PepsiCo Launches $40 Million College Program for Black and Hispanic Students

April 1, 2021

PepsiCo's philanthropic arm, The PepsiCo Foundation, announced a new $40 million scholarship and professional mentoring program to support Black and Hispanic aspiring and graduating community college students.

Erin A. Hallstrom

The program, which will first launch in Dallas, Houston, Chicago, and Westchester, NY, is expected to expand the program to 16 additional cities in the fall and aims to support 4,000 students over five years.

According to the company, the initiative aims to help Black and Hispanic students pursue higher education as well as gain training and skills for the job market. In addition to financial support, the students will have access to mentoring and leadership training from PepsiCo employees as well as having opportunities to apply for internships and jobs at PepsiCo.

The program consists of two types of scholarships:

Uplift Scholarships for students seeking two-year associate degrees or trade certificates
S.M.I.L.E (Success Matters in Life & Education) scholarships are for community college graduates transitioning to four-year colleges

Learn more about the program

About the Author

Erin A. Hallstrom

Erin Hallstrom oversaw our digital content strategy for the Food Processing brand from 2008-2023. She is now the Associate Director of SEO Strategy for Endeavor Business Media, where she holds technical certifications in both website analytics and search engine optimization. Most recently, she was named the 2022 Marianne Dekker Mattera Award Winner.