If we want more equity, corporations have to step up and help
The recent attention to social injustices we are seeing in Connecticut and across the United States, in addition to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic’s disproportionate impact on the Black community, has put a spotlight on health and socioeconomic disparities that have long existed in our country.
We have long known that
Black Americans and people of color overall face a vicious cycle of structural barriers and disadvantages, but now they are compounded by the impact of COVID-19.
It is increasingly important that the biggest employers — the publicly traded and privately owned companies that have such an impact on our lives — step up now and help right centuries of wrongs.
Due to the pandemic, unemployment has reached levels not seen since The Great Depression, with a higher percentage of Black Americans and Latinos unemployed compared to whites. People of color make up most of the essential workers who are placing their health at risk by interacting daily with members of the public. At the same time, Black and brown communities are particularly vulnerable to transmission of the virus due to disparities in access to health care and higher rates of diseases such as diabetes.
If we are to address the impact of systemic racism and the additional burden COVID-19 has imposed on communities of color, particularly Black Americans, then corporations and other major private-sector employers must be active partners in implementing equitable workforce development and investment initiatives.
It is within their ability as employers to create a culture of equity supported by initiatives that will grow and develop job opportunities in communities of color.
But we need more than symbolic actions. A T-shirt or social media post doesn’t ensure the hiring managers are considering resumes from a diverse talent pool or that the company is offering job skill development opportunities for students in school districts with a high concentration of low-income families. Companies have a responsibility to support and institute initiatives focused on reducing the racial gap in employment opportunities and increase economic mobility in the long-term.
We saw in May that national unemployment went down for people who are white. However, Black unemployment went slightly up, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That should be a red flag for the need to ensure communities of color have access to resources to find employment and re-enter the economy.
This must come with a recognition that industries seeing job losses, such as retail and transportation, largely employ people of color, while workers who are white are more likely to hold a job that can be done remotely.
This is where corporations and major nonprofits can have an influential impact in supporting a directional shift toward a system that is fair and equitable. COVID-19 is not the first event to have caused disproportionate harm on communities of color, especially Black Americans. Yet, how we craft a path forward can have a multigenerational effect on lowering barriers that have impeded development in communities of color and limit future hardship these communities are currently vulnerable to.
Corporations have a role and responsibility in creating this path forward. To help, I have begun to reach out to the business community and stakeholders to spark a conversation on how they can support building more equitable systems that will improve the long-term resilience of communities of color.
With us working together, we can find solutions that will support the socioeconomic climate of communities that have too often been left behind.