It is evidenced in the repeated instances of excessive force and unfair treatment by police against George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin and so many more. It is evidenced by the subsequent, consistent lack of consequences for those clearly in the wrong. It is evidenced in hiring discrimination and pay disparities, educational gaps and varied approach to discipline in schools, sentencing and incarceration rates, as well as access to healthy food and other services.
As business owners, we are committed to listening first then working within our own team and with government, non-profit and business leaders to fuel changes that create equity within our society. There is so much work to be done but we believe that, together, we’re up to the task.
We joined hundreds of other business owners in Central Ohio in the signing of a letter of support for Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin’s resolution to declare racism a public health crisis in the City of Columbus. And we will advocate for holding independent investigations into police use of force, changing use of crowd dispersal techniques, and implementing the Community Safety Advisory Commission’s recommendations along with the rest of the Matrix report.
Our team will continue to ensure that communications we develop for clients are representative of the communities they serve and use language that is accessible for all. And everyone on our staff — presently and in the future — will receive diversity, inclusion and implicit bias training as part of our ongoing Curious Minds educational sessions.
We will continue to hire individuals who may not have a traditional four-year degree or prior professional PR experience, and further expand our recruitment approach to proactively reach minority communities. We will ensure job descriptions and other communications do not include gendered, discriminatory or other language that may discourage candidates from applying and conduct blind resume reviews to eliminate bias.
Our city has had enough. Of the injustice. Of the inequity. Of the racism. And we’re going to do something about it. Join us. Let’s get to work.