The media loves to dump on the hip hop, and black, community in general for not wanting to give back. Most recently, one could point to Donald Sterlings ignorant comments on black people not wanting to help their people and trying to point out Magic Johnson. However, there are many that do and hip hop, rapper, mogul Nas is one of them.

Black Enterprise is reporting Nas is joining some of the heavy weights of the tech world to create some STEM opportunities for minorities that might get pushed to back of the line in this emerging industry. Others involved with him are Google, Microsoft and Hirepurpose. The aim is to help train minorities in the tech sector so they can get careers in the field.

The focus of Nas efforts thus far will be web development, but the program has a really great and unique twist on it.

Students who move through the program will be well prepared to accept web development jobs, but will also be required to give 100 volunteer hours mentoring others in the field as well. They will be able to take the knowledge and skill imparted on them and give it to the next generation or people interested in following in their footsteps to further spread the STEM, web development movement in the minority communities.

The Opportunity Fund is part of General Assembly in New York and here is what the CEO Jake Schwartz says via their websites:

Our vision at General Assembly is to build a global community of individuals empowered to pursue work they love. It is in the context of that vision that we’re happy to announce the launch of the Opportunity Fund — a new scholarship program designed to facilitate a more diverse community of skilled creators in the tech industry.

We are partnering with some of the most influential people and companies today to offer scholarships for the entrepreneurs, engineers, and designers of tomorrow.

Is there an entrepreneurship element?

There isn’t an entrepreneurship element involved in this offering at the moment directly, but hopefully these individuals that finish the program will be encouraged to go this route.

Entrepreneurship is a major concern in the black and minority communities. It is great to have a career, but we need job makers as well. And tech space, web, app development space is a great place for us to move into.

Either way, this sounds like an outstanding program and opportunity for many young people contributed to by Nas. Hopefully, there will be many more programs like this in the future!