The, uh, less-than-universal acclaim for phase 1 of Starbucks' #Racetogether initiative (an attempt to stimulate in-store conversations with customers on the issue of race) has no doubt taken Starbucks aback. The Seattle-based coffee giant has, after all, been accustomed to receiving appreciation for its corporate social responsibility efforts: It's one of the only companies to achieve 100% on the Corporate Equality Index in 2015 according to the Human Rights Foundation, it’s rated one of the nation’s most ethical companies by Ethisphere, and it’s been selected as one of the most admired companies in the U.S. by Fortune every year from 2003 through 2015.
Nonetheless, Starbucks has been soldiering on with Phase 2, the in-store and in-paper dissemination of the paper/study guide on race in collaboration with USAToday.
And, as of today, Starbucks’ efforts are entering Phase 3, says Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks Coffee.
The next phase of the campaign includes, as Schultz laid out at this week’s shareholder’s meeting, a "commitment to hire 10,000 opportunity youth [young people who are both out of school and out of work] over the next three years, expanding our store footprint in urban communities across the country, and new partnerships to foster dialogue and empathy and help bridge the racial and ethnic divides within our society that have existed for so many years.”
Let’s look specifically at Schultz’s newly announced commitment to hire 10,000 disadvantaged young people in the next three years.
Howard Schultz signing "racetogether" on cup at the "Starbucks Inside Starbucks" (employee Starbucks... [+]
Schultz: “There are currently nearly 6 million disconnected young people [in the U.S.], 50% of whom are minorities. As one of the world’s leading youth employers [80 percent of Starbucks employees are part of the millennial cohort, born 1980-2000] we believe we can make the most impact through meaningful employment and the opportunity to finish a bachelor’s degree at Arizona State University with full tuition coverage through the Starbucks College Achievement Plan.”
In contrast to the raucous response that greeted Phase 1 of Racetogether, perhaps these new efforts by Starbucks, efforts that are as concerned with economic challenges as they are with race, can help take the dialogue somewhere that we can all agree on: That this is America, and regardless of your economic situation, the luck of where and to whom you were born, you deserve an opportunity. (In fact, isn’t that what Thos. Jefferson—with some useful kibitzing from Ben Franklin – wrote out as being “self evident”: that every single one of us [clarified within my lifetime to include people of color as well as whites] has the right to the pursuit of happiness? Maybe it’s just my interpretation but by “pursuit of happiness” I think those industrious and eloquent Founding Fathers meant more than hanging out, unemployed, with no visible prospects.)
Micah Solomon is a customer service consultant, customer experience speaker and bestselling business author, most recently of High-Tech, High-Touch Customer Service
