Starbucks expands racial and social equity efforts for partners and communities

Starbucks Releases 2021 workforce diversity data to track 2025 goals Spends $1.5 billion with diverse suppliers by 2030. The company's Community Resilience Fund supports small businesses and community development projects in BIPOC communities. Expands coaching programs for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) employees this summer.

Starbucks Coffee Company today shared a series of updates on programs and initiatives focused on advancing racial and social equity on behalf of its partners (employees) and communities. Today’s news on diverse spend goals for Starbucks supply chain, the company’s support of small business growth in Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities, and internal mentorship initiatives reinforces Starbucks commitment to build bridges and create environments where all are welcome. 

“These commitments are in addition to the actions we’ve already taken on the realization of our vision to create an inclusive Starbucks,”

said Dennis Brockman, Starbucks chief global inclusion and diversity officer.

“We all have a role to contribute and it’s with that purpose in mind that we continue to invest in these areas for all partners. Learning comes by doing, and that’s what we are committed to.”

In a letter to all U.S. partners, Brockman emphasized the company’s continued commitment to foster a culture of inclusion and belonging on behalf of its over 200,000 partners and ongoing responsibility to strengthen the communities Starbucks serves across the country.

The commitments announced today include:

The next disclosure of Starbucks workforce representation

Starbucks published data on its current workforce as part of its commitment to regularly share progress toward its goals to achieve BIPOC representation of at least 30 percent at all corporate levels and at least 40 percent of all retail and manufacturing roles by 2025 in the U.S. As of October 2021, Starbucks U.S. partner base was 71.3% female and 48.2% BIPOC. Breaking down our BIPOC representation further, our partners are 7.7% Black, 28.5% Hispanic or Latinx, 5.9% Asian, 4.8% Two or More Races, 0.6% American Indian or Alaskan Native and 0.5% Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander.

The company continues to hold accountability at the highest levels of the organization, tying the building of inclusive and diverse team building to our executive compensation program.  

Accelerating supplier diversity and inclusion impact

Since 1998, Starbucks has been committed to providing an environment where diverse suppliers have an equal opportunity to compete for Starbucks business. The Starbucks Supplier Diversity and Inclusion program drives inclusion of qualified businesses with a focus on suppliers of all sizes and categories. In FY21, the company spent nearly $800 million with diverse suppliers, supporting more than 6,400 jobs and contributing to $1.2 billion in total direct, indirect and induced economic impact nationwide.

Today, the company continues in that commitment, announcing it will increase its annual spend with diverse suppliers to $1.5 billion by 2030.  As part of this commitment, Starbucks will partner with other organizations to develop and grow supplier diversity excellence globally.

To ensure accountability and track progress Starbucks will share annual updates on progress towards these commitments. As part of this continued work, the company will also:

Launch a free, open-source toolkit on the fundamentals of how to run a successful business for diverse-owned entrepreneurs in partnership with Arizona State University.

Improve representation within its paid media portfolio, with a commitment in the next year to allocating 15 percent of its advertising budget with minority-owned and targeted media companies, reaching diverse audiences.

The launch of a leadership accelerator program focused on coaching

Additionally, this summer the company will launch a Leadership Accelerator Program. Beginning with our BIPOC partners at the individual contributor level, this program will focus on empowering partner capacity for self-promotion, advocacy and career navigation while increasing diverse representation in the leadership pipeline at Starbucks.

Announcing the first recipients of Starbucks Community Resilience Fund

Following the company’s commitment to invest $100 million to launch the Starbucks Community Resilience Fund, Starbucks will issue the first round of funding of $21 million across seven community development financial institutions to support small business growth and community development projects in BIPOC communities. More on those CDFIs and their work can be found here.

Grants to nonprofits that support BIPOC youth

To date, programs funded by grants from The Starbucks Foundation have helped support more than 100,000 youth across the country. The Starbucks Foundation shared impact results from its more than $5 million investment in eight nonprofits supporting BIPOC youth.

“Actions that nurture and embrace our exquisite cultural intricacies provide proof that we are committed to real change, not an award-winning performance,” said Brockman. “Through intentionality, transparency and accountability, I believe we will continue to make substantial change on behalf of all our partners.”  

Source: Starbucks news