In an effort to bolster employment for individuals with autism and other disabilities, Wells Fargo is partnering with a university to help Fortune 500 companies create neurodiversity initiatives.

The financial services company said it will foot the bill for neurodiversity workshops for corporate leaders as part of a $3.75 million grant to the University of Connecticut’s Center for Neurodiversity and Employment Innovation.

The full-day workshops will bring together leaders from 10 to 15 organizations to learn from academics at UConn and executives with Wells Fargo’s neurodiversity program how to form neurodiversity initiatives at their companies.

“Wells Fargo’s willingness to share their real-world industry expertise to create — and deliver at no cost — education for corporate America that’s grounded in academic and research excellence is unheard of in this field,” said Judy Reilly, executive director of UConn’s Center for Neurodiversity and Employment Innovation. “This partnership enables UConn to blend academic instructional design and research with real-world industry application and expertise to create solutions for corporate America.”

The workshops are intended to address significant underemployment among those who are neurodivergent. According to UConn, an estimated 1 in 6 individuals fall into this population, but 66% of people who are neurodivergent are underemployed or unemployed despite being highly skilled.

“Since we launched our neurodiversity program in 2020, we’ve experienced first-hand the significant impact these highly skilled individuals can have on the nation’s largest organizations,” said Kristy Fercho, head of diverse segments, representation and inclusion at Wells Fargo. “With continued underemployment of neurodivergent talent, we understand our responsibility to work with our corporate partners to collectively educate and bring awareness to this extraordinarily valuable and untapped talent pool.”

In addition to providing education and training to businesses, the Wells Fargo grant will also support research looking at the business outcomes of neurodiversity programs and funding will go toward efforts to connect job seekers with inclusive employment, according to officials at UConn.

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