CINCINNATI, Feb. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kroger Co.
(NYSE: KR) Foundation ("Foundation") today announced the recipients
of its Racial Equity Fund Build It Together grant challenge,
an initiative awarding $3 million in
grants and forging partnerships with innovative organizations to
help build more equitable, inclusive communities. This initiative
reflects a focus area of Kroger's Framework for Action:
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion plan, a 10-point commitment
announced in October 2020 to
accelerate and promote greater change in the workplace and in the
communities the company serves.
The Foundation invited 14 organizations to apply for up to
$1 million in funding through the
Build It Together grant challenge, which welcomed
organizations to submit proposals aimed at positively uplifting,
supporting and impacting communities of color. A panel of judges,
including Kroger associates and leaders, external partners, and
local community foundations, evaluated the proposals and selected
four finalists that collectively will receive $3 million to accelerate their visions.
"We launched our Framework for Action: Diversity, Equity
& Inclusion plan with the goal of harnessing Kroger's
collective energy to advance racial equality in our culture and our
communities," said Keith Dailey,
Kroger's group vice president of corporate affairs and president of
The Kroger Co. Foundation. "The intent of The Kroger Co.
Foundation's Racial Equity Fund is to catalyze innovative
approaches to help create more equitable, inclusive and stronger
communities. The Build It Together cohort reflects a group
of enterprising organizations that are committed to creating
lasting change for communities of color. We're honored to partner
with them."
The Kroger Co. Foundation's Build It Together grant
recipients include:
- Black Girl Ventures (Washington, D.C.)
Founded in 2016 by
serial entrepreneur and computer scientist Shelly Bell, Black Girl Ventures' (BGV) mission
is to provide Black and Brown women founders with access to
community, capital, and capacity building to meet business
milestones that lead to economic advancement through
entrepreneurship. BGV scales tech-enabled, revenue-generating
businesses under $1 million to create
racial and gender equity and an inclusive free market. BGV operates
five chapters (Birmingham, AL;
Durham, NC; Houston, TX; Miami,
FL; and Philadelphia, PA)
and has funded over 130 Black and Brown women, held over 30 BGV
pitch programs across 12 cities, leveraging over $600,000 in funding, and served more than 600
participants.
BGV will use its $500,000 Build It
Together grant to launch two Change Agent Fellowship
cohorts, respectively in Cincinnati,
OH and Detroit, MI, to
achieve the mutual goal of increasing racial equity. The
program expands the capacity of Black and Brown women founders,
connecting them with sponsors, mentors and peers and providing
training through entrepreneurship workshops and access to BGV's
network of investors and partners.
- Everytable (Los
Angeles, CA)
Everytable's groundbreaking social
franchise model is pioneering a new way to produce food that
dramatically reduces the cost of healthy, fresh, and prepared
meals, providing a viable alternative to fast food. The
organization's mission is to transform the food system to make
fresh, delicious food accessible to everyone, everywhere through
grab-and-go storefront markets in communities with extreme scarcity
of healthy food options. Everytable's social equity franchise
program removes barriers to business ownership for Black and Latinx
entrepreneurs with the goal to eliminate racial wealth disparities
and expand access to healthy food.
Everytable will use its $1 million
Build It Together grant to expand an innovative
public-private funding structure to spur an increase in business
ownership for Black entrepreneurs, and people of color (POC)
broadly, with the goal of opening 40 POC-owned franchises over the
next two years.
- LISC (New York,
NY)
The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)
is the country's largest community development organization. With
offices in 36 cities and a rural program that serves over 2,200
counties in 45 states, LISC's dedicated team is committed to
creating economic opportunity for all.
LISC will use its $500,000 Build
It Together grant to launch a long-term partnership to advance
Project 10X, the organization's ambitious strategy to close the
racial health, wealth, and opportunity gaps in America. The
organization's proposal aims to support food-system businesses and
community organizations working for equitable food access, led by
and serving Black, Indigenous and people of color.
- Thurgood Marshall College Fund (Washington, D.C.)
Established in 1987,
the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) is the nation's largest
organization exclusively representing the Black college
community. TMCF member schools include publicly supported
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and
Predominately Black Institutions (PBIs). Publicly supported HBCUs
enroll over 80% of all students attending HBCUs. Through
scholarships, capacity building, strategic partnerships, and
innovative planning, TMCF serves as a critical access point for
students, from college to career.
TMCF will use its $1 million Build
It Together grant to adapt its successful innovation and
entrepreneurship program to focus on food insecurity and food
waste, particularly in low-income and underserved Black
communities. The challenge will combine the program model to bring
the winning ideas to market, leveraging expertise from Kroger and
its partners like Feeding America, as well as the community focus
of HBCUs and the research capacity of these educational
institutions. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, HBCU leadership
is focused more than ever on harnessing expertise to address basic
needs – food, shelter, and health – for communities.
The Build It Together cohort will leverage funding from
the Foundation to implement innovative programs and initiatives
over the next 12 months and beyond.
"We're eager to partner with these four exceptional
organizations to create a brighter, more equitable future for the
communities we serve," said Sunny Reelhorn
Parr, executive director of The Kroger Co. Foundation. "As a
purpose-led organization, we know that actions speak louder than
words. We remain committed to not only illuminating the important,
impactful work of groups like these but also sharing our resources
and delivering on the promises of our Framework for Action
to accelerate meaningful change in our culture and
country."
To learn more about Kroger's Framework for Action: Diversity,
Equity & Inclusion plan, visit
TheKrogerCo.com/StandingTogether.
Media Assets:
To download photography of the Build
It Together cohort, please visit here.
About Kroger
At The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), we are
Fresh for Everyone™ and dedicated to our Purpose: To Feed the
Human Spirit®. We are, across our family of companies, nearly half
a million associates who serve over 11 million customers daily
through a seamless shopping experience under a variety
of banner names. We are committed to creating
#ZeroHungerZeroWaste communities by 2025. To learn more about us,
visit our newsroom and investor relations site.
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SOURCE The Kroger Co.