Our Progress.
In the summer of 2020, in response to the heightened awareness of widespread systemic racism, John Middleton Co. made a commitment to supporting, elevating and amplifying Black-owned businesses and entrepreneurs through our Black-owned Business Initiative.
In December of 2020 we completed our first step, donating $1 million to two highly deserving nonprofits that support Black-owned businesses and entrepreneurs.
We contributed $500,000 to Philadelphia-based The Enterprise Center. The Enterprise Center has a rich and diverse practice supporting minority entrepreneurs and under-resourced communities spanning more than three decades. CEO, Della Clark stated, "Because of unequal access to capital, we've turned African American entrepreneurs into risk managers instead of growth innovators. That's what we have to turn around." Our contribution was especially meaningful because, as a company, we were also founded in Philadelphia.
We also contributed $500,000 to Cleveland-based Growth Opps, a nonprofit that supports the growth of small businesses in underserved communities. As Growth Opps' CEO Michael Jeans says, "We know opportunity has been limited for minorities with codified exclusions for Black/African American persons. We believe ourselves to be global citizens and are vested in the role America can and should play in bringing out the best in people and governments. We believe all lives matter and we unapologetically believe that to include Black lives." We selected Cleveland because we have a number of our adult tobacco consumers in Cleveland and this is a community that is underdeveloped with Black-owned businesses.
We are excited about our initial investments and look forward to reporting progress with you later this year.
We know that these are initial efforts, and much more needs to be done. Economic inequality won't go away overnight. And neither will our commitment to this cause.