Ashley Christopher is the Founder and CEO of HBCU Week Foundation. Their mission is to encourage enrollment into HBCUs, provide scholarship dollars for matriculation and sustain a pipeline of employment from undergraduate school directly to corporate America. HBCU Week is an annual, week-long, programmatic initiative, designed to encourage high school-aged youth to enroll into HBCUs, through exposure to their proud legacies and historical significance. The week’s events include a Middle School College Tour, Comedy Show, R&B Concert, Panel Discussion, Hip-Hop Concert, College Fair, and Battle of the Bands. HBCU Week occurs annually, in the fall.
Stephanie Dawkins (SD): Tell us how HBCU Week Started.
Ashley Christopher (AC): HBCU Week started as a simple idea to gather 200 high school-aged youth in the city of Wilmington as an audience for 5 HBCU admissions counselors. The goal was to get the students familiar with the HBCU experience and admissions requirements. Once I started to market the idea, the 200 students I planned for spiked to 700 and the HBCU participation spiked to 11. It was then, I knew that there was an appetite in the city of Wilmington for HBCU culture. Our college fair is unique, in that most participating HBCUs engage in an n-spot acceptance process, whereby if the student comes equipped with the requisite SAT/ACT score and GPA, they can be accepted to college on the spot and receive a scholarship award. Since 2017 we’ve serviced over 30,000 students, offering more than 6,000 college acceptances on the spot and awarding more than $50,000,000 in scholarships. HBCU Week now consists of a weeklong of activities, emulating an authentic HBCU homecoming experience. A host of events are executed annually, with the cornerstone event being the college fair.
SD: What inspires you to do the work you do?
AC: My experience as a double HBCU alum inspired me to do the work. My HBCU experience gave me the opportunity to lean deeply into the uniqueness and value of my culture. It taught me that no matter what room I walk into, I add value and my voice is necessary and I do not believe I would be so strongly positioned in that confidence today, but for my HBCU experience. Every black student across the world deserves that same sense of self-confidence.
SD: Who are the people you want to help?
AC: Black, high school-aged students nationwide, have always been my laser focus. The goal is to get black students into their choice HBCU, with little to no student debt, and transition those black students from undergraduate school directly into corporate America.
SD: Thank you so much again for sharing all of this with us. Before we go, can you share with our readers how they can connect with you, learn more about HBCU Week and show support?
AC: Please visit HBCUWeek.org and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. They can also follow me personally on Instagram.
