Our Commitment to Advancing Racial Equity and Equality

Dear Colleagues,

Over the past several weeks we’ve been listening and connecting more deeply than ever on the topics of inequality, racism and discrimination.  These injustices strike at the heart of not only basic human rights, but human decency.  These are deeply systemic issues that won’t change overnight and require a collective and concerted effort across the political, societal and economic spectrum.  As a purpose-driven company we have always considered our business efforts through the lens of how we can make a positive and lasting impact in our industries and our communities.  It’s with that lens that I have asked our Senior Leadership Team to develop a strategic response and framework to identify the areas where our company can make meaningful and lasting progress.

A first and essential step is leadership accountability.  I am personally committed to advancing equity and equality—these also happen to be key themes in my work with the Vatican’s Council for Inclusive Capitalism and as a Catalyst Champion.   I along with Darrell Ford, Randy Stone, Daryl Roberts and Alexa Dembek, will lead and sponsor our efforts to address the issues facing the Black community.  Rest assured, our commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) remains broad but this moment in history demands a specific and targeted response to the daily and persistent racial injustices that Black Americans endure.  

Addressing equity and equality also requires a sustained effort.  To that end, we are committing $10 million over the next 10 years to support these initiatives in two key focus areas.  The first is to advance economic opportunity encompassing education initiatives, talent development, mentoring and hiring practices that broaden and accelerate equity; the second is focused on achieving greater inclusivity, applying resources within our company and communities and partnering with organizations to address racism and eliminate bias and barriers to equality for Black and other minority people.

This step change in funding accompanies a step change in our approach to listening and engaging with our employees on these issues.  Many of you have already shared your ideas through email and on Yammer, and I encourage you to continue the dialog and bring forward your suggestions.  I want to thank the members of our Corporate Black Employees Network (CBEN) and all our Employee Resource Groups for their engagement; we will continue to ensure your voices are heard.   

In addition to executive sponsorship we are creating five teams who will be responsible for identifying and implementing key initiatives to make a difference inside our company and make an impact more broadly.  Each of the teams will include several members of CBEN.  As we develop our action plans, we’ll share more details on each work stream and funding decisions.

At DuPont, we have always been agents of change; our people and innovations have transformed the industries we serve and over the past several years we’ve reinvented our company.  Now more than ever, we have the opportunity and imperative to help drive change that brings about true racial equity and justice.

Ed Breen

DuPont Executive Chairman and CEO