Our Pledge To Racial Equity

“We don’t have to be perfect to start. But we do need to be vocal and bring explicit conversations about race and racism to all of our stakeholders - the people inside our companies, our customers and our communities. Let’s ask ourselves -- what am I doing today?”

-        B Lab's Co-Ceo Anthea Kelsick’s lead

We at Impact Growth Partners are filled with emotion, conviction and a strong desire to act in pursuit of racial justice. The persistent and jarringly unequal treatment of minorities by police and our criminal justice system is a human rights crisis. Recently, in our community, a young white man committed pre-meditated attempted murder. He was safely taken into custody and is now home with his parents. George Floyd was accused of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Systemic racism in our law enforcement and criminal justice system must end. Black Lives Matter. 

I have signed the Leadership Now Project Business for Racial Equity pledge that leads with taking specific action on policing reform initiatives. Businesses are in a position to influence such a critical issue, and must do so. I call on my fellow business leaders to take this pledge and act now.  

The Business for Racial Equity pledge also calls on business leaders to focus on Economic Inclusion. As a Certified B Corp we hold ourselves and our clients to high standards of social and environmental impact, of which economic inclusion is a key measure, including diversity of ownership, management, employees, living wages, and many other metrics.  Symbolic or even moderate impact and improvement in these areas is not enough for B Corp Certification. Our work, and our own actions, are focused on tangible results- the actions may be small, but they are long lasting and designed to achieve discernible positive outcomes. 

One of the areas in this fight that we, and many of our clients, are focused on right now is diversity, equity, and inclusion both internally and through our supply chain. But we can always do better.  Here are a few actions and promises we're making:

·       Diversity policies must specify and set targets for people of color, not simply meet these targets through gender or other areas of diversity.  

·       Policies and targets must be backed up with specific steps to achieve them, including deepening engagement with diverse communities and organizations to develop the connections that will drive business relationships. 

·       The B Corp Community must have more racially diverse leaders.  We will continue to deepen our relationships with minority-led companies, engage with Dismantle Collective, and work with B Lab to achieve these goals. 

 We will continue to publicly share ways that we are reinventing our own organizational structures and achieving goals to create a more inclusive economy.

We are so grateful to hear voices and perspectives that have been silenced for too long. Keep talking. We are listening.  We will keep asking ourselves and our B Corp Community, "What are you doing today?”