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Last year, U.S. President Joe Biden signed Juneteenth into law as a federal holiday. The decision was met with a mixture of celebration and confusion. A holiday that had mainly been celebrated in Black communities, particularly in Texas, was now being introduced to a larger audience. Many Americans were excited to set aside a specific day to celebrate the freedom of those who had been enslaved for hundreds of years. Others reacted with a sense of defiance. We can use Greg Kelly, the conservative television anchor, as an example from this year, who boldly tweeted in all-caps, “I'M BOYCOTTING ‘JUNETEENTH’-NO ONE EVEN KNOWS WHAT IT IS!!!”

Perhaps, without intending to do so, Kelly hit the nail on the head. It’s time for white Americans to learn about Juneteenth — and not just how it came to be, but also how its celebration can help move America forward.

Where Juneteenth came from and where it’s going

Juneteenth commemorates the day the news of the Emancipation Proclamation reached every corner of the United States, the last of which was Texas, when federal orders were read in Galveston about two months after the Civil War ended and two years after the Proclamation was signed. Because Texas hadn’t experienced a big influx of Union troops during the war, it had become known as a safe haven for slavery, even after the war was over. We can only imagine what the news of freedom meant to those 250,000 individuals who had been enslaved and exploited in the Lone Star State. Starting the next year, June 19 was celebrated as “Jubilee Day.”

Today, Juneteenth remains a great cause for celebration. The 13th Amendment was an important step of progress toward equality and equity in the U.S. Those who don’t know what to do with the holiday may consider reflecting on that great ambition of freedom, as well as the continued steps needed to fully realize it. 

Finding freedom in the ‘Land of the Free’

The inconvenient truth is that the U.S. is still not fully free. One of the biggest campaigns finding popularity this month is #EndTheException, which calls attention to a few words built into the 13th Amendment that allow the practice of forced labor to continue. 

Section 1 of the amendment reads: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime wherof the party shall have been duly convicted [emphasis added], shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

#EndTheException calculates that every year incarcerated individuals lose over $14 billion in wages through forced labor. 

The equality promised by the country's founding documents is also undercut by a racial wealth gap that has kept the proportion of U.S. businesses that are Black-owned to 2 percent, despite the fact that 13 percent of the population is Black. 

Juneteenth’s own history points to the fact that progress sometimes requires great patience. Touré, of the popular Touré Show podcast, tweeted this week: “Juneteenth is bittersweet for me. It commemorates enslaved people in Texas finding out that they had been emancipated, great, but they had been emancipated two years earlier and it took two years for the message to reach them. That's tragic.”

But there’s no use waiting around if people aren’t putting in the work. And if achieving greater freedom requires work, that means businesses must be involved.

Does capitalism even have a role to play on Juneteenth?

Perhaps companies should be most alert to how they can get Juneteenth wrong. Type “Juneteenth” into Twitter, and you find tweet after tweet decrying the commercialization of the holiday. We have all heard about how companies like Walmart and organizations like the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis have tried to capitalize on the holiday, and utterly failed. 

There are many ways companies can do the right thing, though. On June 6, in a simple sentence, activist Lance Cooper tweeted an important point, “Support Black people before Juneteenth so it won’t look like a performance.” As a company, maybe now is the time to consider: Are you aiming to exploit the holiday to cushion your profits, or are you embracing its call for equity and taking a hard look at your own business, its operations and employees? 

In an email to TriplePundit, workplace diversity expert Kim Crowder wrote: “It is not surprising that companies would work to capitalize from this historic day. We have seen this with freedom celebrations such as Cinco de Mayo. The issue is that it is likely for financial gain that does not further the cause of Black liberation through socioeconomic increase. If companies were directly sending all profits to Black U.S. communities or supporting Black businesses, that would be different. 

“This is a repeat of why Juneteenth was needed,” Crowder continued. “It is basically commodifying the Black American experience by those who do not share those experiences and who have benefitted from the enslavement of people.”

Companies have their work cut out for them, and Crowder, who works day in and day out to help establish racial equity and inclusion into the fabric of businesses, outlined specific actions leaders can take to commemorate Juneteenth in a real way: “Organizations should be looking beyond one day and focusing on areas such as pay equity, promotions rates, the ability for Black team members’ work to be seen and acknowledged, and partnering with Black businesses regularly, including paying them well for their work.”

