Netflix has announced plans to allocate 2 percent of its cash holdings — up to $100 million initially — to financial institutions and organizations that directly support Black communities in the United States.
Initial commitments announced by the media distribution company to expand social mobility and economic opportunity include $25 million in support of the Black Economic Development Initiative, a new fund managed by the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), which will invest the funds in African American-led financial institutions serving low- and moderate-income communities and community development corporations. The company also will provide $10 million to Hope Credit Union in the form of a transformational deposit to help catalyze economic opportunity in underserved communities across the Deep South.
In a blog post announcing the commitment, Netflix talent acquisition director Aaron Mitchell and treasury director Shannon Alwyn noted that, according to the FDIC, Black-owned or -led banks hold just 1 percent of total U.S. commercial banking assets.
Netflix co-founder, chair, and CEO Reed Hastings and his wife, Patty Quillin, recently announced commitments totaling $120 million in support of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
“If every company in the S&P 500 allocated a modest amount of their cash holdings into efforts like the Black Economic Development Initiative, each 1 percent of their cash would represent [$20 billion to] $30 billion of new capital,” Alwyn and Mitchell wrote. “And that would help build stronger communities, offering more Black families pathways to prosperity and a more equitable future.
Source: PND
