adidas Invests $120 million into Black Communities
June 12, 2020
Global sports brand Adidas announced a donation of $120 million over the next four years for three initiatives it says support black communities, as well as plans to finance 50 scholarships a year for its black employees to attend partner universities.
"First, we need to give credit where it's long overdue," Adidas tweeted. "The success of Adidas would be nothing without Black athletes, Black artists, Black employees and Black consumers."
The donation will go towards three of the company’s own community initiatives focused on black and minority groups:
- Adidas Legacy, the company's grassroots basketball platform for underserved communities
- The Adidas School for Experiential Education in Design (SEED), which helps people create careers in footwear design
- Honoring Black Excellence, which the company describes as "an initiative honoring and supporting the Black community through sport."
"We have had to look inward to ourselves as individuals and our organization and reflect on systems that disadvantage and silence Black individuals and communities," Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted said in last week’s statement.
“While we have talked about the importance of inclusion, we must do more to create an environment in which all of our employees feel safe, heard and have equal opportunity to advance their careers."
On top of the donation and promise to make a change in the diversity of the company personnel, Adidas has said it plans to finance 50 scholarships a year for its black employees to attend partner universities such as Kansas and Cincinnati.
"We recognize the immense contribution of the Black community to our success and that of others," the company said. "We promise to improve our company culture to ensure equity, diversity and opportunity. We understand that the fight against racism is one that must be fought continually and actively. We must and will do better."
Furthering the pledge to increase diversity in the internal workforce by hiring more people of color, the company has also stated it will reserve fully half of its jobs for people with disabilities, veterans and members of the LGBTQ community.