“The goal is to work toward Black liberation everyday,” Crowder added. “That is what Juneteenth stands for.”

Image credit: Rowan Heuvel/Unsplash

Into the trash — that’s too often the fate for toys that have been well-used and outgrown or chewed up by pets and broken apart. Dolls, for example, can be too complicated for local recycling facilities to process, which is why toy companies like Hasbro and Mattel have paired up with TerraCycle, a company that aims to “recycle the unrecyclable.”

One year after Mattel launched its PlayBack program, Fisher-Price, one of the corporation’s many brands, has signed on, joining the likes of Barbie, Mega and Matchbox. This means children and parents are able to send back Barbie Dreamhouses, colorful Mega Bloks and now Thomas toy engines for recycling – any product that isn’t electric. The process is simple: toy owners can box up their playthings, print a prepaid label and send their package to Mattel. The company says it will recycle what it can into new toys. Other materials will be downcycled or converted into energy. 
 
We’ve come a long way from the 1940s, when Fisher-Price started the trend of offering entirely plastic products. The novelty of plastic has worn off, though the durability and versatility continue to be hard to beat by metals, rubber or other materials. Still, the environmental issues are increasingly hard to ignore. An estimate from 2021 put plastic production en route to exceed the amount of greenhouse gases that coal-fired power plants produce before the turn of the new decade. And the pollution caused by discarded plastic products finding their way into streams, rivers and larger bodies of water is a growing problem that has already reached 14 million tons a year. 

PlayBack provides an opportunity for bottom line benefits

Mattel’s growing PlayBack initiative isn’t just a boon to the environment. It also provides the corporation with an opportunity for innovation and a source of second-hand material. As Pamela Gill-Alabaster, Mattel's senior vice president and global head of sustainability and social impact, describes in a press statement, “The Mattel PlayBack program has been eagerly received by consumers and has provided tremendous learning specific to the durability and disassembly of our products, which will aid in the future design of products made for the circular economy. We are also exploring new technologies in plastic processing and recycling, with our longer-term goal to use materials collected through Mattel PlayBack in future toy production.”

The initiative aligns with Mattel’s sustainability goals, specifically a 2030 aim for completely recycled, recyclable or bio-based plastics in products and packaging. It also keeps the multinational in line with customer preferences. A recent study commissioned by The Toy Association found that the sustainability of toys is important to over three-quarters of parents. 

The future of sustainable toys

Initiatives like Terracycle are making it possible to transform industries that are heavily dependent on plastics. In a post about its process, the Trenton, N.J.-based company writes one of the most hopeful statements an environmentalist could read, “The good news is that most rubbish is technically recyclable.” Terracycle even accepts those materials that seem the least redeemable, from the red wax encasing Babybel cheeses to extinguished cigarettes. 

But in a world where consumers are increasingly interested in decreasing their waste footprint, recycling may not be the be-all and end-all.  

When Steve Rho, the CEO of sustainability-minded Big Future Toys, spoke with HuffPost, his recommendation to families was to rethink consumption habits. After all, while companies like Mattel are leading the way to a circular economy, the toy shelves in big-box stores are still saturated with virgin and non-recyclable plastics. 

“This will sound crazy coming from a toy company ― maybe you don’t buy a toy, maybe you substitute an experience, a trip to the zoo or to a great show,” Rho said. “It reduces clutter in your home and you’re not using so many natural resources.”

Image credit: Mattel

A recent World Food Programme report highlights the severity of global food insecurity, citing 750,000 people at immediate risk of starvation or death. Further, there is an all-time high of 49 million people at risk of succumbing to famine.

In a pre-pandemic world in which we already once had 135 million food-insecure people, that number has doubled in just two years, according to the U.N. 

It can be easy, however, to brush off this news because it’s unlikely that you’ll end up going hungry. The brunt of the catastrophe will be felt by those living in the world’s poorest countries in Africa and the Middle East, but the rising prices and food insecurity will have an impact on everyone.

What is causing food shortages and soaring prices?

To begin talking about how to fix this mounting food insecurity problem, we first need to understand its causes, of which there are many. 

The conflict in Ukraine

Perhaps the most obvious and largest factor contributing to the food shortage is the conflict in Ukraine. Both Russia and Ukraine are vitally important agricultural countries, combining for upwards of 25 percent of global wheat supply.

