One after another, US-based companies have announced funds to support various programmes and initiatives that help improve lives of black community. The latest one to join this league is sports brand, Adidas. The brand is not only investing USD 20 million, but will also increase the number of black employees and invest in university scholarships for Black employees.
Informing the three actions the company adopted, the company CEO Kasper Rorsted said, “The events of the past two weeks have caused all of us to reflect on what we can do to confront the cultural and systemic forces that sustain racism.”
The brands will increase the funding of programmes that support, empower and elevate the Black community to USD 20 million over the next four years in the United States. The company listed down the initiatives that the company invests in and those are: Adidas Legacy, a grassroots basketball platform built for underserved communities; the Adidas School for Experiential Education in Design that creates career paths in footwear design; and Honoring Black Excellence, an initiative honoring and supporting the Black community through sport.
Rorsted added, “We have had to look inward to ourselves as individuals and our organisation and reflect on systems that disadvantage and silence Black individuals and communities.” In addition, the brand has plans to finance 50 scholarships each year for Black students at partner schools, for the next five years.
While the company is introducing new actions for Black community, it has also decided to add Latinx people to it. Adidas is aspiring to have a minimum of 30 per cent of all new positions in the US at Adidas and Reebok will be filled with Black and Latinx people. “We will also be announcing a target aimed at increasing representation of Black and Latinx people within our workforce in North America.”
These plans were developed after two weeks of deliberation with their Black employees at Adidas and Reebok, the company revealed. The company may announce a slew of other initiatives in a few days time.
