Photo Credit: Raph_PH / CC by 2.0
Originally conceived in 2019, The Metallica Scholars Initiative (MSI) is a collaboration between the band’s foundation (All Within My Hands) and the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), which represents over 1,000 community colleges in the United States.
The goal of the MSI — and their area of greatest success thus far — is associating the students involved in the programs with career opportunities local to them that help with career-building skills. The aim is to fully utilize the community college network to fulfill the talent needs of local businesses.
In its third year, The Metallica Scholars Initiative will again partner with Wolverine Boots and Apparel based in Rockford, Michigan, among other distinguished partners who will be announced in the near future, supplementing an already established fund of $1.6 million.
The partners noted that each institution, even during a pandemic, was able to improve their program in order to give students the necessary industry-relevant training that was needed to support the local business employment demands. An example of this level of success was a report from Central Piedmont in Charlotte, which shared that just short of 98% of Metallica Scholars were slated to graduate by the summer of 2020.
The Senior VP of Workforce and Economic Development with the American Association of Community Colleges, Jennifer Worth, works extensively with programs such as Metallica Scholars Initiative to find these programs and connect them with students looking for career opportunities in their local areas and the proper training. Worth says that as more communities become involved in projects like the one initiated by Metallica, more industries will become partners with community colleges to train for more high-skilled jobs.
With the Foundation’s core mission to create communities that can self-sustain, the Metallica Scholars Initiative does this through supporting education.
This news comes right before an exclusive Metallica Mondays concert arrives for streaming on the band’s YouTube channel.
The concert is happening in conjunction with our Month of Giving supporting Direct Relief as well as Feeding America.
Beginning with 10 colleges that were in locales that sustained Metallica while on tour, the 23 schools were chosen by virtue of an application process. Those chosen collect $100,000 to support programs created to sustain students who are honing their skills in order to work for the first time in the United States labor force.