The UPS Foundation is contributing $3.2 million to civil rights organizations including the NAACP and historically black colleges and universities including Morehouse, Spelman and Clark Atlanta University.
The Sandy Springs-based shipping giant said the funding will also go to the National Urban League, the Executive Leadership Council, 100 Black Men of America, the education fund of the Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, United Negro College Fund, National Center for Civil and Human Rights and the National Black Child Development Institute.
UPS said it is also committing $1 million to the National Museum of African American History and Culture for educational programming on efforts to advance racial equality.
The company says it is also expanding training for employees on unconscious bias, creating forums for discussion on racial equality and justice, and expanding its internship program with historically black colleges. And, it said, employees will volunteer 1 million hours to help mentoring and educational programs in under-served black communities.
"More than 112 years ago, UPS founder Jim Casey envisioned a company centered on its people and built on the core values of fairness, dignity and respect; but we know that has not been the lived experience of many Americans, including those in the black community," said UPS CEO Carol Tomé in a written statement. "We will not stand quietly or idly on the sidelines of this issue."
The company is also calling for Congress to adopt the Emmett Till Antilynching Act to designate lynching as a federal hate crime, and it supports the passage of hate crimes legislation under consideration in Georgia.
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