Unlocking Opportunity Initiative Partners
The Unlocking Opportunity Initiative (UOI) is a $100 million commitment over five years by Yum! Brands to tackle inequality through three focus areas: equity and inclusion, education and entrepreneurship. Below are the UOI grant recipients and descriptions of their funded programs.
Equity & Inclusion
Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC), a national organization with a local focus, deploys capacity-building grants to Black-led business development organizations and nonprofits in West Louisville, Kentucky.
Black L.O.V.E. Philanthropic Partnership
Metro United Way
Part of Metro United Way, the Black L.O.V.E. (Live. Own. Vote. Excel.) Philanthropic Partnership pools resources and thought leadership to drive impact and Black-led social change by investing in Louisville, Kentucky, nonprofit organizations.
OneTen’s mission is to hire, promote and advance 1 million Black individuals who do not have four-year degrees into family-sustaining careers over the next 10 years. Through this partnership, KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and The Habit Burger Grill support restaurant general management and field leadership advancement at company-owned restaurants as well as jobs in U.S.-based corporate offices.
Empowering and Employing Refugee Women
socialbee
Organized by socialbee and KFC, this program’s mission is to recruit and empower refugee women living in Germany, who will participate in a qualification program, providing skills and support, to ensure financial stability and long-term employment in KFC restaurants.
Education
3X Youth Employability Program
Sevalanka Foundation
The 3X Youth Employability Program has been developed with the Sevalanka Foundation and Pizza Hut, providing personal well-being, soft skills and vocational education to create a pathway to employment and self-sustaining life for people with disabilities and marginalized youth.
Cardinal Bridge Academy, Removing Barriers to a College Education
University of Louisville
The Cardinal Bridge Academy (CBA) offers a transformative educational experience to proactively eliminate barriers to a college education for high school juniors and seniors from diverse communities. Providing access to college credits, mentoring and career preparation opportunities, CBA Scholars sharpen their business, technology and leadership skills – earning early admission to the University of Louisville College of Business, provided they meet certain GPA and attendance requirements.
Evolve502 Scholarship
Evolve502
The Evolve502 Scholarship offers a tuition-free, two-year education to any eligible Jefferson County Public School student interested in earning an associate degree, technical credential or workforce certification at any Kentucky Community & Technical College or Simmons College of Kentucky.
Feeding Minds to Advance Youth Literacy
ProLiteracy
Feeding Minds, part of ProLiteracy and in partnership with KFC, is a three-year program to strengthen core literacy skills for youth aged between 12 and 20, in disadvantaged areas in Cairo, who are illiterate, have low literacy skills or who are out-of-the-school system.
Hatch is an employability skills program from UK Youth and KFC, supporting young people who are experiencing barriers to employment. The program aims to tackle the continued rise of youth unemployment in the UK, worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, by providing participants with pre-employability training and work experience.
YES4Youth, in partnership with Pizza Hut, offers the LeadHERship program, which works with nonprofits to train and place women, aged 18 to 24, in jobs across industries throughout South Africa as a springboard for lifelong employment.
Nas’aa, from the nonprofit Alnahda and in partnership with KFC, is a three-year program to prepare women for their participation in the workforce. Participants complete a three-month training program and are supported in their journey from education to employment with skill-building and mentorship.
The Black Teacher Initiative
Simmons College of Kentucky
Led by Simmons College of Kentucky, one of the oldest historically Black colleges in America, The Black Teacher Initiative addresses the lack of diversity in kindergarten to 12th grade education by recruiting and training Black teachers for classrooms across Kentucky.
Yum! Center for Global Franchise Excellence
University of Louisville
In partnership with the University of Louisville, the Yum! Center for Global Franchise Excellence (CGFE), established in 2021, is a global program empowering communities to create and sustain generational wealth through franchising. Through education and research, Yum! CGFE seeks to advance the industry by unlocking entrepreneurial opportunities for historically under-represented populations. The center is the first of its kind to offer online education at the graduate, undergraduate and non-credit levels, providing access to all.
Odyssey Life Readiness Program for Youth
Boys & Girls Club of America
This Boys & Girls Clubs of America program, Odyssey Life Readiness, is an academic success initiative piloting in five of its major metropolitan areas. The Odyssey Life readiness program enables youth, aged 12 to 18, to become effective, engaged and adaptive learners with a drive towards graduation, college exploration and the avoidance of life-limiting risk.
Entrepreneurship
Ambition Accelerator, Enabling Young Innovators to Create Positive Change
Ashoka & Taco Bell Foundation
A product of Ashoka and Taco Bell, the Ambition Accelerator helps young people, aged 16 to 26, tackle society's most pressing issues and make positive changes in their communities and around the world. Participants will gain changemaking skills to thrive in an ever-evolving world and will also serve as an inspiration for other young people to realize their power to impact their communities.
New Founder Programme
Hatch Enterprise
This program by charity Hatch Enterprise and Pizza Hut, supports Black, female and underrepresented entrepreneurs by equipping them with the capability, networks and capital needed to start and grow their own business and create jobs in their communities.
Business Education for Entrepreneurs
Initiative for a Competitive Inner City
KFC, Pizza Hut and Yum! Brands are partnering with the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City to help immigrant, indigenous and entrepreneurs of color in under-resourced communities to build capacity for sustainable growth in revenue, profitability and employment. Entrepreneurs participate in Inner City Capital Connections, a tuition-free executive leadership training program, receiving coaching and mentoring from experts in established businesses, and access to debt, equity and alternative capital resources.
From the nonprofit AMPED, the Russell Technology Business Incubator (RTBI) is a state-of-the art incubator and technology service center offering business development training, business services, assessments, referrals and wraparound services to Black and Latinx entrepreneurs. With the goal of generating wealth in historically disinvested, predominantly Black, west Louisville neighborhoods, the RTBI provides entrepreneurs with access to seed capital needed to maximize their success.