Dow ACTs strategic framework designed to address systemic racism and inequity, backed by a multi-million dollar pledge to help accelerate change. ACT is an acronym for three action areas: Advocacy, Community engagement and our Talent pipeline. This strategic framework was informed by input from our employees and Global African Affinity Network (one of our Employee Resource Groups) and has the full support of Dow’s Leadership Team and Board of Directors.
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Advocacy, Community and Talent (ACTs)
Our approach to address systemic racism and inequity
Advocacy
We’ve committed to drive policy change and encourage civic activities to address racism and racial inequity.
- Establish a cross-functional Social Justice Council to monitor inequality matters and advise Dow on our response.
- Drive policy change through engagement at the U.S. state and federal levels, including with the Congressional Black Caucus, and directing funding to organizations dedicated to fighting racial injustice, including judicial reform, healthcare disparities and economic inequity in the Black community.
- Establish employee paid time off policy for voting and other non-partisan-related civic activities.
- Launched the Social Justice Council in the U.S.
- Supported the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's (CBCF) National Racial Equity Initiative for Social Justice. Through this partnership, we helped enable the placement of 16 full-time fellows on Capitol Hill and the Foundation through the John R. Lewis Social Justice Policy Fellowship program.
- Dow implemented a paid time off policy for voting and other non-partisan related civic activities.
- Dow joined the Board Diversity Action Alliance as a founding signatory. Signatories commit to increasing or maintaining the number of Black board directors, disclosing their boards’ racial and ethnic composition, and annually publishing a report on company diversity and inclusion efforts.
- Dow joined the Civic Alliance - a growing, nonpartisan network of more than 220 member companies working together to strengthen our democracy by encouraging civic participation.
- Karen S. Carter, Dow’s current president of Dow's Packaging & Specialty Plastics business was appointed to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Black Leadership Advisory Council.
Community
We will respond to racism and racial inequity in our communities through service and investment.
- Recommit through our Dow Promise Grant Program to positively impact Black communities near Dow locations, where economic and educational challenges may be barriers to success.
- Include Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a U.S. paid holiday and an opportunity for a day of service.
- Ensure our procurement practices eliminate any barriers for Black-owned and all minority-owned enterprises to do business with Dow and influence our entire supply chain to do the same.
- Pledged $600,000 to the Dow Promise program. Since 2020, we’ve supported 47 organizations that positively impact educational and economic challenges for youth and adults of African heritage.
- Established Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a U.S. paid holiday and an opportunity for a day of service. Since 2020, we’ve partnered with more than 70 organizations to stand against hate, build bridges and heal divides through service opportunities during MLK Day annually.
- Our Supplier Diversity program continues to make strides in becoming an industry leader. To expand our reach and elevate this business imperative, we created the role of global purchasing director for sustainability and Supplier Diversity. Dow’s goal is to achieve $500 million in global diverse supplier spend by 2025.
Talent
We will improve representation across all levels of the company to help and ensure our workforce reflects the stakeholders we serve. This can be seen through our diverse and equitable workforce, our collaboration with OneTen, promoting diversity recruiting programs, requiring racial equity and inclusion training and more.
- Ensure a strong focus on the attraction, development, advancement and retention of talent to create a more diverse and equitable workforce.
- Join OneTen, a coalition of leading businesses, talent developers and community builders, partnering across the ecosystem to hire, promote and advance 1 million Black individuals and others who do not have a four-year degree into family-sustaining careers over the next decade.
- Maximize impact of our efforts and maximize the impact of our existing diversity recruiting programs, such as the Diamond Symposium and the BEST Symposium.
- Require racial equity and advanced inclusion training for all our leaders and Human Resources professionals.
- Commit to launching and expanding leading academies.
- Invested more than $5 million to historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and community college skilled trades programs. Since 2020, we supported:
- More than 20 programs across five HBCUs
- Research experiences for more than 90 students
- FOSSI scholarships provided to 30 students
- Project Lead the Way in 24 schools close to HBCUs where 2,300 students improved their academic performance
- Dow pledged $9 million to the OneTen coalition. This partnership is designed to remove systemic barriers while shifting the focus toward skills to improve job quality and economic mobility for Black talent and, ultimately, all talent, including our frontline workers. Through our partnership to date, Dow has hired 250 people and promoted 60 into OneTen qualifying jobs. We have collaborated across the OneTen ecosystem for best practice leveraging to open new pathways to recruit, promote and retain diverse talent.
- Completed the second cohort of our Advocacy-in-Action Sponsorship Program for the development and advancement of Black Dow leaders.
- To reflect our continued commitment to diversifying our talent pipeline, in 2022, Team Dow again hosted two signature internal recruiting events.
Diamond Symposium is intended for top U.S. ethnic minority undergraduate students from universities across the United States. In 2022, Dow hosted 58 students and extended 31 internship and full-time offers with 26 acceptances – increasing the offer acceptance rate from 2020 by 40%.
BEST Symposium is primarily intended to introduce Black, Hispanic and Native American U.S. doctoral and postdoctoral scientists to the wide range of rewarding careers in industrial research and the many opportunities at Dow. Thirty candidates attended the 2022 BEST Symposium, and Dow extended 20 full-time offers with 15 acceptances, the highest absolute number of BEST hires in a single season. - Implemented Advanced Inclusion Training containing racial equity topics for U.S.-based people leaders and HR partners.
- Established Dow Student Mentor Academies in Saginaw, Mich., and expanded in Texas and Louisiana, to mentor and train underserved student populations through 2026. More than 70 students increased their academic performance and emotional well-being and expanded their network of support. Learn more about the Dow Leadership Academy and the Dow Treasure Academy.
See the results of our ambition in action
2024 INtersections Progress Report: Discover how we continue to advance our ambition.