Google has been named the official sponsor of the Inaugural Toyota HBCU New York Football Classic Halftime Show. The highly-anticipated matchup between Howard University and Morehouse College will take place at Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on September 17th, 2022. 

According to the press release, Google will donate $350,000 in funding, which includes $210,000 in scholarships to 105 HBCU students as the sponsor for the historic game. Additionally, “each recipient will be awarded $2,000 for books and laptops for the upcoming school year—students from any HBCU are eligible to apply.”

“We’re so excited to serve as this year’s official halftime sponsor for the Inaugural Toyota HBCU New York Football Classic,” says Melonie Parker, Chief Diversity Officer at Google. “HBCUs continue to serve as safe havens for Black students and are responsible for shaping the next generation of leaders and thinkers across today’s leading industries, including tech. At Google, we want to do our part to support these institutions and their students as we work to make tech more inclusive and representative at all levels of the workforce, together.” 

In addition to sponsoring the HBCU Classic halftime show, Google announced last year that it will provide $50 million in unrestricted grants to 10 HBCUs” to support scholarships, investments in technical infrastructure for in-class and remote learning, and the development of curriculum and career support programs.” Back in February,  the company donated $6 million to The Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) and United Negro College Fund (UNCF).

Derick Moore, Executive Producer and Founder of the Toyota HBCU New York Football Classic and founding chairman of HBCU Tools for School Foundation stated the importance of Google recognizing the value of HBCUs.

“Having this partnership with Google speaks volumes to the value and viability of both participating HBCU schools, and the importance that they have on the HBCU culture, sports, and landscape in the state of New Jersey, and within the city of New York,” he said.

Over the last several years, Google has pledged to support HBCUs. The company has partnered with several HBCUs including Morehouse College and Howard University, to facilitate its Google in Residence and Tech Exchange programs.

The Google in Residence program takes experienced software engineers from Google to spend the fall semester on campus, teaching introductory computer science classes where first-year students learn about “basic coding and debugging, simple data structures, and how to work with large code bases.” 

The Tech Exchange initiative provides a virtual learning experience for students to learn data structure skills and to build applied CS. Students also take interview prep courses during the spring semester of sophomore year.