The two countries combine to serve about three-quarters of the world’s sunflower oil, and Ukraine is the world’s third largest corn exporter at 11.4 percent of global corn exports.

These are critical food-producing countries, and they are currently at war with each other.

Part of the looming food shortage problem boils down to farmland being destroyed by war activities and resources diverted to fight in the war.

The bigger and more immediate problem, however, is the blockade of the Black Sea ports. Reports say that Ukraine is sitting on more than twenty million tonnes of grain that it is unable to export because its sea ports are blocked.

Ukraine has littered the Black Sea with sea mines to prevent Russian ships from advancing, but inadvertently blocking routes for export. Russia claims it will allow food shipments to pass through via escort, but that Ukraine first needs to remove the mines so that the ships can navigate the waters safely. Talks are ongoing to make this happen but it’s a political stalemate right now.

Fertilizer price hikes

Russia is (in)conveniently also the world’s largest fertilizer exporter. The Western sanctions imposed on Russia have led to a shortage of fertilizer products, which in turn has raised the prices of the fertilizer that is available. 

Farmers worldwide are facing tough choices. Record-high fertilizer prices are making it difficult for farmers to turn a profit. Some are opting to reduce the amount of fertilizer they use, while others choose to reduce their seeding acreage, both scenarios leading to lower yields.

Extreme weather events

The increase in frequency and severity of extreme weather events affects the output of crops. The world’s second largest producer of wheat, India, is experiencing one of its hottest years on record. This has lowered their wheat output significantly and led the government to introduce a ban on wheat exports.

Export restrictions

Just like in India, countries around the world are putting restrictions on the amount of food products they can export amidst concerns of shortages. Export restrictions are going to have the most significant impact on the countries that are net importers of food, a list that is dominated by low-income countries — the same ones most at risk of long-term food insecurity.

Supply chain disruptions

The blockade of the Black Sea ports is the major focal point right now, but supply chain disruptions are happening worldwide, in large part due to pandemic restrictions. China’s zero-Covid strategy has led to very strict lockdowns, halting work, and causing a ripple effect across the world’s supply chains.

High oil and gas prices

Gas prices are as high as they’ve ever been in the U.S. and worldwide. This has a trickle-down effect on every aspect of global markets. From producing to transporting food, high gas prices influence the purchase price of consumer food products.

What can be done to alleviate food insecurity?

Peace in Ukraine would be a wonderful place to start. As well, removing, or at least reducing, some of the Western sanctions on Russia would allow for Russian food products to flow more easily into global markets. Unless any of us participate in diplomatic talks, however, we may have to begin looking at other workable solutions.

The United States is the world’s largest producer of corn. However, forty percent of corn cultivated in the U.S. goes towards producing ethanol to be blended in fuel. This is a mandate of the U.S. government. Facing a severe food shortage, reducing the amount of corn diverted to gasoline production would increase food stocks.

Food waste is another problem area. On average, the American household throws away about 660 pounds of food per year. Businesses and individuals both have a part to play in fixing this number.

Meat consumption also uses up more land and food than grains or vegetables. Three pounds of cereals go into producing one pound of pork. You may not want to hear it but reducing meat in your diet could mean more food available to go around.

Global cooperation is really at the core of what’s needed to alleviate the food crisis. Countries refraining from imposing export restrictions and working cooperatively to distribute food around the planet will give more people reliable access to food.

Image credit: LilacDragonfly via Pexels
 

Please join us for this global 24-hour web-a-thon on the future of sustainability, as well as a fundraiser for civil society in Ukraine on Tuesday, June 21, starting at 8:00am EST.

The war in Ukraine comes on top of a deluge of unprecedented global events that threaten to turn back progress on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and undermine the well-being of people and the environment around the world.

Starting on Tuesday, June 21, at 8.00am EST / 1:00pm BST, the global sustainability community will come together for 24 hours and explore the implications of recent events and global trends for the future of sustainability and the need for more collaborative, inclusive efforts to advance sustainable development. This event will also raise vital financial support for local NGOs in Ukraine that have been devastated by the invasion by Russia.

To review and register for the remarkable sessions and to donate to our sisters and brothers working on sustainability issues in Ukraine, please visit the Sustainability For Ukraine website.

