Facebook To Invest $200 Million In Black-Owned Businesses

Facebook is investing $200 million to support black-owned businesses, black creators and nonprofits supporting the black community, building on earlier investments and part of a broader $1.1 billion investment in Black and diverse suppliers and communities in the US.

Thursday’s announcement, amidst a growing push by U.S. companies to support racial justice, includes a new $100 million commitment — $25 million to support black content creators and $75 million in cash and ad credits to support black-owned businesses and nonprofits that serve the black community. As part of sweeping $1.1 billion commitment, the company will spend at least $100 million annually with black-owned suppliers — from facilities to construction to marketing agencies.

The company also listed a half dozen other initiatives including offering digital skills training aimed at reaching two million members of the black and Latinx communities over the next three years with a program called Elevate. It will give 100,000 scholarships to black students working toward digital skills certifications through program called Facebook Blueprint program. Its CodeFWD and TechPrep programs already offer underrepresented communities access to computer science and programming.

To support people raising money for causes they care about on Juneteenth (June 19), Facebook said it will donate $5 million ($19 each) to over 250,000 Facebook Fundraisers created for three racial justice organizations: Equal Justice Initiative; Thurgood Marshall College Fund and the Innocence Project.

The company is creating a new space in the Facebook app called Lift Black Voices to highlight stories from black people, share educational resources and encourage fundraising for racial justice causes.

Facebook said it previously committed to having 50% of its workforce from underrepresented communities by the end of 2023. It committed to have 30% more people of color, including 30% more black people, in leadership positions in five years.

“The last few weeks have made clear how much work is ahead to achieve racial justice and equity in this country,” said Faceboook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a Facebook post.

“We have shared words of support for our friends, colleagues and communities. We need to take action as well,” wrote COO Sheryl Sandberg in a post.

They said the initiatives came from talking with black businesses owners and pooling ideas from diverse groups of employees across different teams on how Facebook can better fight racial injustice.