PNC Financial Services Group Inc.'s foundation has awarded a $375,000, three-year grant to Johnson C. Smith University.
This grant is part of the larger PNC North Carolina HBCU Initiative, which awarded a total of $2 million to five historically Black colleges and universities across North Carolina. PNC (NYSE: PNC) announced the initiative earlier today. Grants ranged from $282,000 to $719,000 based on project scope, said Lori Jones Gibbs, community development banking market manager for the Carolinas at PNC.
Other recipients include: Fayetteville State University, Winston-Salem State University, Elizabeth City State University and N.C. Central University.
"We're collaborating with these five institutions because we share their vision of advancing inclusive entrepreneurship education and opportunities. At the core, empowering Black entrepreneurs translates to business ownership, jobs and wealth creation," said Jim Hansen, PNC regional president for eastern Carolinas.
Charlotte-based JCSU is using its funding to launch the PNC Entrepreneurship Hub, providing incubator space for new businesses, access to technology and seed money. Students will pitch their ideas to a committee to secure funding and then manage those funds, said Clarence Armbrister, president at JCSU. Student-entrepreneurs will be known as PNC fellows.
JCSU is Charlotte's only HBCU institution. The university, founded in 1867, is on Beatties Ford Road and had about 1,300 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs as of fall 2020.
Armbrister described PNC's grant award as generous and game-changing.
"It's more than having a laboratory space," Armbrister said. "The hub will provide these diverse future business owners with the kind of innovation space they need to begin their new businesses, while gaining valuable mentoring from PNC employees and local entrepreneurs."
Armbrister said the entrepreneurial hub is a way to improve economic mobility in Charlotte. He referenced the 2014 Chetty Study, which ranked Charlotte last in economic mobility among the 50 largest cities in the United States. He said this program is an opportunity for Black entrepreneurs to move up.
JCSU will work directly with PNC in crafting a curriculum and resources that are best for the students to experience, Armbrister said.
Students from the five institutions will also participate in an annual PNC Pitch Competition to showcase their ideas and market their businesses.
"What PNC is trying to do here is spark the entrepreneurial spirit and opportunity, competitive juices if you will, of each of the institutions. ... They have similarities, but they also have some unique attributes that they want to try to leverage," said Weston Andress, PNC regional president for western Carolinas.
Pittsburgh-based PNC entered this market a decade ago, when it acquired RBC Bank's U.S. operations. That $3.45 billion deal closed in 2012, and PNC opened its first local branch in Ballantyne in 2015. It is the Charlotte area's seventh-largest bank by deposits with more than 15 branches here.
This latest initiative is part of PNC's $88 billion Community Benefits Plan, which includes more than $1 billion to support Black and low- to moderate-income communities. It complements PNC's recent efforts to establish the Howard University and PNC National Center for Entrepreneurship, for which it made a five-year, $16.8 million commitment in late 2021.
