AEP offers a Power to Generate college scholarship to women and people of color studying technical subjects.

This Midwestern power company strives to give multicultural women an equal shot at high-paying positions (engineer, plant operator, line worker) traditionally held by men. With offices in 11 states, it works to make its presence known in local communities by operating high school buddy programs that pair students and staffers.  Recruiters target multicultural women at schools like the University of Puerto Rico—known to have the highest percentage of female engineering students in the country—and other institutions with diverse student bodies, such as Spellman College, Southern University and Texas A&M. Women who sign with the company can tap an annual $5,250 tuition allowance to further broaden their skills or join mentoring and leadership groups; in 2008, one-third of those who used the tuition benefit were women of color.

U.S. Employees: 20,621

Multicultural Women: 4%

Multicultural Women Managers/Execs: 1%

Chief Diversity Officer: Mary Cofer

Hires who are multicultural women: 7%

Hires who are multicultural men: 15%

Multicultural women managers/execs: 1%

Multicultural men managers/execs: 7%

Top 20% of earners who are multicultural women: 1%

Top 20% of earners who are multicultural men: 7%

Multicultural women on board of directors: 0%

Offers formal compensation program to reward managers who specifically help multicultural women advance: YES

Rates managers on the number of multicultural women employees advancing: YES

Uses outside recruiter to focus on finding multicultural women candidates: YES

Offers support groups specifically for multicultural women: NO

Offers mentoring programs specifically geared toward multicultural women early in their careers: NO

Offers sponsorship program specifically geared toward multicultural women early in their careers: NO