Infrastructure access
Students need access to the rooms, labs, hardware, and systems where AI is actually produced.
AI philanthropy moment
New AI wealth should build new AI access.
AI wealth is being created now. AARI is making sure Black students and underrepresented learners have access to the infrastructure behind that wealth.
The next wave of value is being created by chips, cloud, data centers, robotics, energy, and automation. AARI exists to make sure students from historically excluded communities are not just watching that future get built. They are learning to operate it, secure it, and lead it.
Base
Atlanta and AUC
Model
Operators, not observers
Why now
The opportunity gap is moving deeper into the stack.
Most AI education teaches students to use tools. AARI teaches the systems underneath AI: energy, compute, networks, deployment, robotics, security, and production operations.
HBCU talent
AARI is rooted in Atlanta and the AUC, connecting Black technical talent to high-growth infrastructure pathways.
Platform impact
Support funds a repeatable model: cohorts, labs, scholarships, technical staff, partner exposure, and measurable outcomes.
What funding unlocks
Fund the stack students need to touch.
AARI turns philanthropic capital into equipment, lab access, cohort support, applied projects, and the operating discipline students need to compete in the AI infrastructure economy.
$10K
Funds a student technical lab cohort.
$25K
Supports robotics and edge AI workshops.
$50K
Sponsors a student project sprint.
$100K
Funds an infrastructure pathway.
$250K+
Anchors a named workforce initiative.
$500K+
Supports multi-campus AUC programming.
Funding levels are illustrative. AARI works with donors and institutional partners to align support with scope, student impact, travel, preparation, deliverables, reporting needs, and strategic value.
Memorial scholarship
The David Mykel Taylor Scholarship turns memory into access.
This scholarship supports students who have faced real adversity and chosen to keep building anyway. It connects grit, creativity, and purpose to AI, robotics, and infrastructure opportunity.
Funder ready
For donor-advised funds, family foundations, and corporate philanthropy teams.
AARI welcomes support for AI infrastructure workforce development, HBCU talent, robotics, edge AI, data centers, cloud systems, quantum education, and emerging technology pathways.
Proof already exists
Microsoft workshops, data center exposure, robotics labs, edge AI work, and AUC-centered programming.
The model is measurable
AARI tracks cohorts, labs, projects, partners, placements, and operator outcomes.
The timing is urgent
The AI economy is forming now. Access has to be built while the market is still being shaped.
The thesis is clear
AI literacy without infrastructure literacy creates dependency. AARI builds operators.