Top Business Leaders Vow to Create 1 Million Jobs for Black Americans Over 10 Years

A coalition made up of 37 CEOs across various businesses and industries is promising to create 1 million new jobs for Black Americans over the next 10 years. This collective organization, OneTen, has announced that it will combine the power of these companies to hire and promote 1 million Black Americans over the next 10 years into family-sustaining jobs with opportunities for advancement.

OneTen was founded by Ken Chenault, Chairman and Managing Director of General Catalyst and former Chairman and CEO of American Express; Ken Frazier, Chairman and CEO of Merck; Charles Phillips, Managing Partner of Recognize, Chairman of the Black Economic Alliance, and former CEO of Infor; Ginni Rometty, Executive Chairman and former CEO of IBM; and Kevin Sharer, former Chairman and CEO of Amgen and former faculty member at Harvard Business School.

“This is a moment in time for Americans to move past our divisions to come together and reach our full potential as a nation. Our country’s workforce of the future will be an increasingly diverse one,” said Frazier in a written statement. “Through the creation of 1 million jobs for Black Americans over the next 10 years, OneTen has the potential to address persistent intergenerational gaps in opportunity and wealth.”

OneTen has the support of 37 founding CEOs and companies which include: Accenture, ADP,  Allstate, American Express, Amgen, Aon, AT&T, Bain & Company, Bank of America, Cargill, Caterpillar, Cisco, Cleveland Clinic, Comcast, Deloitte, Delta Air Lines, Eli Lilly, General Motors, HP Inc., Humana, IBM, Illinois Tool Works, Intermountain Healthcare, Johnson & Johnson, Lowe’s, Medtronic, Merck, Nike, Nordstrom, PepsiCo, Roper Technologies, Stryker, Target, Trane Technologies, Verizon, Walmart, and Whirlpool Corporation.

“OneTen links our companies with the critical work we know we need to do to improve racial equity in America,” said Rometty. “This will not only help our individual companies but by removing structural barriers that have disproportionately hindered Black Americans from joining the middle class, it will also help lift all Americans. By bringing together a coalition of key leaders and asking them to make long-term commitments, we have the ability to change employment practices and help break down systemic barriers opening the door to full participation in our economy.”

OneTen will cultivate an ecosystem that will bring together major companies and partner with the nation’s leading nonprofits and other skill-credentialing organizations. It plans on creating a more flexible talent pipeline that will allow employees and employers to thrive by shifting to a skills-first paradigm.