1-800 Contacts stands in solidarity with the Black community.

Last week, 1-800 Contacts and our family of brands participated in Blackout Tuesday to stand in solidarity with the Black community. The murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and countless others are abhorrent and completely unacceptable. We condemn police brutality, systemic racism, and injustice. Inequality and discrimination have no place in our country, and they have no place in our company.

We said we were going to look inward and evaluate how to use our resources and platform to champion equality and make a difference. We know there is so much we can do, and we want to report back on our initial steps forward.

We created a new position to drive diversity and inclusion.
While we have had diversity and inclusion efforts in place for some time, we’ve appointed our first leadership position with a focus exclusively on diversity and inclusion, both inside our company and in the communities where we live and work. This position reports directly to our Chief People Officer and will work hand-in-hand with diversity and inclusion committees in our Utah and North Carolina locations.

We’re donating an initial $100,000 to social and racial equality initiatives.
This is an initial pledge of an ongoing commitment. We are working with our associates across all levels of the company to determine which organizations we feel will have the greatest impact in the communities where we live and work.

We’re matching associate donations.
We also recognize many of our associates are passionate about the social and racial equality organizations they choose to donate to. We’re with them, matching their donations dollar for dollar.

We’re still listening.
We’ve received a ton of incredibly useful feedback and insight from our associates. We recognize we need more communication, not less, and we’re continuing the dialogue with our associates about how we can continue to contribute and improve.

These are our first steps. Together, we can chart a way forward that creates significant, lasting change towards a more inclusive company and country.