Robert F. Smith’s quest to provide opportunities for African American students expands with launch of Fund II Foundation’s internXL

Earlier this week, the internXL digital platform announced its commitment to provide quality jobs for the next generation of Black innovators with free training courses and certifications from corporations such as Cisco and Accenture.

Across the United States, students who have internships on their resumes are more likely to land full-time jobs after graduation. Yet, on average, only 6.6 percent of Black students and 7.9 percent of Latino students have participated in paid internships, compared to 74 percent of white students. At the same time, both groups are overrepresented when it comes to unpaid internships.

Recognizing this equity gap in the workforce – internXL (previously internX) provides organizations of all types, including Fortune 500 companies, access to pre-screened, diverse, entry-level talent. Currently, over 220 companies and over 16,000 pre-screened students are registered partners and participants on the internXL platform.

To support this mission, internXL will be visiting HBCU campuses throughout the 2022-23 academic year to provide students with free career-readiness training and resources to better prepare them for their unique internship experiences. This initiative will build off of internXL’s March 2022 investment of US$15,000 to Tuskegee University, which provided professional headshots and attire to Tuskegee students going through the internship and job application process.