N.C. A&T Alumni Times

When Keith Clark ’13 graduated from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, he knew immediately he would start his engineering career at Ford Motor Co. Six years later, he was selected as a 2019 fellow to join Ford’s Thirty Under 30 program. The initiative is a yearlong course in leadership and civic engagement that matches nonprofits with Ford employees younger than 30. The program is designed to work with nonprofits to address challenging social issues in the community.

Clark, who received a bachelor’s degree from North Carolina A&T in electrical engineering, is a controls and automation engineer based in Detroit.

“N.C. A&T prepared me for my career by teaching me how to juggle multiple projects and provided me hands-on experience working with electrical circuits in the classroom,” said Clark. “Working at a global company like Ford has increased my capacity to think on a higher level and accomplish more.”

Clark and his fellow cohorts have been assigned to work with Grandmont Rosedale Development Corp. to help develop potential solutions for neighborhood concerns such as affordable housing, economic development, beautification and basic resident services.

“Working with this nonprofit, we discovered through surveys there is a large group of senior citizens who are very active in the community but there aren’t any active younger people to help carry on the succession of the nonprofit work,” said Clark. “We decided to come up with a junior executive team to teach high school students and millennials how to get engaged in nonprofit work through this organization.

“The goal is to bring more positive energy to the organization and allow younger people to add more value without creating additional work for the nonprofit staff.”

With encouragement from Ford, Clark is pursuing his master’s degree in engineering management from Wayne State University.

Ford Motor Co. Executive Chairman Bill Ford launched Thirty Under 30 in 2016 as part of the company’s continuing efforts to develop future employee leaders who are also dedicated to community service. The program is managed by Ford Fund, the company’s philanthropic arm. To learn more about the program, please click here.