After weeks of protests and swift reform on the part of lawmakers and police, the Black Lives Matter movement is rocking the pillars that uphold institutional racism and to date has swept some 2,000 cities in the U.S. and reached 60 other countries.
While there’s a lot written about how we can be better allies, how to find resources to educate ourselves and our kids on the experience of Black Americans, there’s so much more we can do. Chief among those is remembering to look farther down the road — beyond the immediate need to aid protesters and bolster Black-owned businesses — to ensure a future built on equity for marginalized people.
“It requires us to open our hearts, to listen to one another, and to commit ourselves to driving real and lasting change,” says Enrique Lores, HP’s president and CEO.
The HP Foundation, for its part, is pledging $500,000 to social justice organizations and has committed to double-matching employee contributions to some 20 groups, just a few of which are included below. HP is also hosting a series of town hall meetings for its 50,000 employees worldwide to identify the biggest opportunities to create a culture that’s not only inclusive, but actively anti-racist.
Here are four key areas where your support can make a difference for the long haul.
Investing in education and empowering youth
My Brother’s Keeper, an Obama Foundation project, supports young Black men to reach their full potential despite opportunity gaps in the education and job market. Grants have reached over $600 million for the organization, which helps students graduate from high school, advance to secondary education, and successfully enter the workforce.
Black Girls Code is a nonprofit that aims to increase the presence of women of color in the digital space by empowering girls ages seven to 17 to learn about computer science and technology. They host after school workshops with a goal to train 1 million girls by 2040 and fill the 1.4 million computing job openings in the U.S.
Elevating Black storytelling and cultural touchstones
The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture is the only national museum that is dedicated to exploring and documenting African American life, history, and culture. It’s a Washington, D.C. institution that encourages everyone to learn about its more than 36,000 artifacts and the community that shaped our nation.
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