Facebook's Commitment to the Black Community

by L.A. Area Chamber

Facebook's Commitment to the Black Community

The past few weeks have compelled us to confront the reality of violence and injustice which members of the Black community face on a daily basis. We have shared words of support for our friends, colleagues and communities. We need to take action as well. At Facebook, we’re focused on building powerful tools and resources. In addition to some of the steps we’re taking to improve our products, programs and policies, we are working with our team to find new ways to confront the reality of injustice which members of the Black community face on a daily basis. 

Today we are announcing:

• A commitment of $200 million to support Black-owned businesses, Black creators and nonprofits serving the Black community - building on earlier investments and part of a broader $1.1 billion investment in Black and diverse suppliers and communities in the US. 
• Free digital skills training with the goal to reach 2 million members of the Black and Latinx communities over the next three years. 
• We’re also creating a new space in the Facebook app called Lift Black Voices 
• And we’re building a more diverse and inclusive workforce so we can better support communities around the world.  
• To support people raising money for causes they care about on Juneteenth, we’ll donate $5 million ($19 each) to over 250,000 Facebook Fundraisers created for three racial justice organizations: Equal Justice Initiative, Thurgood Marshall College Fund and the Innocence Project.

 To learn more, please find below more details from Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg on today’s announcement. In the weeks and months ahead, Facebook will also be announcing more ways they’ll continue to support Black businesses. 

Supporting Black and Diverse Communities

By Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer

The past few weeks have compelled us to confront the reality of violence and injustice which members of the Black community face on a daily basis. We have shared words of support for our friends, colleagues and communities. We need to take action as well. At Facebook, we’re focused on building powerful tools and resources. We’re also taking steps to improve our products, programs and policies. We pooled ideas from diverse groups of our employees across different teams on how we can better fight against racial injustice. Today we are sharing that we’re already putting some of these to work. Building on earlier investments, we’re committing an additional $200 million to support Black-owned businesses and organizations. This commitment is part of a broader $1.1 billion investment in Black and diverse suppliers and communities in the US. We’re also creating a new space in the Facebook app called Lift Black Voices and we’re building a more diverse and inclusive workforce so we can better support communities around the world.  

Investing in the Black Community 

From the early days of the pandemic, we have been listening to small businesses and trying to do what we can to help them weather the storm – including direct financial help through our $40 million US grant program. Since we opened applications for the program, we have seen a huge amount of interest from Black-owned businesses – so we know they are facing enormous challenges. When we asked for ideas from employees, many suggested that there was much more we could do to support them.

• We’re investing $100 million this year in Black-owned small businesses, Black creators, and nonprofits that serve the Black community in the US. This includes $25 million in support of Black content creators and $75 million in grants of cash and ad credits to support Black-owned businesses and nonprofits that serve the Black community.
• We’re setting a goal to spend at least $1 billion with diverse suppliers next year and every year thereafter. As part of this, we’ll spend at least $100 million annually with Black-owned suppliers, from facilities to construction to
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