Washington, April 06, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF), with support from the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation, announced today the newly-formed MetaScholars Program. The new program is offered to students from America’s HBCUs and PBIs to ensure they have the tools needed to succeed in the Metaverse and future technologies powered by Web 3.0. The MetaScholars will compete in The Pitch 2022, a challenging entrepreneurial competition to be held May 22-26, 2022, in conjunction with TMCF's Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E) division.
The program is an essential first step to I&E’s initiative to prepare students for the expected forthcoming “Meta Divide,” an anticipated second digital-divide between those who have access to knowledge, technologies, and opportunities to advance within the Metaverse realm and those who do not. The 12 MetaScholars in the inaugural cohort will attend five weeks of core learning and skills acquisition that will provide deeper insights to concepts such as Cryptonomics & Tokenomics, in-world travel, and immersive, spatial collaboration. The program will also provide MetaScholars with the opportunity to earn badges and awards during their journey, as well as learn from and network with Meta Leaders from across the nation. The MetaScholars will then transition to prepare for the rigor of competing in real-world problems at The Pitch 2022.
With a predicted market size of $800 billion by 2024, the Metaverse is slated to become the next new phase in technological development. Ten thousand (10,000) jobs are expected to be created over a five-year period.
“With the support of the Clark Foundation, TMCF is uniquely equipped to bring this important expansion of programming to prepare the next generation of tech talent,” said TMCF Assistant Vice President of Innovation & Entrepreneurship Tamaria Kai Perry. “This is an opportunity to leverage the advantages of the spatial computing age and position our students to capitalize on one of the biggest technological and potential socioeconomic shifts in the modern internet in over two decades.”
“Mr. Clark believed engineers solve the world's problems. The Clark Foundation invests in initiatives that enhance the student experience and focus on student success beyond scholarship dollars. Through the MetaScholars Program, participants will apply lessons from the classroom to real world problems while gaining exposure to potential employers,” said Joe Del Guercio, President and CEO of the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation.
About the Thurgood Marshall College Fund
Established in 1987, the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) is the nation’s largest organization exclusively representing the Black College Community. TMCF member-schools include the publicly-supported Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Predominantly Black Institutions, enrolling nearly 80% of all students attending black colleges and universities. Through scholarships, capacity building and research initiatives, innovative programs, and strategic partnerships, TMCF is a vital resource in the K-12 and higher education space. The organization is also the source of top employers seeking top talent for competitive internships and good jobs.
TMCF is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, charitable organization. For more information about TMCF, visit: www.tmcf.org.
About the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation
Expanding access to opportunities that allow individuals and communities to thrive is at the heart of the Clark Foundation’s mission. Since 2016, the Foundation has sought to expand opportunity for individuals, families, and communities by focusing its investments in strategic program areas and building trust-based relationships with its grantees. The Clark Foundation seeks to create sustainable change by investing in three strategic areas: educating future generations of engineering leaders, improving the lives of veterans and their families, and providing members of the D.C. community the best opportunity to thrive. To learn more, visit https://clarkfoundationdc.org.
