The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc. (CBCF) has announced the launch of the Innovation Leader Scholarship, as stated in a press release. This unique initiative aims to support upcoming diverse leaders in engineering and computer science and inspire them to influence the future of technology. The Innovation Leader Scholarship will financially support five outstanding rising sophomore, junior, and senior students undertaking engineering or computer science degrees. The Innovation Leader Scholarship Recipients must maintain a minimum 3.0 GPA and be enrolled at an ABET-accredited engineering college that is part of the
OneUnited Bank, one of the nation’s largest Black-owned banks, is partnering with the credit-building platform Esusu to change the path to homeownership for renters during Financial Literacy Month. Esusu uses data to help improve users’ credit scores, allowing people to make it easier to get onto the housing ladder. “This alliance is all about empowering renters with the financial tools they need to turn their homeownership dreams into reality,” Teri Williams, President & COO of OneUnited Bank, said in a press release. OneUnited Bank’s collaboration with Esusu By reporting on-time rental payments, this
Spill is inviting its members to become investors. The social media platform announced that it is launching an equity crowdfunding round, allowing users to invest in the company as it grows. The crowdfunding round opened on March 10. “While we’ve been successful in raising venture capital for SPILL, we are a community driven product and believe strongly that the community that helps us grow in the early stage should have the opportunity to benefit as well,” it said in a press release. Spill’s crowdfunding round Spill is inviting users to
The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation donated $2 million to The Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs (RICE) to further the organization’s mission to expand, scale, and develop Black entrepreneurs across Atlanta and beyond. The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation’s $2M Donation The announcement was made during a fireside chat held at RICE, which featured Jay Bailey, President & CEO of RICE; Fay Twersky, President of the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation; and Kacey Venning, a RICE stakeholder and nonprofit leader. “The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation’s belief in our mission
Growth Warrior Capital recently raised $26 million for its first fund from investors like Bank of America, the George Kaiser Family Foundation, and Pivotal Ventures, the investment firm founded by Melinda French Gates. Promise Phelon launched Growth Warrior in 2020 in Charlotte, North Carolina to support underrepresented and overlooked entrepreneurs. Since then, the firm has written checks up to $3 million and has a portfolio of 11 companies. These include Capitan, an AI insurance claim platform that raised $104 million, and ForceMetrics, an AI platform for first responders. Supporting underrepresented entrepreneurs Growth
Yale juniors Nathaneo Johnson and Sean Hargrow have raised $3.1 million in pre-seed funding for their social network platform, Series, which helps users connect with others who offer mutual value. Series, still just a few months old, secured the funding in only 14 days after a trailer posted by Johnson on LinkedIn went viral in the college entrepreneurial community. The buzz attracted strong investor interest, including from former a16z investor Anne Lee Skates, who went on to lead the pre-seed round through her venture fund Parable. Changing the way we
Nearly half of the facial recognition in London last year occurred in areas with a higher proportion of Black residents than the city’s average, The Voice Newspaper reports. Researchers from a political group in London circulated figures highlighting live facial recognition (LFR), which was used 180 times in 2024. More than half of these occurrences were in places with a larger Black population than the city’s average. How many faces were scanned? Across London, around two million people had their faces scanned, but only 804 arrests were made, which is
Migrants who were granted temporary stay to live in the US by using a Biden-era online appointment app have been told to leave the country, “immediately,” officials said on Monday. The number of individuals affected has not yet been confirmed. What Is CBP One? The CBP One app was introduced under President Joe Biden as part of an effort to create safer, legal pathways for asylum seekers and reduce illegal border crossings. The app allowed individuals to schedule appointments with immigration officials and apply for asylum at border crossings—primarily along
Wicked Saints Studios, a Black woman-led video game studio, has partnered with Discord, e.l.f Beauty, and Starlight Children’s Foundation to launch World Reborn. The first-of-its-kind interactive story game uses behavioral science and positive psychology to boost players’ well-being. With 87% of Gen Z gaming online weekly, World Reborn meets them where they are—turning gameplay into meaningful connection and real-world impact. How does the game work? Users will be given real-world quests called Training Mods, which feature real-life changemakers addressing several social goods, such as supporting women’s sports from e.l.f., empowering teen
Campus, an online community college, has announced a $46 million Series B investment, bringing its total amount raised to over $100 million. The community college offers students live classes with highly regarded professors who have backgrounds from colleges and universities such as Stanford, UCLA, and Howard. Additionally, students receive wraparound support such as on-demand tutoring and personal success coaching, as stated in a press release. Who founded Campus? Before there was Campus, there was Campuswire, an online learning software Tade Oyerinde founded in 2016. In 2018, Oyerinde conceived the idea for Campus
