Partners PG&E, PG&E Foundation, UC
Berkeley and Mills College at
Northeastern to Celebrate Graduates of
Program Targeting Wealth Gap
OAKLAND,
Calif., Jan. 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Twenty-three
high school students will receive $8,000 scholarships upon graduating from the
PG&E Economic Equity and Financial Education Program on
Saturday (Feb. 1) at the University of California, Berkeley. The program was
designed to address wealth disparity and the racial wealth gap
affecting African Americans.
Students completed an advanced financial education course taught
at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business. Pacific Gas and Electric
Company (PG&E) and The PG&E Corporation Foundation
(PG&E Foundation) created and paid for the program.
More than 70 high schoolers have gone through the program since
the pilot in 2022. The PG&E Foundation funds the
scholarships.
PG&E partnered with the UC Berkeley's Haas School of
Business and Berkeley Executive Education. Other partners
include Mills College at Northeastern University, and Amenti Capital
Group.
The program prepares African American high school students for
future financial success. It also reinforces academic leadership.
The program is supported by PG&E and the PG&E Foundation's
Better Together Giving Program. The charitable Better Together
program aims to bolster people, the planet, and California's prosperity, and ensure a safe and
inclusive future for all.
Students attended classes on Saturdays over the past six months.
They say the skills they learned will help guide them to future
success.
"The program has been very beneficial in teaching me how to
manage my finances, which is a critical skill in life, especially
when the next step in my life is going to a four-year university,"
said Ty Carter, 17, a student at
Oakland's Castlemont High
School.
PG&E created the program after two years of planning. It was
part of a racial justice initiative following the George Floyd
tragedy. More than $500,000 in annual
funding was committed through the Better Together Giving Program.
Funding for the program comes from PG&E shareholders, not
PG&E customers. It is one of several scholarship programs
PG&E supports.
Students took courses taught by Berkeley Haas professors and
financial industry professionals. Studies focused on personal
finance, capital markets and wealth creation, investments and more.
African American undergraduate students at Haas mentored the high
schoolers.
Mills College at Northeastern University TRIO Programs recruited the
students. They did so through programs that help underserved high
school students and first in their families attending college to
succeed.
The curriculum was developed with Berkeley Haas Professor
Panos Patatoukas and Jason Miles, an African American venture
capitalist. Miles has more than 25 years of experience in the
financial services industry and founded Amenti Capital Group.
"I am grateful for their partnership in this impactful
program, which equips Oakland-area
high school seniors with the essential financial knowledge to
embark on their personal finance journey. As founding faculty
director, I am especially proud to see former participants now
thriving as Berkeley students — a
testament to the program's transformative impact on our community.
I look forward to strengthening this partnership to further expand
its reach and influence," said Professor Patatoukas of Berkeley
Haas.
"We continue to believe that there is great benefit in
empowering young African American future leaders with early access
to practical investing knowledge that will enrich their
lives. We remain energized by the opportunity to catalyze
generational wealth creation alongside like-minded partners and
this impressively talented class of students," said Miles of Amenti
Capital Group.
Information from the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances helped to
shape the program's intent. The survey looked at disparities in
wealth by race and ethnicity. It noted that the typical white
family had eight times the wealth of a typical Black family. The
survey cites a number of complex factors across generations. One
such factor is how personal savings and investment decisions
contribute to wealth accumulation.
The 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances (the most recent released)
showed the gap slightly narrowed. The survey showed that white
families had six times as much wealth as the typical Black family.
According to the report: "We remain far from racial equality,
reflecting the large differences that have persisted for
decades."
"We recognize the profound impact the racial wealth gap has on
perpetuating inequality in California and remain deeply committed to
being part of the solution. We believe that providing early access
to financial education is a vital step in addressing equality,
equipping young people with the tools, knowledge, and confidence to
navigate financial systems and create a foundation for long-term
success," said PG&E Senior Vice President of Customer
Experience Vincent Davis.
One student already charting success is Otis Ward, a graduate of last year's program who
shared his journey in the PG&E short film "Change the System:
Building Black Wealth."
When the program launched in 2022, it was hoped it would serve
as a model for future high school education curriculum. In 2024,
California passed legislation
providing high school students have access to a personal finance
course by 2027. The legislation also makes personal finance
education a graduation requirement by 2031.
About PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a
subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG), is a combined
natural gas and electric utility serving more than 16 million
people across 70,000 square miles in Northern and Central California. For more information,
visit pge.com and pge.com/news
About The PG&E Corporation Foundation
The PG&E
Corporation Foundation is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit
organization, separate from PG&E and sponsored by PG&E
Corporation.
About the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley
As
the second-oldest business school in the
United States, Berkeley Haas has been questioning the status
quo since its founding in 1898. Berkeley Haas offers outstanding
management education to about 2,500 undergraduate and graduate
students from around the world to attend one of its six
degree-granting programs and join the school's network of 41,000
alumni worldwide.
About Berkeley Executive Education
UC Berkeley
Executive Education serves leaders and organizations who aspire to
redefine the future of business, delivering over 150 programs
annually to a global audience. Its immersive learning experiences,
led by renowned UC Berkeley faculty, equip global executives and
their organizations with the vision and capabilities to thrive in
an evolving world.
About Northeastern
University
Founded in 1898, Northeastern is a global research university and
the recognized leader in experience-driven lifelong learning. Our
world-renowned experiential approach empowers our students,
faculty, alumni, and partners to create impact far beyond the
confines of discipline, degree, and campus.
Northeastern's comprehensive array
of undergraduate and graduate programs—on-campus, online, and in
hybrid formats—lead to degrees through the doctorate in nine
colleges and schools. Among these, we offer more than 140
multi-discipline majors and degrees designed to prepare students
for purposeful lives and careers.
About Amenti Capital Group
Amenti Capital Group is an
emerging merchant bank that provides independent advisory services
and venture capital to early-stage technology companies in high
growth ecosystems. We leverage deep industry knowledge, operational
expertise, and longstanding relationships to deliver attractive
returns through our end-to-end model. We serve entrepreneurs and
sophisticated investors while following our core principles of
innovation, integrity and inclusion.
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SOURCE Pacific Gas and Electric Company
