AAAA Multicultural Scholarship Program To Double.

The American Association of Advertising Agencies announced the second phase of an ongoing initiative that will raise $1 million in scholarships for multicultural students of the advertising arts.

Dubbed Operation Jumpstart II, the project was announced by association President-CEO O. Burtch Drake during his speech at the AAAA’s annual Management Conference at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel here, which concentrated primarily on the overall issue of diversity in the ad agency workforce.

Drake noted that recent U.S. Census figures revealed a significant increase in America’s multicultural population. However, AAAA research has shown that the percentage of multicultural employees working in ad agencies has leveled off after five years of growth.

“This is an unacceptable scenario,” Drake said. “Ad agencies must do more to increase the number of multicultural employees, especially on the professional level, if they expect their work to accurately reflect the realities of this country’s cultural landscape.”

Operation Jumpstart II’s predecessor program, Operation Jumpstart, awarded $500,000 in scholarships to 47 multicultural students at five creative portfolio schools from 1998-2000. Schools participating the program include the Ad Center at Virginia Commonwealth University, the Creative Circus and Portfolio Center in Atlanta, the Miami Ad School, and the University of Texas at Austin.

So far, 28 of 47 scholarship recipients have graduated and all are now working in advertising agencies around the country. The remaining 19 recipients are still in school, but will be graduating this year and next and are expected to enter the ad agency business.

The new initiative will raise $1 million—twice as much in scholarship funds as it predecessor. The plan calls for a $500,000 contribution from the AAAA and an additional $500,000 in contributions from member agencies.

DDB’s Kaess to Spearhead Effort

Drake said that Ken Kaess, president-CEO of DDB Worldwide and the new AAAA vice chairman, is spearheading the effort to raise $100,000 per year for five years from the largest AAAA member agencies—the same group that generously supported the original program.

Each agency is being asked for a five-year commitment at the rate of $5,000 per year, and by mid-April, ten agencies had already pledged to contribute to the program.

“Some might say this is not a good time to be asking for money,” Drake noted. “Client spending is down for many agencies, and the economy is in a downturn. But diversity in the ad agency workforce is an issue to which attention must be paid, and it must be paid now if we are to flourish in the future.”

In a related development, Drake also urged member agencies to increase the number of students they accept for summer internships through the AAAA’s Multicultural Advertising Intern Program (MAIP). This summer 100 students from colleges and universities nationwide will intern at 47 member agencies.

In his speech, Drake said he hopes to double the number of MAIP interns next year and that 200 students will be placed through the program in the summer of 2002.

“If you take a MAIP intern this year, please consider taking two next year,” he told conference attendees. “And if you haven’t participated in the program in the past, please consider doing so now.”

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