year degrees as well as graduate and professional degrees on average for $10,000 less than comparable institutions. Although they comprise only 4% of the nation’s higher education institutions, HBCUs produce 30% of African American students who receive degrees annually. They confer 22% of all bachelor degrees earned by African Americans, 24% of all bachelor’s degrees awarded to African Americans in science and engineering and nearly 35% of all bachelor’s degrees in astronomy, biology, chemistry, mathematics and physics.

HBCUs are also economic engines in their communities. According to a 2006 National Center for Educational Statistics report, the short term economic impact of HBCUs is $10 billion annually, providing more than 180,000 full and part-time jobs. HBCUs have a rich tradition of and contemporary distinction of educating diverse students, many of whom are socially and economically disadvantaged and others who are traditionally underrepresented in higher education. They have served and are continuing to serve as resources for meeting the vital social service, economic, educational and recreational needs of the communities in which they are located. 

For these and other reasons, AT&T is partnering with NAFEO, the only membership association of America’s HBCUs and PBIs, to help to level the field for students with disabilities to receive quality educational opportunities and be integrated into campus life across the board.

 

About AT&T
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is a premier communications holding company. Its subsidiaries and affiliates – AT&T operating companies – are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. With a powerful array of network resources that includes the nation’s fastest mobile broadband network, AT&T is a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi, high speed Internet and voice services. A leader in mobile broadband, AT&T also offers the best wireless coverage worldwide, offering the most wireless phones that work in the most countries.  It also offers advanced TV services under the AT&T U-verse® and AT&T │DIRECTV brands. The company’s suite of IP-based business communications services is one of the most advanced in the world. In domestic markets, AT&T Advertising Solutions and AT&T Interactive are known for their leadership in local search and advertising. In 2010, AT&T again ranked among the 50 Most Admired Companies by FORTUNE®magazine. 

Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com.  This AT&T news release and other announcements are available at http://www.att.com/newsroom and as part of an RSS feed at www.att.com/rss. Or follow our news on Twitter at @ATTNews. Find us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/ATT to discover more about our consumer and wireless services or at www.Facebook.com/ATTSmallBiz  to discover more about our small business services.

About Philanthropy at AT&T
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is committed to advancing education, strengthening communities and improving lives. Through its philanthropic initiatives and partnerships, AT&T has a long history of supporting projects that create learning opportunities; promote academic and economic achievement; and address community needs. In 2009, more than $155 million was contributed through corporate-, employee- and AT&T Foundation-giving programs.

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Alan Muir
Career Opportunities for Students with Disabilities

The mission of COSD is to increase the career employment rate for college students and recent graduates with disabilities and to provide a solid pipeline of qualified and well-prepared candidates from college to the workforce.  The national COSD association consists of more than 1,100 member entities representing corporate and public sector employers, universities and community colleges (both career services and disability services), U.S. government agencies, and non-profit organizations.  The COSD links disability services personnel, career services professionals, and employers together to deliver positive recruiting results for employers, to foster a significant increase in the flow of career information to students with disabilities, and to help these students be more visible to employers when they recruit.

Alan Muir, a Vice President of Commercial Lending at Chase Manhattan Bank in New York for 16 years, co-founded COSD in 1999 and currently serves as its Executive Director.  As a person with a disability who enjoyed a successful first career, Muir understands the dynamics current college students with disabilities face as they begin their career searches.  Under his leadership, COSD became the dynamic resource it is today, speaking the language of business and understanding disability through Muir’s own personal experiences.  Through research and 11 years of bridge-building, COSD continues to distinguish itself as a valuable resource to employers by creating solutions to reduce the 45% unemployment rate of college graduates with disabilities. 

 

Carmen Jones
Solutions Marketing Group

Solutions Marketing Group (SMG) bridges the gap for general market companies, non-profits and government agencies targeting consumers with disabilities. Because of its depth of experience and portfolio of capabilities, SMG provides clients with powerful marketing strategies that include everything from market research, partnership development and training, with an eye on ROI.
SMG’s team understands that marketing to people with disabilities involves more than the basics of placing a universal access symbol outside a business, using a person with a disability in an advertisement, or including disability-inclusive jargon in promotional material. Effective disability marketing also entails:

• having buy-in from a company’s senior leadership,
• conducting research to understand the disability community’s culture,
• training an entire staff to have the knowledge and skills to provide excellent service,
• planning, developing, and implementing a comprehensive, integrated promotional strategy that touches consumers with disabilities, and
• recognizing that the loyalty gained from the disability community will also touch the people in their circles of  influence.

SMG was founded in 1998 by Carmen Jones, a graduate of Hampton University (Hampton, Virginia). Jones sustained a spinal cord injury during her junior year and returned to school less than a year later, at the invitation of university President Harvey.  Upon graduation, Jones did not have a job after completing 30 first interviews and 2 second interviews.  She was hired by a Center for Independent Living, a non-profit that serves people with disabilities, based in Newport News, Virginia.  This experience convinced her of the viability of the disability market. Throughout her career, working in government and the private sector, Jones has met a number of colleagues with disabilities who expressed the desire to attend an HBCU/PBI.   Jones’s passion for the IHEP is an outgrowth of her family’s legacy of attending HBCUs, dating back to her great-grandmother's matriculation at Florida A&M University.  Equal to that passion is the role SMG plays in supporting corporations as they link their products or services to the disability market and help to boost the employment for this segment.