The Greater Washington Partnership, an alliance of CEOs of the region’s largest employers, said Tuesday member businesses and colleges are committing $4.7 billion over five years toward boosting minority-owned businesses and underrepresented communities.
The group, whose members span between Baltimore and Richmond, said in its announcement the multibillion-dollar pledge is coming from 25 entities and is focused on three areas: supplier diversity, racial equity and access to capital.
The pledge includes $2.6 billion toward procurement spending on “diverse suppliers and Minority Business Enterprises,” including a priority on Black and Latino businesses. The partnership said the supplier focus “addresses systemic inequities that have created barriers to growth.” The group said this specific commitment is expected to generate roughly $3.5 billion in revenue for small and medium-sized businesses and create and sustain more than 4,000 jobs per year.
The pledge also includes $1.5 billion in wealth-building opportunities in underrepresented communities, including “direct corporate investments in affordable housing and community organizations that are leading place-based equity initiatives.” As an example, the group mentioned the Amazon Housing Equity Fund, which has committed low-rate loans and grants in the region to create and preserve affordable housing.
The final $619 million of the pledge will go toward investments in Community Development Financial Institutions and Minority Depository Institutions, which provide loans and financing to underrepresented populations in order to create economic activity.
It is unclear if the pledge involves all new investments, or if it includes investments already made by member companies and universities.
The Greater Washington Partnership will make a formal announcement of the pledge at an event Wednesday at Howard University. Vice President Kamala Harris, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and U.S. Small Business Administration Administrator Isabella Guzman are all set to attend.
The businesses and universities involved in the pledge include: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, Amazon.com Inc., AstraZeneca, Bank of America, Boston Consulting Group, Capital One Financial Corp., Clark Construction, Comcast, Deloitte, Dominion Energy, Exelon, EY, Gensler, Georgetown University, Howard University, Inova Health System, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Kaiser Permanente, McKinsey & Co., Northrop Grumman Corp., Science Applications International Corp., Thompson Hospitality, Truist, the Washington Commanders and Wells Fargo.
Peter Scher, vice chairman of JPMorgan Chase and the board chair of the Greater Washington Partnership, said in a statement the multibillion-dollar pledge “is a testament to the power of collective action.” The group is inviting other companies and organizations in the region to join the effort.
The pledge is on top of other equity efforts from the Greater Washington Partnership, such as its Capital CoLAB, which aims to match students — particularly women and people of color — with the region’s tech job openings. The partnership told the Washington Business Journal earlier this month that it has so far engaged with 12,000 prospective workers through the program with a goal of engaging more than twice that by 2025.
Last year, the Greater Washington Partnership said it was developing a regional blueprint for inclusive growth with the help of Deloitte, which would map out 10 years of efforts to close equity gaps in the region.
