INROADS History

Celebrating Over Four Decades of Excellence

It's no secret that for years, people of color — Blacks, Hispanic/Latinos, and Native American Indians — were noticeably absent from the ranks of corporate North America. By June of 1970, it was time to make a change.

It was at that time that Frank C. Carr, our late founder, planted the seeds for what INROADS has become today. Inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s landmark "I Have a Dream" speech, Frank quit his executive-level corporate day job and committed to taking swift and decisive action to increase ethnically diverse employees in corporate management in the U.S., and to help change the way these candidates gained entry into the business world.

Moonlighting evenings as a computer tape disk operator, Frank spent his days creating INROADS by calling in favors from his former corporate colleagues and setting out to cultivate new partnerships. The INROADS mission that Frank advanced was — to develop and place talented minority youth in business and industry and prepare them for corporate and community leadership.

Frank launched INROADS in his hometown of Chicago with just 25 college student Interns and 17 sponsoring corporations. Today, INROADS is an international organization with over 35 offices serving nearly 2,000 Interns at over 200 companies.

There are three keys to success for INROADS students: Selection, Education & Training, and Performance. For over four decades, INROADS has helped businesses gain greater access to diverse talent through continuous leadership development of outstanding ethnically diverse students and placement of those students in internships at many of North America's top corporations, firms and organizations.