SEO and A Better Chance Partner to Close the Opportunity Gap For Students of Color

New York, NY (August 7, 2019) —SEO, a nonprofit organization committed to closing the opportunity gap for underserved and/or underrepresented students, recently formalized a partnership with A Better Chance to provide intensive training and career development to help college students of color secure highly coveted internships. Together, the two organizations will expand their reach to support hundreds of underrepresented students.

The new partnership extends SEO’s unique internship training and development program, SEO Career, to hundreds of A Better Chance college-age Alumni. Once accepted into the program, participants have access to 100+ hours of coaching and training, 80+ partner companies, and a lifelong support network to ensure internship success. Eighty percent of SEO Career participants receive full-time job offers upon completing their internships across the finance, real estate, technology, and various other industries.

“SEO is proud to partner with A Better Chance to increase the number of talented students in positions of leadership and in coveted internships across Wall Street and corporate America. SEO and A Better Chance each have a 50+ year track-record of providing students of color with the resources they need to be successful. Working together, we can now double our impact and ensure that students have the technical training and support to excel in high-level internships and secure full-time jobs across competitive industries where they are often underrepresented,” said William Goodloe, CEO and President of SEO.

Both organizations were founded in 1963, during the civil rights movement, with a goal to close the opportunity gap for people of color and increase diversity in leadership.  Since its founding, A Better Chance has placed thousands of talented Scholars into the leadership pipeline through increased access to academically rigorous secondary schools—resulting in an Alumni network of 16,000+ innovators and thinkers. A Better Chance has grown tremendously from serving 55 students enrolled at nine schools to now more than 2,000 Scholars enrolled at nearly 350 schools.

“Our two organizations share much common ground and have worked together informally throughout our history. We are thrilled about this effort to create greater opportunity for the talented young people we serve,” said Sandra E. Timmons, President of A Better Chance.

For more than 50 years, SEO has provided education, mentorship, and access to opportunity for more than 14,000 young people from underserved and underrepresented communities. The SEO Career program was launched in 1980 with a mission to help college students access and succeed in high-level summer internships leading to full-time jobs. The program has a network of 7,000 SEO Career alumni working at investment banks, private equity firms, real estate firms, and more

The partnership launched in June 2019. For information about the SEO Career program, visit seocareer.org. To learn more about A Better Chance visit www.abetterchance.org

About SEO

SEO was founded in 1963 with a mission to provide talented and motivated young people from underserved and underrepresented communities with access to superior educational and career opportunities. SEO’s four signature programs create an ecosystem of excellence. SEO Scholars – An eight-year academic program that successfully educates and mentors low-income public high school students in NYC and San Francisco to get to and through college – with a 90% college graduation rate. SEO Career – The nation’s premier pre-professional development and internship program for high-achieving Black, Hispanic and Native American college students who are underrepresented in the fields they seek. SEO Law – The nation’s only paid pre-law academic and fellowship program, SEO Law creates a talent pipeline of pre-law students of color who enter elite global law firms. SEO Alternative Investments – Education, exposure, training and mentoring opportunities for talented individuals traditionally underrepresented in the alternative investments sector. www.seo-usa.org

About A Better Chance

A Better Chance’s mission is to increase substantially the number of well-educated young people of color who are capable of assuming positions of responsibility and leadership in American society.  Since 1963, this guiding principle has driven A Better Chance to place talented young people of color into the leadership pipeline through increased access to academically rigorous secondary schools. Our signature College Preparatory Schools Program annually recruits, prepares and places more than 550 new Scholars and supports a total of 2,200 Scholars at more than 300 of the nation’s leading college preparatory schools across the country. Our record of success is evident in 16,000+ Alumni who have become great innovators, thinkers and leaders in their respective fields.  Visit https://abetterchanceorg.finalsite.com/to learn more.