Act in Solidarity

To our Charleston community,

We commit to not just standing in solidarity, but acting in solidarity alongside our fellow citizens working for equality. As a marketing company based in the heart of Charleston, SC, we have the capability to amplify voices, and we recognize that we have not done enough. As of June 30, 2020, we are changing that. We are committed to becoming a proactively anti-racist organization. We are not just going to talk about it, we are going to be about it.

We know the work will not be done until there is equality and systemic change. It will take time. It will take community collaboration. It will take open minds. It will take open hearts. It will take Black voices being heard. 

We will diversify. We will listen and learn. We will amplify. We will act.

The following is where we are starting with a hyper-focus on the Black community and the goals that we are setting for ourselves as an organization. We will continue to evolve this plan over time to be inclusive of all areas of diversity, equity and inclusion.

For the remainder of 2020, we will focus our attention on, and hold ourselves accountable to, the following actionable items:

Recruit

• Create and put into place recruitment and hiring practices that promote diversity 

• Make our diversity and inclusion policy public, and list it on all job openings and our website

• Make connections with career centers at historically black colleges and networking groups, then place job openings in these channels

• Include salary range and benefits in all job postings

• Implement a company-wide behavioral code of conduct that will hold every employee accountable for racist and discriminatory actions

• Work with local high schools in the Charleston area to put in place a paid apprenticeship each year for a student of color

• By the end of 2023, our goal is to have our internal team demographics closely mirror that of the U.S. Census Data as it relates to Black marketing professionals

Work

• Continue to create connections with Black creators, writers, photographers, videographers and designers that we can collaborate with on projects

• For each project we work on, and each partner that we work with, we will identify how inclusion, equality and diversity can be a part of the conversation and the work

Educate

• Train our team to actively combat racism. We will have two team members complete Diversity Training through the Racial Equity Institute each quarter until we have 100% company participation and will submit members for Diversity Leadership Institute

• Create an internal Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force that will hold our organization accountable to our plan and report out on action items

• Provide resources for team members so that they can educate themselves on an individual basis

• Create a anti-racism book club for our company

Community

• Become organization members of the International African American Museum

• Meet with community leaders to further understand how as an organization we can support, amplify and act

• Invite BIPOC individuals to speak during our weekly Monday Morning meeting

• Identify Black owned businesses and ensure we are shifting a portion of our budget to those businesses for the remainder of 2020 (increase that spend amount into 2021) 

• Continue to highlight Black artists in our office space and through the events we hold 

• Choose one organization that works with the Black community and support it through volunteer, marketing and PR efforts to amplify its causes through 2020 (with the opportunity to support more than one organization in 2021)

• Encourage voting by circulating voting details and locations, and giving a half day off to team members who exercise their right to vote

• Invite political candidates into our office so that our team can better understand the issues and platforms of those who will potentially make policy change

• Partner with Atlanta agency, Media Frenzy Global, to challenge other industry leaders to sign the Agencies in Solidarity pledge and to share resources through the Act in Solidarity social media outlets

• Participate in industry webinars and open discussions on how agencies need to act to make diversity, inclusion and equity a part of their core values and recruitment practices

This is an ever-evolving plan. We will continue to better identify the places that we can make an impact and the areas internally that we need to continue to improve. We will publicly report our diversity data annually starting January 2021.

We will partner with a diversity, equity and inclusion consultant to give input and feedback on this plan, as well as on how Obviouslee can be more inclusive as an organization. We will actively and mindfully work with organizations in our community to create equality and change.