ADVANCING BLACK ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN NORTH CAROLINA.

• Date: 01 May 2022

Launched in February 2022, the PNC North Carolina HBCU Initiative is helping cultivate entrepreneurship resources and opportunities for students at five local universities through grant funding from the PNC Foundation.

This is the eighteenth in a series of informative monthly articles for North Carolina businesses from PNC in collaboration with BUSINESS NORTH CAROLINA magazine.

When historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) were first established in the years following the Civil War, they represented a singular pathway to higher education for Black students. Today, the value proposition of the more than 100 HBCUs nationwide is defined by much more than access. These institutions are integral to the creation of jobs, economic development opportunities and vibrant communities--a premise that is especially true in North Carolina, which holds the distinction as the state with the highest enrollment of Black HBCU undergraduate students.

"At PNC, we recognize how important HBCUs are to our state's success," says Weston Andress, PNC regional president for Western Carolinas. "HBCU graduates contribute significantly to the talent pipeline that is fueling North Carolina's economy, and these universities are foundational to shaping the workforce...