BSU alum teams up with Allstate to help students at HBCUs

0
66

— Luke Lawal, founder and CEO of HBCU Buzz, a news site for college students, shows love to his Alma mater and other historically black colleges and universities with a partnership with Allstate Insurance Company by raising scholarship for HBCU students across the country.

Through Allstate’s “Quotes for Education” program, which provides financial support for students at HBCUs, Lawal and others hope to raise $250,000 this month alone. Each time an insurance quote is provided to a potential customer, Allstate has pledged to donate $10 to the Tom Joyner Foundation whose mission is to support HBCUs with scholarships, endowments and capacity building enhancements.

Since it was founded in 1999, the Tom Joyner Foundation has raised more than $65 million in support of 29,000 students who attend HBCUs each year.

The foundation has also recommended internships, offered matching grant support and has provided career development to students.

Allstate has donated more than $1 million in scholarships to HBCU students since the inception of the “Quotes for Education” program in 2009.

“When I was an undergraduate, the most important thing for me was finding the right scholarship,” said Lawal, whose parents are both HBCU graduates.

“Also, it was about finding the right adviser to give you the next internship, the next dollar toward books and to stay on campus. Now, learning about opportunities that can help students pay for college is tremendous for me,” Lawal said, adding that some of his friends have used social media and other campaigns to help raise funds to remain in school.

On his HBCU Buzz news website, Lawal says he was taught by his mother to be a leader, to do something different to change the world. His mother graduated summa cum laude as an undergrad at Howard University and she earned a Master’s degree from Howard’s graduate degree program.

Lawal says the values his mother instilled in him, along with a host of mentors and internships have had a major impact on his life as a youth and as an adult. His work with Allstate and the Tom Joyner foundation is about paying it forward.

“Tom Joyner has done a great job rallying in organizations and it makes it easier when you have a company like Allstate who has a general interest in raising money for HBCUs,” he said. “And, it’s not just raising funds, it’s the understanding of what’s important and when I look at some of the messages that we receive, it’s uplifting. You can just go online request a quote from Allstate and the money goes directly into the fund.”

In September, Lawal traveled to Chicago to attend an event sponsored by Allstate with actor and rap star, Common, who attended an HBCU.

“It was a pleasure to be an Allstate influencer and it was breathtaking to see what Common does for the community. It was even better to know that Allstate sponsored and helped make it happen,” Lawal said. “Allstate is an amazing brand and I am so glad that I was able to witness what they do for the community.”

For more information about Allstate’s “Quotes for Education” program, visit https://allstatequotesforeducation.com/.