Internships have proven to be a game-changer, helping college students, better determine their career path and providing a chance to gain invaluable hands-on experience in their field of interest. In fact, one study found that more than 80 percent of graduates reported that an internship helped shape the direction of their careers. For students of color, research shows that internships are critical – a lifeline – to their professional futures.

Across the United States, students who have internships on their resumes are more likely to land full-time jobs after graduation. Yet, on average, only 6.6 percent of Black students and 7.9 percent of Latino students have participated in paid internships, compared to 74 percent of white students. At the same time, both groups are overrepresented among unpaid internships. Critics say those disparities also create challenges for prospective employers who desire to diversify their workforce

Recognizing this equity gap in our nation’s workforce, the platform internXL (previously internX) has relaunched this month, providing organizations of all types, including Fortune 500 companies, access to pre-screened, diverse, entry-level talent. “If America is to remain competitive in the rising global digital economy, business and academia must collaborate to engage diverse talent,” said Black billionaire philanthropist Robert F. Smith, Founding Director and President of Fund II Foundation, and Founder, Chairman and CEO of Vista Equity Partners, an internXL partner company.

Smith drew headlines in 2019 when he pledged a $34 million gift to Atlanta’s historically Black Morehouse College, paying off student balances for 400 graduates and their parents. He sees improving access to professional opportunities for students of color as a matter of strengthening national competitiveness and security. “We built internxl.org – to create pipelines and opportunities for minority students to work with many of the top tech companies in the world, providing experiences that many students never thought were accessible,” he said.

Currently, more than 220 companies and more than 17,000 pre-screened students are registered partners and participants on the internXL platform. It offers more than 1,300 courses as part of its tiered Learning Management System (LMS) within the platform, providing students with the opportunity to obtain certifications in a variety of subjects and skills, including the cloud, cybersecurity, Salesforce, and project management amongst others.

The LMS also offers mental health support, tips on how to dress for success, and even guidance on how to cook healthy meals — all aimed at preparing students for career-changing internships that can lead to long-term professional success.

The relaunch of the internXL platform also aligns with the objectives of Student Freedom Initiative, Smith’s nonprofit that provides science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) with opportunities to receive income-contingent funding in lieu of traditional college loans that have long wreaked havoc on their financial futures. According to the American Association of University Women, more than 70 percent of Black students go into debt to pay for higher education, compared to 56 percent of white students. Additionally, the Brookings Institute finds that the Black-white disparity in student loan debt more than triples after graduation, with Black college graduates owing $7,400 more on average than their white peers.

To support its overarching mission, the internXL team will be visiting HBCU campuses throughout the 2022-23 academic year, providing students with free career-readiness training and resources to better prepare them for their unique internship experiences. The initiative will build off of internXL’s March 2022 investment of $15,000 to Alabama’s Tuskegee University, which provided professional headshots and attire to its students completing the internship and job application process.

“The impact of this initiative has been a game-changer for The Career Education and Leadership Development Center at Tuskegee University,” said its Director Walter P. Cooper, Sr. “The internXL team saw a need and immediately acted to bring forth transformational change — not only through their own professional resources — but also with financial support.”

internXL Program Director Ivana Jackson says internships help level the playing field, adding that the platform, “is uniquely positioned to bring precision, diversity, inclusion, and efficiency to the internship matching process for thousands of talented and skilled young adults across the country.”

Continued Jackson: “The objective of internXL is to provide value to both the employer and the student by providing highly qualified, pre-screened entry-level talent for the employer and providing ‘on-ramps’ to high-quality jobs that help students begin their professional careers.”

internXL and its partners will continue to work directly with HBCUs to ensure students realize their full potential in a competitive global economy.

To learn more, please visit internxl.org

About
Fund II Foundation was established in 2014 for the purpose of advancing social change by making grants to section 501(c)(3) public charities in five areas: Preserving the cultural richness of the African American experience for future generations; Safeguarding human dignity by giving voice to the voiceless and promoting human rights; Conserving the environment, promoting outdoor education, and providing the benefits of the great outdoors to people of all ages and backgrounds.