More than two dozen organizations have committed to lead a dedicated session of the web-a-thon, providing a robust program of dialogue on the sustainability agenda. Partners include: 3BL Media, Akatu Institute (Brazil), AuctusESG (India), B Lab, BBMG, BSR, Business Fights Poverty, Business Leaders Forum, CBSR (Canada), CSR Europe, CSR Ukraine, ELEVATE, Forum for the Future, GlobeScan, GreenBiz, GRI, Maala (Israel), Net Positive, ReThink (Hong Kong), SB Japan, SB Thailand, Sustainability Connect (Singapore) and WWF.

A range of global thought leaders will be speaking throughout the web-a-thon including Paul Polman, John Elkington, Georg Kell, Ertharin Cousin, Ndidi Nnoli-Edozien, Naoki Adachi, Esther An, Andreas Beckmann, Vartan Badalian, Raphael Bemporad, Stefan Crets, Chris Coulter, Hans Daems, Kevin Franklin, Marcel Fukayam, Bart Houlahan, Svein Tore Holsether, Leslie Johnston, Agnes Kalibata, Momo Mahadev, Helio Mattar, Jane Nelson, Maryna Saprykina, Kamal Seth, Zahid Torres-Rahman, Sally Uren, Peter Paul van de Wijs, Jenny Vaughan and Namita Vikas.

If you're not able to join us live, still be sure to register so you can receive a link to the web-a-thon recording.

The organizers wish to thank Sustainability For Ukraine’s sponsors — City Developments Limited (CDL), Gore Mutual Insurance Company, ServiceNow, Sun Life, TELUS and Vale — for their generous donations in supporting local NGOs in Ukraine to build a stronger foundation for the future of sustainability and civil society in Ukraine.

For more information on this event or to make a corporate donation or become a sponsor, please contact stacy.rowland@globescan.com.

Image credit: Diana Vyshniakova via Unsplash
 

The Skoll Foundation, founded in 1999 by Jeff Skoll, is well known as a philanthropic leader in the area of stimulating racial equity through capital investments in organizations that solve problems of economic inequity. The goal is to achieve transformational social change, not just invest dollars. Therein lies the work of Common Future.

More than 20 years of commitments to social innovation

Each year, the Foundation awards up to ten Skoll Awards for Social Innovation to organizations that meet stringent qualifications: the potential to initiate systemic institutional change from the community level to the global geographic level, and present a plan for long-term growth and sustainability.

The awards are considerable — $1.5 million in unrestricted funding over three years, as well as an additional amount of $750,000 of support. Awards are made to those with a strong leadership and governance, and with strong financial health. The organization must have a history of making an impact in their specialized area, be strategically placed for success, and be closely aligned to the target audience.
With this high bar established, The Skoll Foundation chose Common Future (CF) as a winner of a 2022 Skoll Foundation Award.

How Common Future defines community engagement

CF is a nonprofit which has at its core a wealth distribution model built on communal support that includes equitable access to capital, participation in democratically governed funds or opportunities for employee ownership of local businesses.

In addition, CF offers a network of community leaders, funders, and others working towards a collective vision and mission to shift wealth and power into marginalized communities.

The organization works to serve five principles: 

Self-determination: Communities should have the power to own, transform, and create wealth in local economies that best serve their interests.

Frank talk about race: Economic equity will be achieved when we talk explicitly about race and the wealth gap.

Solution-focused: We must advocate for the economy we want, not only against the economy we have.

Amplifying voices: It is important to celebrate and lift up ideas, solutions and diverse voices that aren’t heard.

Shifting the narrative: We must lift up local perspectives to increase the possibility that they will thrive in the national mainstream.

“We look at practices and beliefs that perpetuate inequity and generate new ones in their place,” said Rodney Foxworth, CEO of CF. “And we’ve been fortunate to work closely with capital institutions, helping them move $280 million to community wealth building organizations and the businesses they support.”

Making philanthropy more equitable and accessible

“In this work we realized that the challenge often centers around what changes they [capital institutions] are willing to make to how they deploy money,” added Foxworth. “If we point out, for example, that the grant process is arduous and excludes smaller organizations or that the focus on return on investment leads to terms that hinder growth, this requires capital holders to rethink how they work from the ground up. It requires them to see how ‘business as usual’ practices and the beliefs around them exacerbate inequity.” 

