Levi Strauss & Co, Twitter, and SoftBank have all introduced significant initiatives to combat racial inequality.
Jeans maker Levi Strauss & Co is among the companies that have been particularly vocal of late about how it is going to respond to the ongoing discourse about racial inequality amidst the racial injustice protests taking place across the U.S.
According to Fast Company, the company on Tuesday pledged to fill a position it calls “head of diversity, inclusion, and belonging,” to add an African American person to the board of directors, and to strive to have 50 percent of candidates interviewing for jobs be people of colour. The company also said it planned to share its employee diversity data and subsequent updates and teach all employees about racial equity.
Numerous companies with similar promises and plans to promote diversity, including Adidas, which has also planned to hire more people of colour. Adidas promised that at least 30 percent of all new U.S. jobs at its eponymous and Reebok divisions would be filled by African Americans and Latin Americans.
Meanwhile, SoftBank’s has announced that it will be launching a new $100 million fund called the Opportunity Growth Fund that will only invest in companies led by “founders and entrepreneurs of colour.”
There is also joined a growing list of employers in the U.S who are starting to add June 19 as an official paid company holiday. Currently an unofficial holiday, Juneteenth (as it is known in the U.S) is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the country. The initiative was spearheaded by Twitter and has since been joined by companies like JCPenney, Levi Strauss & Co, Nike, and Postmates all of which have committed to giving employees the day off.
