Blackstone LaunchPad, an initiative of the Blackstone Charitable Foundation to make entrepreneurship more accessible to students and communities, has announced an expansion of its network to include three historically Black colleges and universities in Atlanta: Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Clark Atlanta University.

Part of the foundation's five-year, $40 million commitment to expand Blackstone LaunchPad to institutions of higher education that have a majority diverse population or are serving underresourced communities, the program will provide students with resources, networks, and opportunities to pursue their entrepreneurial endeavors and career ambitions. To that end, Blackstone LaunchPad will facilitate access to a global network of mentors and advisors, deliver start-up resources, and offer convening opportunities. Students also will have the opportunity to participate in pitch competitions, fellowships, and live speaker series.

"Entrepreneurship is singularly transformative in creating equity in society, building wealth within communities, and forming professional pathways for innovative and enterprising people of color like Morehouse men," said David A. Thomas, president of Morehouse College, where the program will be run in collaboration with the Morehouse Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center. "We fully expect our students to leverage the empowering resources provided through our Blackstone LaunchPad network partnership to launch ventures propelled by ideas that reimagine the commercial and social status quo."

"This is an exciting venture that opens opportunities for our HBCU campuses and their students," said Michael L. Lomax, president and CEO of the United Negro College Fund, which helped Blackstone LaunchPad develop the expansion plan. "We are especially pleased that Blackstone LaunchPad will now be available for students at the Atlanta Universities Consortium schools. We look forward to continuing our partnership and introducing Blackstone LaunchPad to additional HBCUs across the United States. Advancements like this enable our students to make their talents grow exponentially and open doors they could never have dreamed of even peering through previously."