Comcast Pledges $100 Million to Advance Social Justice & Equality

Comcast Corporation has unveiled a comprehensive, multiyear plan to allocate $100 million to fight injustice and inequality against race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation or ability.

There will be $75 million in cash and $25 million in media that will be distributed over the next three years, in addition to the existing commitments the company currently makes to organizations supporting underrepresented communities through its Comcast NBCUniversal Foundation and social impact programs.

Craig Robinson, executive VP and chief diversity officer for NBCUniversal, will be heading up the efforts with Brian L. Roberts, chairman and CEO of Comcast Corporation, at the corporate level and will coordinate with business leaders across Comcast, NBCUniversal and Sky to build programs, allocate resources and partner with national and local organizations to drive meaningful change.

Regarding social justice, Comcast will partner with, and provide significant grants to, organizations working to eradicate injustice and inequity. Organizations will include but not be limited to the National Urban League, the Equal Justice Initiative, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the National Action Network and the Community Justice Action Fund.

With regard to employees, the company will accelerate its efforts in all areas of diversity and inclusion, including advancement, hiring and training. It plans to educate everyone across the company to better understand race-related issues and have important conversations through Town Halls, speaker series and mandatory anti-racism and anti-bias training. It will provide additional financial support to its Employee Resource Groups and invest in diverse talent, providing them with visibility, opportunity and sponsorship, while continuing to strengthen its diversity recruiting strategy.

Targeting awareness and education, Comcast plans to use the full weight of its media resources behind highlighting Black voices and Black stories and educating its viewers on diverse and inclusive cultures, perspectives and experiences, by making anti-racism education and inequality awareness a Symphony priority. It will use its platforms across the organization to continue to shed light on societal issues related to race. NBC News will host a series of Town Halls, similar to the “Can You Hear Us Now” special that aired this past Tuesday, and it will use the X1, Flex, Peacock and Sky platforms to promote and amplify multicultural content.

Comcast will deepen its commitment to addressing digital inequities, which disproportionately impact communities of color. Over the last ten years, Comcast’s Internet Essentials has connected more than 8 million low-income people to the internet at home. Beyond connectivity, the company is scaling up its pledge to provide digital skills training to young people and to upskilling adults with the aim of improving economic mobility. Supporting organizations such as Black Girls Code, which empowers girls of color to become innovators in STEM fields, and BUILD, which ignites the potential of young people from under-resourced communities, are two examples.

It will commit funds to help small businesses that have been affected by extended closures in the wake of COVID-19, allocating a substantial portion of those funds to businesses owned by people of color. Comcast Business and Effectv will support businesses impacted by the events of the last few months and provide airtime and commercial production when they are ready to open. Additionally, it will create new LIFT Labs programs for Black founders, invest in diverse entrepreneurs through Comcast Ventures and its accelerators and expand the Catalyst program, which focuses on investing in Black, Latinx and female entrepreneurs.

Sky, meanwhile, will invest £10 million per year across its markets for each of the next three years, and its work will be overseen, implemented and measured by new diversity action and advisory groups. Announcing the commitments and funding, Sky Group Chief Executive Jeremy Darroch said: “I have listened to the views of our colleagues at Sky. What I have heard loud and clear is that we can and should do more to support the fight against racial injustice. We stand with our Black colleagues and today we are committing to do more to tackle racism, provide more support to communities impacted by racism and create a more diverse and inclusive culture at Sky.

“To make changes that really matter we will spend much more time listening and taking advice from those who understand the issues. We will work together with our Black and minority ethnic colleagues and with external advisors to support real change, and we will use the power of Sky’s voice and reach to highlight racial injustice in the U.K. and around the world.”