Boeing donates $1.2 million supporting racial equity and social justice in Alabama

Boeing on Friday announced the next step in the company’s continuing comprehensive efforts to help address racial equity and social justice in America.

The company is donating a total of $10.6 million to 20 nonprofits working on these issues, including $1.2 million split between two Alabama organizations.

The significant funding is only a part of Boeing’s previously announced longterm commitment that includes a combination of local and national-level grants aimed at increasing the number of minority and underserved students pursuing science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education and diversifying the aerospace talent pipeline.

A release from the company noted that funds also will benefit programs that work to address criminal justice reform and health care gaps in underserved and minority communities across the United States.

“At Boeing, we acknowledge the toll that systemic racism and social injustice have had on people of color, particularly Black communities here in the United States,” stated David Calhoun, Boeing president and CEO.

“As we work internally to confront these issues, we also remain focused on addressing the causes and impacts of racism and social inequality in the communities where our employees live and work,” he continued. “With today’s financial commitment to this group of nonprofit partners, we are hopeful that together, we can begin to make real advances in our ongoing pursuit of equality.”

As of 2018, Boeing generated an estimated $2.3 billion of economic activity in Alabama annually. The company spent $606 million with nearly 200 suppliers, supporting about 18,000 direct and indirect jobs in the state as of the latest available data. The company’s in-state presence is largely focused in the Huntsville area.

The Yellowhammer State nonprofits receiving Boeing funding are as follows:

Equal Justice Initiative: A $1 million investment will fund public education and policy research efforts that address criminal justice reform in the United States.

Equal Justice Initiative (or EJI) is a non-profit organization, based in Montgomery, Alabama, that provides legal representation to prisoners who may have been wrongly convicted of crimes, poor prisoners without effective representation, and others who may have been denied a fair trial. It is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society.

Girls Inc. of Huntsville: A $120,000 investment will fund Operation SMART, a hands-on STEM learning program that will reach more than 700 girls of color in the Huntsville, Alabama, area.

Girls Inc. Operation SMART develops girls’ enthusiasm for and skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Through hands-on activities, girls explore, ask questions, persist, and solve problems. By interacting with women and men pursuing STEM careers, girls come to view these careers as exciting and realistic options for themselves.

Boeing has been a consistently generous corporate citizen in Alabama. For example, the company last year alone donated more than half a million dollars to STEM education in the state. Additionally, Boeing just recently contributed $500,000 to help save Huntsville’s U.S. Space & Rocket Center, which hosts Space Camp.

Nationally, Boeing over the last five years has reportedly invested more than $120 million to support underserved communities – including racial equity and social justice programs in local areas.

Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn