College Legacy Program For Black Women Halted After Losing Critical Grant

The University of Alabama’s highly anticipated Legacy program—a year-long initiative focused on mentorship and tech training for Black girls—has been put on hold after losing a critical $3.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation in April, according to The Birmingham Times.

Designed as a collaboration between seven predominantly white and historically Black colleges, the Legacy program aimed to support 600 students from Mississippi, Ohio, Michigan, and Alabama through 2028. Participants would have received mentorship from tech leaders at companies like Intel, along with hands-on instruction in coding and computing.

Jeff Gray, the program’s head leader and a computer science professor at the University of Alabama, told The Birmingham Times on Thursday that he had “dorms reserved” and meal plans “set up” for students who wanted to enroll in the program.

“We even were starting applications,” Gray revealed. “Some of us have spent 300 or so hours on the project.”

Legacy was an expansion of a successful Alabama pilot launched in 2019. Early results showed strong outcomes: 72% of the 71 Black girls who took part scored a 3 or higher on their AP exams, outperforming the national average across all demographics, including white and Asian males, said Mohammed Qazi, a Legacy faculty leader from Tuskegee University.

The program was also seen as a critical step toward addressing the severe underrepresentation of Black women in tech. According to the United Negro College Fund, Black women make up just 3% of the U.S. tech workforce, and even fewer hold leadership roles in Silicon Valley. This isn’t just an issue, particularly in the U.S. In the U.K., the British Computer Society reports Black women account for just 0.7% of IT roles—2.5 times below representation in other fields. “That means for black women to be truly represented in IT there would need to be 20,000 more within the sector,” the Chartered Institute For IT notes. 

With the program now in limbo, its future remains uncertain, along with the opportunity it promised to hundreds of underrepresented students.

Gray noted that the initiative was rooted in providing “equity of opportunity,” supporting students who had the talent but lacked exposure to careers in computer science. He highlighted that the program aligned perfectly with Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey’s push to expand computer science education across the state. As of fall 2024, UA reports 1,100 students enrolled in its computer science programs, placing Alabama among the top five states for computer science education.

Despite the setback, Gray remains committed to increasing access to tech careers for underrepresented students.

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