Affording music education, particularly in primary and secondary schools, to nourish both talent and the soul; and sustaining the American values of entrepreneurship, empowerment, innovation and security. Through its Cradle to Greatness Pipeline effort, F2F is tracking grantee efforts in areas that support “greatness” in life and work through purposeful careers and ownership. To that end, a very special pipe is “internships,” thus its newest initiative internXL, previously known as internX, is designed to provide opportunities to those overlooked and underestimated. Learn more at Fund2Foundation.org

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Robert F. Smith is an engineer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who is passionate about helping future generations of students realize their full potential. Through Smith’s guidance, the Fund II Foundation has grown keystone programs like internXL, as well as many other initiatives. Smith aims to build an ecosystem that allows students and young professionals to develop their skills and work experience in a diverse, equitable and inclusive way.

Smith has said that his own internship at Bell Labs as a high school student informed him of the importance of exposure to a working company, as well as the significance of tenacity and following through. Smith’s internship led to a job that lasted him through — and helped pay for — college, and it presented him with opportunities to learn and grow in ways that would not otherwise have been available. It also gave him a lifelong passion for learning and finding solutions to problems.

Founder, Chairman and CEO of Vista Equity Partners

In addition to internXL, Smith supports a variety of career-focused programs at other organizations. The Robert Frederick Smith Internship and Fellowship Program at the National Museum of African American History & Culture funds pathways for individuals interested in studying and preserving African American heritage, artwork and media. Vista Equity Partners (Vista), of which Smith is the Chairman and CEO, offers the summer Vista Frontier Fellows program for women, African American, Native American and Latinx who are college juniors.

Smith’s interest in helping young people start their careers on the right foot is not limited to work programs. At his alma mater, Cornell University, he set up the Tech Scholars program to help more women and African American students earn STEM degrees at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Cornell was named after him in recognition of this and other contributions to education.

In 2019, Smith stunned the graduating class of Morehouse College with the news that he would pay off the entire class’s student loan debt, along with student debt acquired by their parents on behalf of the graduates. In his commencement address, Smith challenged the recent graduates, along with other alumni and benefactors, to help future classes in a similar way.

Continuing this legacy, Smith called his recent action with the HBCU-focused Student Freedom Initiative a means “to redress historic economic and social inequities and to offer a sustainable, scalable platform to invest in the education of future Black leaders.” His donation of $50 million, which matched a $50 million contribution from Fund II Foundation, will decrease the at times crippling debt load of students graduating from historically Black colleges and universities.

His history as an advocate and champion of African American education and his efforts to challenge and change corporate culture contributed to his being named one of the TIME100 most influential people in 2020.

More About Smith’s Philanthropy

Smith’s philanthropic activities are not limited to career and educational programs. Through the Fund II Foundation, he also supports efforts to protect human rights, promote benefits of the outdoors, cultivate music appreciation and education, and preserve African American culture and history. He also offers leadership to a number of other organizations as a board member for Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, the Chairman of Carnegie Hall, a Member of the Executive Committee of the Business Roundtable, a member of the Cornell Engineering College Council, and a member of the Board of Overseers of Columbia Business School.

In recognition of his “emphasis on education and support for current and future generations” Smith received the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in 2019. Smith has also been recognized with the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Chair’s Award, the UNCF’s President’s Award, the Ripple of Hope Award from Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, and the Humanitarian of the Year Award from the Robert Toigo Foundation. Smith was honored to receive the Jackie Robinson Foundation ROBIE Achievement in Industry Award. He received the Morehouse Candle Award in Business and Philanthropy in 2018, and he became Ebony’s inaugural recipient of the John H. Johnson Award in part due to his $34 million gift to eliminate Morehouse graduates’ student debt. In 2017, Smith became the first African American to sign the Giving Pledge, promising to give away half of his net worth earned during his lifetime.

Also in 2017, Forbes’ named Smith one of the 100 Greatest Living Business Minds due to his professional accomplishments and leadership in social justice advocacy. Two years later, he was inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Fame. As the head of Vista, which invests exclusively in enterprise software, data and technology-enabled businesses, Smith has overseen the firm’s success across a range of investment strategies, including private equity, permanent capital, public equity and credit.

Before Smith founded Vista and moved to Austin, TX, Smith worked in tech mergers and acquisitions at Goldman Sachs in New York City and San Francisco, assisting companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Texas Instruments and HP, among others. He also worked as a chemical engineer at Goodyear Tire and Rubber, as well as Kraft General Foods where he successfully registered two patents each in the United States and Europe for coffee filtration and brewing systems. He holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Cornell and an MBA with honors from Columbia University.

Learn More About Robert F. Smith

Stay up to date with the current initiatives of Robert F. Smith through his social platforms: