Ford Philanthropy — the global philanthropic arm of Ford Motor Co. — is rolling out a new scholarship initiative in collaboration with the SME Education Foundation, its partner since 1980.
The $250,000 donation from Ford Philanthropy will provide need-based, $2,500 scholarships to 100 students in west Tennessee, where Ford is building an auto production complex — BlueOval City — that will be focused on the production of electric vehicles.
“In the past 44 years, we’ve partnered with the SME Education Foundation to support various programs that really hope to empower the next generation of talent in our industry,” says Yisel Cabrera Crohare, senior manager of economic mobility at Ford Philanthropy.
Formerly known as the Ford Motor Co. Fund, Ford Philanthropy is celebrating its 75th year of providing access to essential services, education and entrepreneurship opportunities for people in communities where Ford operates. “It’s a huge milestone,” says Crohare, “and it was made possible through partnerships like the one we have with the SME Education Foundation.”
According to Crohare, Ford Philanthropy’s partnership with the Foundation has primarily focused on two areas: awarding scholarships and providing historically underrepresented groups with access to STEM education.
Regarding Ford Philanthropy’s new scholarship, which is for the 2025-26 academic year, Crohare says, “It’s very specific to students who are pursuing technical and industrial degrees in west Tennessee around our BlueOval City production facility. We chose the SME Education Foundation to be our scholarship administrator for this because of the decades of partnership that we’ve had, and also because of their expertise in supporting STEM and technical education.
“They’re going to be using their existing scholarship partners to help build out a promotional campaign to reach qualified students in west Tennessee, so we’re going to be working very closely during that campaign.”
According to Crohare, west Tennessee students who receive the scholarship will also be able to receive mentoring from current or retired professionals and academics through Ford Philanthropy.
While scholarships have been the focus of the Ford Philanthropy-SME Education Foundation partnership to date, Crohare says it’s an evolving partnership. “We certainly are open to any new initiatives that SME may be targeting in the future, with the same mission of creating a talent pipeline for industry and providing access to students from historically underrepresented groups.”
Since Ford Philanthropy started partnering with the SME Education Foundation, it has awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships to students who are pursuing STEM degrees.
“It’s a great team,” says Crohare about the Foundation. “They’re very responsive and very knowledgeable. And so we are excited to continue working together in partnering on this new scholarship program and other programs in the future.”
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