The Boston Ujima Project is a great example of loosening control of capital in the United States using the CF Model. Ujima has created an impact investing fund where the community has decision-making power over investments to uplift local, minority-owned enterprises.

The fund is governed by voting members, all of whom are local residents and have a stake in Boston’s working-class communities of color. Membership only requires a $25 fee, and Ujima seeks to build the fund to $5 million by 2020, with community residents, local foundations and wealthy people as investors.

The intricacies of the step-by-step process leading to an investment of $200,000 by Ujima in a local program can be found here.
What minority business entrepreneurs find themselves up against is a system of embedded economic inequity, lack of access to capital being the common roadblock. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, most microbusinesses cost around $3,000 to start, while most home-based franchises cost $2,000 to $5,000. At the same time, for various reasons, including systemic racism, in 2019 the median white household held $188,200 in wealth — 7.8 times that of the typical Black household at $24,100.

Foxworth added, “With the Skoll Award for Social Innovation we joined a global community of people who are tackling pressing issues around the world. The award signals that Common Future has a promising model and the issue of economic inequity — specifically the growing racial wealth gap — needs greater attention.”

Image credit: Brandy Kennedy via Unsplash

After yet another long and bloody stretch of gun violence, a groundswell of public pressure seems to have gotten through to some Republican members of Congress. A group of ten U.S. senators has finally expressed their willingness to break lockstep with their party’s orthodoxy on gun control. If they follow through, retailers and other businesses can look forward to more legislative support for their own gun safety rules. However, there is still much damage to undo, as the LGBTQ community and other vulnerable groups face renewed threats from right-wing domestic terrorists.

Why the “party of big business” loves the Second Amendment

Anyone who still believes that the Republican and Democratic parties are “both the same” has not been paying attention over the last 20 years or more. On gun control, the Republican party and its allies on the U.S. Supreme Court have been treating the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms as a pseudo-sacred, untouchable provision, even though every other amendment in the Bill of Rights is subject to restriction and interpretation. Even the word “bear” itself is still interpreted as pertaining only to portable firearms, not hand grenades, rocket launchers and other armaments, a contradiction that the pro-gun lobby conveniently skims over.

Coincidentally or not, the Second Amendment is the only item in the Bill of Rights that can be monetized. Alone among the civil rights outlined in the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, exercising the right to bear arms requires a transaction of some kind, whether a purchase, gift, inheritance or other assignment.

The element of purchase and profit explains why the National Rifle Association (NRA) started out as an organization dedicated to “training, education and marksmanship,” only to shift focus during the 20th century as gun manufacturers sought markets outside of military, law enforcement and licensed security.

Today the Second Amendment has become nothing more than a money mill for gun manufacturers and other stakeholders, a major public health threat, and a leading cause of death in the U.S., especially among children and youth.

Calling out the NRA on gun safety and security

The action in the U.S. Senate last weekend represents the first significant attempt to inject some common sense into federal gun control measures in 26 years, after the ban on assault weapons expired in 2004.

On Sunday, a group of 10 Republican U.S. Senators joined with 10 of their Democratic counterparts over the weekend to announce a proposed framework for new gun safety legislation. The group is spearheaded by Senators Chris Murphy (D-CT) and John Cornyn (R-TX). Both of the senators represent states where some of the most notorious episodes of gun-fueled mass murder in recent years took place: the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre, the 2019 El Paso massacre and the Uvalde massacre of May 24. 

“Families are scared, and it is our duty to come together and get something done that will help restore their sense of safety and security in their communities,” the group stated in a press release dated June 12.

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Some elements of the new framework do not actually represent a game changing breakthrough on gun control. However, these parts of the framework do undercut the persistent argument that an armed society is a more secure society, by proposing additional funding for mental health resources, school safety and student support.

The additional funding raises the question: If guns make people safer, why do we need more security?

That’s a good question. It puts the ball in the court of the NRA, which has long supported similar safety and security measures.

In fact, just days after the Uvalde massacre, the NRA touted its “School Shield” grant program, which launched after the Sandy Hook school massacre. According to information gathered by independent reporter Judd Legum, NRA funding for the grant program was never particularly robust and it dwindled to a trickle last year.

Pulling the rug out from under the constitutional argument

In addition to undercutting the NRA on safety and security, the proposed framework firmly establishes the Second Amendment as just one among other nine other items in the Bill of Rights, each of which is subject to various restrictions and interpretations.

