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May 6, 2022
The World Games 2022, an international eleven-day multi-sport event organized with the support of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), has joined Microsoft to promote Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Historically Black Community Colleges (HBCCs) in Alabama, US. The initiative aims to encourage student growth and work towards a diversified technology workforce.
Marking the 40th anniversary of the event, The World Games (TWG) 2022 is held the year following the summer Olympic Games. This year’s Games will showcase a “new generation of global sports” in Birmingham, US, from July 7th through till July 17th, welcoming 3,600 elite athletes from more than 100 countries.
According to data from Pew Research, Black and Hispanic workers remain underrepresented in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) workforce compared with their share of all workers. 11% of the STEM workforce is Black and 17% Hispanic.
TWG 2022 HBCU experience presented by Microsoft will “connect HBCU students with pathways to economic opportunity and exposes TWG fans to the culture and innovation thriving on HBCU campuses. The new initiative will encourage students’ professional growth, facilitate collaboration between the HBCUs, HBCCs and Microsoft, and inspire students to pursue careers and business opportunities in technology.
“It makes perfect sense for The World Games to use its global platform to showcase the talent coming from HBCUs across the state,” said Miles College President Bobbie Knight. “HBCUs graduate an impressively disproportionate number of Black students, accounting for 20 percent of the country’s Black graduates, and 25 percent of African American graduates with STEM degrees attended HBCUs.”
The partnership with TWG 2022 helps Microsoft fulfill its mission to empower every person and every organization to achieve more. “[The partnership] enables us to help close opportunity gaps and deepen engagement with HBCUs and HBCCs,” said Michael Ford, Corporative Vice President, Global Workplace Services for Microsoft and an Alabama A&M University graduate. “Building diverse talent pipelines ensures we can create a diversified workforce to the benefit of our customers and society.”
“From the start, we’ve wanted The World Games 2022 to be not only a once-in-a-life sports experience but also a tremendous opportunity to bring lasting, positive changes to Birmingham and to the entire state of Alabama,” said Jonathan Porter, Chairman of the Board for TWG 2022.
The collaboration includes a series of virtual events for HBCU/HBCC students, a Minecraft Challenge for HBCU/HBCC students to explore game development, an HBCU Experience at The World Games Plaza, and a scholarship fund for Alabama HBCUs and HBCCs to help ensure TWG 2022 creates lasting, positive change for HBCU/HBCC students across the state.
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