At Sprout Social, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is not only one of our core values, but a guiding principle for how we structure our team and business. Our DEI mission is to pursue diversity, equity and inclusion in the way our people experience the workplace, in the way we build our teams and how we cultivate allyship for historically marginalized communities.

To support this commitment, we’ve partnered with the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) to establish the Sprout Social Scholarship Fund. Each year, eight Black/African American college seniors will be awarded an $11,000 USD merit-based scholarship. Selected recipients will exemplify strong leadership abilities and demonstrate interest in computer science or software engineering.

This is our second year contributing $100,000 USD to the scholarship fund, which was established in 2021 as a means of increasing access to STEM education and opportunities in the technology industry for the Black/African American community. Scholarship recipients also receive the opportunity to apply and interview for a full-time role as an Associate Software Engineer at Sprout, and earlier this year we welcomed two recipients to our engineering team.

“The Sprout Social Scholarship significantly supported my pursuit of higher education, enabled me to study a field that I longed to attain a degree in and relieved the financial burden that so many students face,” said scholarship recipient Sean Walker, Associate Software Engineer at Sprout Social. “It has always been my desire to use software to provide useful tools to people, and this scholarship’s support of my academic career has helped prepare me for my future as a critical thinker and problem solver, which are skills I now use in my current role as an engineer.”

“I am honored and more than thankful for all the ways the Sprout Social UNCF Scholarship Program has changed and empowered my life,” said scholarship recipient Thomas Reese, Associate Software Engineer at Sprout Social. “The scholarship helped me complete my last year of school and become a first-generation college student. This is so important to me because I have set an example to my peers and family of what is possible for us to achieve through education. I really hope the scholarship fund can continue to help the Black/African American community by making tuition more affordable, allowing someone like me to focus more on education and becoming better leaders in software development.”

Increasing access to education and career opportunities for the Black/African American community is just one part of the work we’re doing to further our DEI recruitment and retention efforts. In addition to the scholarship fund, we are supporting a number of conferences for underrepresented genders in technology, such as Technica, as well as hosting workshops for DEI-focused student organizations to help them prepare for technical interviews at Sprout and other companies.

For those interested in the Sprout Social Scholarship Fund, applications will be open through October 17, 2022.