In their announcement, the bipartisan group starts by putting gun safety and security at the top of their to-do list, with these words: “Our plan increases needed mental health resources, improves school safety and support for students…”

The same sentence, though, ends with a ringing endorsement of common-sense restrictions on the right to bear arms: “…and helps ensure dangerous criminals and those who are adjudicated as mentally ill can’t purchase weapons.”

The passage continues by emphasizing that all of these elements are needed. “Most importantly, our plan saves lives while also protecting the constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans,” they state.

Schools are not the only problem

In addition to refocusing the outcry over gun violence in schools and other public places, the new framework also brings domestic violence and other non-public situations into the conversation.

The data is clear. While the mass carnage at schools and other public places is a headline-grabber, guns kill more children and youth by suicide and in situations outside of schools. According to the organization Sandy Hook Promise, 12 children die of gun violence every day and another 32 are injured. Women — including pregnant women — are also especially vulnerable to lethal domestic violence.

Additionally, the statistics show that most gun violence is not perpetrated by people with a history of mental illness.

“Hardening” schools will do little to improve public safety overall, as the new framework recognizes by focusing attention on the control of gun possession by convicted domestic violence abusers and those under restraining orders, including “those who have or have had a continuing relationship of a romantic or intimate nature.”

Next steps for common sense gun safety

As one indication that the proposed framework is a step in the right direction, it has received the seal of approval from two leading gun safety organizations, Everytown for Gun Safety and its affiliate, Moms Demand Action. 

Nevertheless, the legislative process is far from over. If the proposed framework is watered down or blocked in the Senate, it will be back to square one for common sense public safety protections, and the danger is growing as far right extremist groups increasingly turn to violence in communities across the U.S.

In particular, business leaders who profess to support LGBTQ rights should start calling their senators now. Some of the same far right extremist groups that participated in the failed insurrection of January 6, 2021 have begun to exploit Pride Month as an opportunity to recruit new members by disrupting and Pride events and terrorizing participants, including a children’s library story hour.

Last week, an outbreak of violence at a Pride event in Idaho was only prevented at the last minute when a quick-witted citizen reported that they saw a “small army” of men armed with piling into a U-Haul truck that afternoon. Thankfully law enforcement took their report seriously, acted promptly, and arrested the entire group of 31 men.

This time, the public safety system worked — and this time, the men were not bearing firearms. Sooner or later, though, the luck will run out, unless individuals bent on violence lose their free and easy access to firearms.

Image credit: Chip Vincent via Unsplash

We’re being told the pandemic is over, though the data, not to mention our social media feeds, are telling us otherwise. But for many communities, including LGBTQ people and businesses, the pandemic’s impact will be felt for years — and that's true for many gathering places like the local LGBTQ bar.

During 2020, tens of thousands of bars closed. For LGBTQ-friendly bars, the pandemic hastened their decline across the U.S. Already challenged by gentrification, dating apps and changing demographics, the pandemic led to more closures of many an LGBTQ bar in liberal cities and conservative rural outposts alike.

Now, the evidence suggests that the neighborhood LGBTQ bar is making a slow, even steady comeback. Grassroots initiatives such as the Lesbian Bar Project are seeking to celebrate and preserve what few lesbian bars are left. Meanwhile, more entrepreneurs across the U.S. are refurbishing and investing in bars, and even reinventing them so they’re more than a place to down a cold one — more importantly, they are also reinventing these spaces, making them more welcoming to those who are non-binary or transgender and historically never felt entirely welcomed in a “gay” or “lesbian” bar.

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Here’s the reality: Bars have often been a safe haven for many LGBTQ people, and at a time when we hear constant banter about “community,” many bars have served that purpose for years. To that end, with companies opening their wallets, purses and fanny packs during Pride Month, here’s an idea: If supporting the local community matters so much, then put your money and mouth where your expense account is and take your team out to the local LGBTQ bar.

There’s no shortage of data concluding that the best place to spend money for maximum impact is as close the home office as possible. Sponsoring a float or booth for a Gay Pride parade is a nice enough gesture, though those same funds could be used more at a neighborhood LGBTQ center or youth homeless shelter. Sending a check to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is great for optics if your company scored 100 percent from that group; journalists such as Judd Legum, however, have pointed out that the coveted HRC rankings don’t take into account those same corporations’ donations to anti-LGBTQ and anti-trans politicians.

