A Leading Global Company Commits to Creating Job Opportunities for Chicago’s Youth

PepsiCo’s history in Chicago goes back nearly 100 years. Today, its operations in the region include Frito-Lay, PepsiCo Beverages North America, Quaker Oats, and Gatorade – businesses with more than 5,000 employees.

When PepsiCo hosted community meetings with residents of Chicago’s disinvested communities to find out what the food and beverage company could do to support equity in the region, residents spoke loud and clear. “They told us, ‘You can write checks all you want, but at the end of the day you’re an employer and you provide careers. So our expectation is that you do a lot more of that for neighbors on the South and West sides,’” says Erin Thomas, senior director of communications for PepsiCo’s central division.

Out of those community dialogues, PepsiCo’s Pathways to Readiness + Empowerment Program (PREP) was born. Launched in October 2021, PREP is investing more than $5 million to put nearly 3,000 Black and Latinx youth across Chicago’s South and West sides on the path to high-quality careers over the next five years.

In its first year, PREP provided more than 600 youth with career readiness resources and held nearly 20 career exposure events and a summer internship program across PepsiCo’s city operations. Additionally, PepsiCo Foundation awarded more than $350,000 in scholarships to Black and Latinx neighbors through its partnership with City Colleges of Chicago, and several PREP participants gained full-time employment with PepsiCo.

The Trust’s relationship with PepsiCo goes back to the Quaker Oats Company. Prior to its merger with PepsiCo, Quaker Oats established a fund at the Trust that is now being used to support PREP.

“PepsiCo’s authentic engagement with community members has yielded a strong program for workforce development in Chicago,” says Molly Rand, senior philanthropic advisor for the Trust. “More equitable access to good careers is key to closing the racial and ethnic wealth gap. The Trust is honored to partner with PepsiCo to advance our shared goal of a Chicago region that works better for everyone.”