by Matthew Jones

After spending 20 years in the advertising, public relations and marketing industry, Kim L. Hunter was frustrated by the low numbers of minorities in the field.  Being a man of action, Hunter decided to take steps to increase the number of minorities drawn to the marketing and communications (marcom) industry.  He founded THE LAGRANT FOUNDATION (TLF) - a philanthropic organization dedicated to providing scholarships to African-American, Hispanic, Asian-Pacific Islander and American Indian students majoring in public relations, advertising or marketing.

The Foundation operates in pursuit of two important goals - 1) to create a pipeline of fresh, new talent; and 2) to spark interest and passion for the marcom industry among young minority students.

Each year, the Foundation awards $5,000 scholarships to 10 of the country's top minority students who desire careers in the marcom industry.  Since its inception four years ago, TLF has granted scholarships totaling to $170,000 to more than 40 minority students.

In addition to the scholarships, TLF also provides the top award recipients with internships at the nation's leading public relations, advertising and marketing firms.  These internships last at least three months and provide the students with invaluable hands-on experience.  The internships not only add firepower to the students' resumes, but they also offer the students a first-hand look at the field they are interested in pursuing.  This is particularly important because experience is often more important than where a student attends school.

As an added benefit, students who perform well during their internships are far more likely to have employment after graduation.  Most also establish long-term mentors and friends in the industry along the way.  And mentors, as any seasoned professional and practitioner knows, can be one of the most important ingredients for a prosperous career.

In addition to awarding scholarships and internships to college students, TLF also coordinates a number of activities to help aspiring students to better prepare for a career in marketing.  Each year, TLF hosts four career development seminars that introduce high school upper classmen to the marcom industry.  The seminars bring the students face-to-face with industry professionals who are able to shed light on opportunities within the field.

Feeding the Pipeline

THE LAGRANT FOUNDATION has a database of hundreds of colleges and universities as part of its target network for talented young students.  "We have the top 20 PR (public relations) schools in the nation.  We have the California institutions.  We have an extensive list of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HCBUs).  We even have relationships with schools that have higher levels of American Indian students.  For our Hispanic student, we focus on schools in Texas, California, Illinois, New York and Florida," explains Hunter.

According to Hunter, most activity comes out the East Coast, where there is generally a higher percentage of advertising and public relations majors.  The top PR schools are also located in the East.  Hunter says TLF receives a large number of applications from the South, where the majority of HCBUs are located.

Each year, from January through March, 400 to 600 students submit applications to TLF, hoping to be one of the 10 annual honorees.  The applications, downloadable to www.lagrantfoundation.org, are thought-provoking and straight forward.  There are separate applications for graduating high school seniors and undergraduate college students.

But TLF's selection process isn't so simple.  TLF relies on more than 150 application reviewers to help determine the best applicants.  The reviewers are professionals, from across the corporate spectrum, that have knowledge of and passion for the marcom industry.  Each reviewer studies a portion of the applications that come in and assigns a score. 

The formal review committee, comprised of members of TLP's broad, reviews the top 60 high-score applications, and narrows that down to the 10 awardees.  The final review session generally runs more than five straight hours.  The committee also selects 10 alternate students in case any of the awardees elects to pursue other opportunities.

"You have to be present at the awards ceremony to receive your scholarship," said Hunter.  "If you don't want to be there, we have to find another student.  This is a great opportunity, not to mention $5,000.  We bring the students in, and Hilton Hotels provides the accommodations free of charge.  So I say, be there."

For more information about the scholarships offered by THE LAGRANT FOUNDATION, visit the Foundation's website at www.agrantfoundations.org.

The End