So, this suggestion may not be on your company’s Pride Month-themed bingo card, but here’s how your company can show it’s an ally of the LGBTQ community: Take the team to the local LGBTQ club or bar. Don’t make a big show of it: To be clear, this isn’t a call to sponsor a “happy hour,” as this is an exercise in inclusion, not branding. Here’s how you go about it: Ask your queer employees for suggestions on where everyone would feel welcome, and then go. After all, there’s no better way to align oneself with a community than to share their experiences. As Ella Braidwood summed up for the Washington Post earlier this week:

“If you are straight, try to imagine that: what it would feel like to know that, at some point — not if, but when — you’ll get heckled for simply holding your partner’s hand. It might not bother you the first time, maybe not even in the second or third instance. But consider how 10 years of it, the length of time that I’ve been 'out,' might grind you down. That’s the thing with discrimination: It’s exhausting. There is an attrition to it. I am tired of being shouted at.

What I’m trying to say is this: LGBTQ clubs are like sanctuaries to me; pink-lit paradises, where I can forget about all of that…They are among the few places where I can kiss whom I want, knowing I won’t get harassed.”

Not sure where to begin? Start with Gay Cities, Travel Gay or the Spartacus gay guide.

Image credit: Matt Dodd via Unsplash

The success of Honest Tea under Coca-Cola was a shining example of the value of purpose-based start-ups going big — that is, until the beverage behemoth announced last month that it would be dropping the organic, fair-trade ready-to-drink tea line at the end of the year. While this is a massive blow to purpose-based players seeking to join the mainstream, Eat the Change has already said that it is planning to pick up where Coca-Cola dropped off and will be launching a new line of bottled teas inspired by Honest. The short-lived brand's quick rise from inception to acquisition and growth, followed by a sales stumble that led to its dissolution, suggests that while the market exists for such beverages, perhaps there would be greater flexibility to weather changes to that market under a parent company that is also purpose-based. 

Honest Tea originally made a name for itself in the ready-to-drink beverage industry through organic, fair-trade teas bottled with less sugar than its competitors. The brand, which began in 1998, offered its first organic tea in 1999 and its first fair trade-certified tea in 2003. Its success got Coca-Cola’s attention, which purchased 40 percent of the start-up in 2008, followed by the rest in 2011.

The acquisition wasn’t the end of Honest’s purpose-based operations, however. Only 40 percent of the tea Honest used to produce its products was fair trade certified in 2008 when the beverage giant first bought in. By the time the takeover was complete, 100 percent of the brand’s sourced tea leaves was certified. In addition, by 2015 all of the sugar purchased by Honest was also fair trade-certified. Those labels mean a lot considering that they guarantee reasonable working conditions for workers and ensure that a portion of the profits is returned to the community.  The fair trade premiums paid by the drink maker to select tea farms in India resulted in real-life improvements for those living in the area—allowing for the purchase of precautionary equipment like mosquito nets as well as building a hospital.

While some decried the purpose-based brand for selling its soul to the highest bidder, the way Honest saw it the idea was to sell as much of its superior product as possible — and it did so while holding true to its principles. In 2010 the brand sold $71 million worth of bottled beverages. Eight years later, those sales had surged to $600 million. So, what was the problem? 2019 witnessed a 19 percent drop in sales of Honest Tea drinks. And while this was part of an industry-wide trend that saw bottled tea sales drop across the board that year, Coca-Cola took the initiative to consolidate its holdings.

The route taken by Honest Tea may appear to be proof that purpose and profit cannot co-exist in the long run, but Eat the Change isn’t taking it that way. Entrepreneur Seth Goldman, who founded Honest and has been involved in Beyond Meat, Plant Burger and now Eat the Change, got to work on a replacement as soon as he received word that Coca-Cola would be dumping the organic, fair-trade brand in favor of focusing attention on its Gold Peak and Peace Tea brands instead. In an interview with Mashed, he quoted a letter he received from one of the suppliers as part of his motivation to start again with a new bottled tea based on the same principles:

"Honest Tea is very connected to our own gardens and people, so the news is definitely a gut punch for us as well. While the financial consequences are material, the loss of confidence in organic and fair trade agriculture that this decision is likely to engender in the wider community is very saddening and probably more consequential, especially in terms of lost motivation at origins. We've been so inspired to be part of the journey that you led and want to try to continue the effort and fight the suggestion that this was all a failed experiment."

