Atlantic City Electric Funds Scholarships for Next Generation Energy Workforce

Grant funding builds on foundational financial support provided by Atlantic City Electric and Exelon to help aid local community scholarships

On Mar 16, 2022

Atlantic City Electric has provided $75,000 to three local community colleges to support scholarships for local youth to become the next generation of the energy workforce. The funding builds on $50,000 in grants provided as part of Atlantic City Electric’s Community Scholars Program during the 2020-2021 academic year to support students across the company’s service area struggling to continue their education due to the impacts of the pandemic.

“We hope this funding helps open the door to educational opportunities that all too often are just a dream for many young people within our communities,” said Rodney Oddoye, senior vice president of Governmental, External and Regulatory Affairs for Pepco Holdings, which includes Atlantic City Electric. “Through our partnerships with local community colleges to our transformational workforce development programs like our partnership with Jingoli Power, we are not only expanding the possibilities for our youth, we are building the talent pool for the future energy workforce.”

Atlantic City Electric provided $75,000 in grants to Atlantic Cape Community College, Camden County Community College, and Rowan College of South Jersey. In addition to this funding, as part of a partnership with UNCF (United Negro College Fund) Atlantic City Electric’s parent company, Exelon, and the Exelon Foundation, provided $2.4 million in scholarships to 24 college freshmen attending historic black colleges and universities as part of its HBCU Corporate Scholars Program launched in the fall 2021. As part of this program, Newark resident Bernice Hightower is receiving up to $100,000 in need-based aid over her four years of schooling at Howard University.

These community college grants and support for local students add to the initiatives of Atlantic City Electric and Exelon that support education and workforce development. As an example, Atlantic City Electric partnered with Jingoli Power, the contract company working on Atlantic City Electric’s Atlantic City/Brigantine Community Reliability Project, to train young adults residing in Atlantic City to support numerous areas of its project. Atlantic City Electric and Exelon are helping bridge the gender and racial gap in STEM careers with the annual Exelon Foundation STEM Leadership Academy, a program, to encourage and support the involvement of young women in science, technology, engineering and math.

These commitments extend outside of Atlantic City Electric’s walls through philanthropic support of similar work by other organizations in the community. In 2021 alone, Atlantic City Electric provided more than $1.1 million in grants for nonprofits and programs across the company’s South Jersey service area.

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