MIT Solve

Solution Overview

Solution Name:

Propel Center: Powered by Ed Farm

One-line solution summary:

A catalytic epicenter to provide HBCU students with knowledge, skills, tools & resources necessary to transform our nation's workforce

Pitch your solution.

Propel will offer HBCU students curricula and programs via a connected ecosystem of online, on-site and on-campus accessibility. Our approach includes creating a physical center, ideation labs and an e-learning hub that connects HBCU students across the country to innovative learning and entrepreneurship. This is especially apt in light of the current political climate, where resources and funding for these institutions are evaporating. Research shows that HBCU’s have low organizational trust and support for innovation and need to empower their faculty to support innovation. Propel will be a hub for learning and application. Featuring lectures from world-class thought leaders and a best-in-class business accelerator program, students will emerge from Propel prepared to become leaders who advance our world. Our students will be well equipped to become successful founders and thought leaders -- the patron saints of Black talent.

What specific problem are you solving?

Only 1% of the venture capital-backed founders in the U.S. are African American. The Black tech employees’ percentage in Silicon Valley decreased to 2.3% in 2017. Due to automation, the future of work, the fourth industrial revolution and beyond, Black America stands to lose 4.5 million jobs in the next decade. Today, the median net worth of a Black American family is about $17,000 compared to $171,000 a white American family. It is projected to be zero by 2053 for Black American and Latinx Americans, respectively. The pandemic has accelerated this trajectory. We hope to close the gap, encouraging innovation and collaboration among HBCU students devoted to a legacy of excellence.

What is your solution?

The Propel Center will offer these six program offerings:

Propel Now: An on-campus high school career development program that introduces students to Swift programming, ML, AR, AI, and advanced technology principles, while also providing in-person career mentorship and in-person or virtual internships for aspiring HBCU students.
Propel Talent: A program providing students with access to digital learning opportunities, technology, and mentorship with corporate leaders.
Propel Justice: A program that seeks to develop social justice-minded leaders who are prepared to serve as community organizers, activists and become transformative political influencers.
Propel Arts: A virtual and in-person entertainment curriculum that will create more innovative artists and executives across film, television, music and sports broadcasting through mentorship, professorship and hands-on experience with industry artists and corporate entertainment entities.
Propel Impact: A fifth-year fellowship program of select HBCU students committed to solving global and community-based issues. Fellows will engage in a curriculum that develops leadership skills and is delivered by corporate, government and community leaders.
Propel Startup: A program that seeks to multiply the development of black entrepreneurs. Propel’s accelerator gives them a space to incubate their business and providing them access to venture capitalists to navigate the various stages of business growth.

Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?

The Propel center will primarily serve HBCU students. Black students are attracted to HBCUs, primarily as a testament to the strong community, where Black people are encouraged to succeed, regardless of their background.

To understand the needs of our target population, we have conducted research on the gaps and current standing of different issues on campus. We have interviewed students, professors, and college faculty to deduce what needs are recurring. We have also enlisted the help of recent HBCU graduates, presidents, advocates, and donors to ensure we are solving tangible problems. Additionally, a number of members of the team are graduates of HBCUs, with intimate knowledge of which gaps Propel can and will fill.

Our solution will address their needs by providing programming, capital, and resources that serve underrepresented fields such as entrepreneurship, venture capital, technology, agribusiness, mass media, social justice, and career readiness. This is relevant given that of the overall HBCU student population, 3 out of every 5 students identify as First Generation-Low Income (FGLI). We hope to ensure that all HBCU students have access to opportunities that are more often cultivated at elite Predominately White Institutions (PWIs).

Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?

Drive resources and support to Black, Indigenous, and Latinx entrepreneurs and innovators

Explain how the problem, your solution, and your solution’s target population relate to the Reimagining Pathways to Employment in the US Challenge and your selected dimension.

Propel is designed — and so, its curricula— to prepare HBCU students to emerge from college as leaders who are capable of leading entrepreneurial pursuits and advancing corporate culture, through the lens of social justice. Propel graduates will be equipped with relevant the training and certification to compete in the ever changing workforce. Propel's graduate's skills and technical trainings will allow a cohort of Black leaders to gain experience in "professions of the new economy."

In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?

Birmingham, AL, USA

If your solution is already being implemented in the US, in which US state(s) do you currently operate?

Georgia

Are you planning to expand your solution to at least one US state? If so, please provide an overview of your expansion plans. What is the market opportunity for your business or product here?

The Propel Center's physical campus will be located in Atlanta, GA, strategically situated among the Atlanta University Consortium.

In which US state(s) will you be operating within the next year?

Georgia

What is your solution’s stage of development?

Prototype: A venture or organization building and testing its product, service, or business model

Who is the team lead for your solution?

Waymond Jackson, CEO of Ed Farm

How many people work on your solution team?

Full-Time Staff: 3

Part-Time Staff: 5

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: What is your approach to building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive organization?

Ed Farm as an organization values work that promotes diversity, cultural understanding, and global awareness by using digital-age communication and collaboration tools to interact locally and globally with students, peers, parents, and the larger community. We are a team of individuals who are passionate about education. We believe that diversity of culture, backgrounds, opinions and abilities is vital to our work, and our team welcomes anyone willing to build community through collaboration. Ed Farm works to eliminate all forms of disparity and discrimination including those based upon an individual's ethnicity, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, belief, religion, faith, culture, level of physical ability, or socio-economic background. Diversity and inclusion are vital to our work of bringing accessibility and equity to education, entrepreneurial, and tech workspaces everywhere.