Facebook supports the Black community during Black History Month as people make their voices heard, raise awareness and inspire change through Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger. Facebook also funds black enterprises with $200 million in June 2020 and invests about $1.1 billion in black and diverse suppliers and communities in the US.
Black history is not just a month. It is written every day. Black creators and community leaders are making their mark on the world and using our apps to share their stories — from pushing culture forward on Instagram to turning Facebook movements into lasting legacies.
In turn, Facebook has been using its platforms to elevate Black voices and businesses. This month, in particular, we’re spotlighting content from the Black community and the diversity of experiences, interests, and definitions of “Blackness.”
We’re starting by launching “Written By,” a docuseries celebrating the powerful movements happening across our apps. Throughout the month, we’ll feature stories by award-winning director and cinematographer Bradford Young.
“We The Culture” will also be officially launched by Facebook, an artistic group inspired and created by Black creators committed to promoting Black culture, which will be started by a passionate team of Black Facebook employees.
“We The Culture” is aiming to collaborate with black creators to develop a community and motivate them through Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger to construct persuasive and effective networks. Facebook has already spent $25 million over the years to fund Black content collaborations, and Facebook will continue to elevate Black public figures and creators in the film, television, fitness, sports, broadcasting, publishing, and music industries.
Facebook Watch will introduce a new original four-episode miniseries celebrating Black music excellence in the next month. Each episode of “Forward: The Future of Black Music” will feature a music icon shining the light on a newcomer they believe to be the future. Influenced by the classic TV series “Iconoclasts,” viewers will be a fly-on-the-wall for a musical experience with a legend and their successor. The series will also be viewable on Messenger’s Watch Together.
The “Lift Black Voices” hub will feature an expansive view of the Black diaspora on the Facebook app, honoring and celebrating the Black communities’ past, present, and future. Throughout the month, the content will be refreshed and will include topics such as diaspora-wide Black culture, Black love, and Black creatives, and the modern vanguard.
“Black Makes A Way” will also be launched on the Facebook app to highlight the diversity within the Black experience.” We also collaborated with Theresa Tha Songbird to produce a visual cypher of her poem “You So Black” and will spotlight Facebook Group members who lend their voices in the world to further diversity, inclusivity, and excellence.
On Instagram, we’ll be celebrating Black innovation with #ShareBlackStories, a multi-channel, call-to-action designed to support and inspire our Black community in the US. We’re publishing new creative tools in the Instagram Camera and stories visible on @instagram, @creators, @design, @shop, and @instagramforbusiness throughout February and hosting workshops and other virtual community-focused moments for Black creators.
To encourage diversity on the Facebook Gaming platform, we have allocated $10 million over two years to fund the Black Gaming Creator Program, a path for Black gaming creators to apply for partnership status and exclusive benefits including mentorship and training on the platform.
During the pandemic, black-owned corporations had to face immense obstacles. Facebook pledged an additional $200 million to black-owned firms, developers, and non-profits in June 2020. Since then, Facebook has awarded grants and launched additional services and programming to over 10,000 black-owned companies in the US.
For Black History Month, Facebook Elevate is offering a slate of inspirational and educational programming, themed “Generation Black.” This is part of a three-year effort to reach 1 million Black and 1 million Latinx and Hispanic members of the community with training in digital skills and disburse 100,000 scholarships to Black learners.
Last year, we donated $10 million to 36 US nonprofit organizations — nominated by Facebook employees and selected with guidance from expert advisors — that are working to address the systemic barriers to race equity in this country. We supported organizations including All Star Code, Management Leadership for Tomorrow, and the Shriver Center on Poverty Law.
We also provided grants and developed partnerships with community foundations across the US that will distribute $20 million to at least 400 local nonprofits serving Black communities, with a preference for Black-led organizations. We also partnered with the Association for Black Foundation Executives to provide racial equity training for community foundation staff, leadership, and trustees.
Through Facebook’s Supplier Diversity program, we have spent more than $1.1 billion with diverse-owned US businesses over the past four years. Last year we launched the Facebook Receivables Financing Program to further support US-based diverse suppliers during the pandemic. The program provides immediate cash for work that suppliers have done and pay they’re owed by other, non-Facebook, companies.