There is plenty to learn from Honest Tea’s demise — but the idea that principles and profit cannot coincide is not one of those lessons. Rather, this example suggests the need for a purpose-based parent company that won’t drop its subsidiaries the moment the market fluctuates. Whether or not such a conglomerate will emerge could depend on entrepreneurs like Goldman and how willing they are to compete with the big guys instead of trying to join them. 

Image credit: Leon Kaye

A quick glance through the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) makes one thing clear: water is the through line. Even when not explicitly stated, the lack of access to safe and clean water puts all of the other SDGs at risk. Transform, an initiative supported by Unilever, the U.K.’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and EY aims to address the issue directly by supporting on-the-ground entrepreneurs in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa to help solve their communities’ water challenges.

A renewed focus on clean water

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, in 2020, one in four people lacked access to safe drinking water in their homes and half of the global population lacked access to safe sanitation. Further, during the COVID-19 pandemic, a third of the population could not safely wash their hands in their homes, a basic function proven to prevent the spread of the virus as well as other infectious illnesses. Many of the challenges require community-specific solutions, and that is where the support from Transform can bolster local entrepreneurs’ efforts.

The Transform initiative supports entrepreneurs through funding, assistance in scaling operations, removing barriers to behavioral change and additional services. Participating entrepreneurs focus on improving access to reliable sources of clean water and sanitation to low-income households in developing countries. Since its inception in 2015, the initiative has provided almost $49 million in funding and business support to more than 60 enterprises in 13 countries, reaching 7 million people — with a goal to have a positive impact on 15 million citizens. 

While the focus has to this point been on South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, the initiative recently announced that they are expanding their program to South America with a new partner — the Global Solidarity Fund. The work will start in Colombia, focusing on building an inclusive workforce centered on migrants and refugees. While lack of access to safe water is not as widespread in South America, significant water challenges remain, so there is plenty of room for Transform to grow in the region.

A track record of success, from Kenya to India

Because water is such an essential component of health, emotional and economic well-being, and security, Transform has supported several different projects over the years, providing funding and logistical, product and marketing support.  

Spring Health focuses on providing reliable water distribution in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, a region struggling with heat waves and extreme water scarcity. The organization’s model is based on innovative purification and a strong rural distribution network through shops and kiosks in small villages and profit-sharing with local entrepreneurs that can deliver and transport clean water to homes using jerry cans.

During the pandemic, Spring Health also increased the distribution of hand sanitizer and disinfectants alongside safe drinking water. Transform has supported Spring Health’s work by providing new products at a low cost and helping create programs in schools to increase awareness around safe drinking water. Since 2019, Spring Health has created 180 jobs and supported 92 entrepreneurs, reaching 18,000 households (90,000 people) with a goal to reach 2 million customers.

Another Transform-supported project that crosses the intersection between several of the SDGs is Sanivation in Kenya, addressing the sanitation end of the clean water spectrum. Sanivation currently operates in eight cities in Kenya, working with the World Bank, African Development Bank and local water utilities. The company builds, owns and operates waste-to-value treatment plants (such as the one shown below), which processes pasteurized human waste with biomass to generate sustainable fuels to help power local industry.

Transform supported Sanivation with a trial using their produced fuel to replace firewood in a tea processing plant. Using firewood as a fuel has multiple environmental impacts, such as land and forest degradation — which can lead to water scarcity — and poor air quality as well as exacerbate gender inequality. Over two years, Transform said that the use of biomass for fuel at the factory has saved 21,000 trees, cuts costs and provided 30 percent of the revenue for a wastewater treatment facility. 

Safe water: a global and local challenge

Access to safe water is both a global and intensely local challenge. Scaling up local water solutions through innovation and on-the-ground know how will continue to be essential in converting water crises into water successes. Local entrepreneurs, who see the challenges and the opportunities firsthand, are well suited to figure out how to improve the community based on the community’s needs. Often, however, they are underfunded or fly under the radar. Initiatives like Transform will remain essential to support those efforts because macro problems often require micro solutions.

Image credits: Transform