Walmart donates $ 14 million as part of pledge to promote racial equality

In the wake of George Floyd’s protests, Walmart pledged to increase diversity within its own ranks and to contribute $ 100 million over five years to help combat systemic racism across the country.

On Monday, the company gave an update on this effort. Walmart and its foundation will distribute the first $ 14.3 million to 16 nonprofits. Grants will go to groups that are fighting racial inequalities in a variety of ways, such as educating black communities about Covid-19 vaccines, reducing student debt at historically black colleges and universities, and providing Internet and technology access to children attending school remotely.

Walmart is one of many companies that has pledged to invest its money and weight in fighting racial disparities after Floyd’s death. However, as the country’s largest employer and retailer, its actions have additional significance. The company’s CEO, Doug McMillon, also leads the Business Roundtable, a powerful corporate voice composed of many of the country’s most prominent chief executives.

When the company made its initial pledge in June, McMillon acknowledged that corporations – including Walmart – must do more than simply write checks. He said the company would also do better within its four walls, recruiting and supporting diverse talent.

Black employees represent about 21% of Walmart’s 1.5 million employees in the U.S., according to the company’s most recent diversity and inclusion report. However, this diversity disappears in the top positions of Walmart. About 12% of the company’s managers and 7% of the company’s directors are black.

Walmart hired longtime employee Kirstie Sims to head the company’s Center for Racial Equity, which will focus on inequalities in four main areas: finance, health, education and criminal justice.

Sims, an Arkansas native, started working at the big retailer as a way to pay off student loans and planned to move into the healthcare industry. At Walmart, however, she said she found she could build a career spanning more than 20 years and move into leadership positions – something she hopes to make possible for other employees, including other black women. Prior to her new role, she was senior director of global ethics and compliance at Walmart.

Walmart has made other changes to promote racial equity in recent months. He will share a diversity and inclusion report twice a year, instead of annually. It will work with the largest historically black university in the country, North Carolina A&T State University, to increase the number of black graduates entering high-demand fields. In November, two new Walmart Health locations, offering low-cost medical appointments, opened in Chicago. She also joined One Ten Coalition, a group of American companies that promise to train, hire and promote one million black Americans in the next decade.

Sims said Walmart is looking at how its business practices can also make a difference. For example, it can expand access to affordable medical care in underserved communities by opening Walmart Health units, elevating black-owned businesses by using more as suppliers, and giving job seekers a chance to return to society after becoming involved in the system. criminal justice.

“Progress is sometimes slow, but with the work, the power and the commitment behind it, we are going to make changes,” she said.