ABC News
Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest?
OffOn
The coffee company is expanding on its equity and inclusion initiatives.
• 4 min read
Zoe Giles is a star. Nam Y. Huh/AP
Starbucks started a new community resilience fund to help support underserved communities in 12 major cities.
The Seattle-based coffee company announced the launch of the Starbucks Community Resilience Fund on Wednesday, which will invest $100 million by 2025 to help advance racial equity and environmental initiatives through development projects in Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) communities. Starbucks has always been a company focused on caring for our partners, creating experiences for our customers and playing a positive role in our communities and throughout society, Starbucks president and CEO Kevin Johnson said in a statement. We are excited to make this investment as it aligns with our Mission and Values and supports our aspiration to advance equit
Starbucks invests $100 million in Community Resilience fund to support small businesses owned by people of color The funds will go toward community lending institutions (CDFIs), which will in turn support BIPOC-owned businesses beginning in 12 major U.S. metro areas
Starbucks has announced a $100 million investment toward the launch of the Starbucks Community Resilience Fund, intended to support businesses and community development projects in BIPOC neighborhoods in 12 major metropolitan areas including New York, Atlanta, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. By 2025, Starbucks will have invested $100 million toward racial equity and community-based environmental causes.
“Starbucks has always been a company focused on caring for our partners, creating experiences for our customers and playing a positive role in our communities and throughout society,” Kevin Johnson, Starbucks president and CEO said in a statement. “We are excited to mak
Credit: kirsty o connor/pa
SIR – Although at this stage there is inevitably a limited supply of the Covid-19 vaccine, I wonder if our politicians have given sufficient thought to the logistics once adequate supplies become available.
The task may well involve administering two doses of vaccine to more than 50 million people. Last Wednesday we were told that 140,000 people had been vaccinated. One does not need to be a mathematician to calculate how long it will take at this rate to protect the majority of the population. Even at a rate of one million doses per week we are looking at a two-year programme.
A New Tool to Address the Racial Wealth Gap
From the Black Lives Matter movement, to the pandemic, to the election, the year’s events have put systemic inequality front and center. The persistent and growing racial wealth gap, long-standing disparities in access to opportunity, and the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on small businesses owned by people of color have rightfully received a lot of attention.
However, recognizing those problems doesn’t tell us what to do about them. The Institute’s Economic Opportunities Program and Business Ownership Initiative have been working on some of these issues for decades. One of the thorniest problems we are still tackling is how to get more capital to small businesses owned by women and people of color in low-income communities.