Apple follows up on its racial equity pledge

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Rep. Liz Cheney backs impeachment, a college athlete is among the first to earn money from her likeness, and an Apple VP shares more info about the firm’s racial equity pledge. Have a peaceful Wednesday.

– Apple follows up. Remember last summer, when corporations went to great lengths to assert their racial diversity and social justice credentials as protests gripped the country after the killing of George Floyd? Even the most well-meaning companies faced demands to go beyond press releases. Their vows to do better were met with a common refrain: put your money where your mouth is.

As my colleague Michal Lev-Ram reports, Apple promised to do just that, pledging in June to earmark $100 million for a new Racial Equity and Justice initiative. And now the tech giant, which earned $275 billion in revenue last fiscal year, is disclosing exactly where its funding will go.

Apple will invest $25 million in a learning hub for Historically Black Colleges and Universities—both online and brick-and-mortar—in Atlanta. It will fund an Apple Developer Academy to teach coding skills in Detroit, and funnel $10 million to entrepreneurs of color through Harlem Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm in New York, over 20 years.

Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy, and social initiatives, told Michal that the commitments are intended to show that Apple’s racial equity and justice push “wasn’t just talk.”

As Michal writes: “Long-term commitments are key to actually making a dent in long-standing racial inequities. So is accountability.”

Disclosing exactly where the money is going is a decent start.

Claire Zillman
[email protected]
@clairezillman

Today’s Broadsheet was curated by Emma Hinchliffe.

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