Skip to main content

Southwest Airlines Community

Building Resilience and Advancing Black Communities

lauranieto
Employee
Employee

For more than two decades, Southwest’s Community Outreach efforts have centered on developing and nurturing authentic relationships around our network with organizations committed to building resilient communities. We believe in championing causes that matter most and ensure our investments mirror the diverse communities we serve. With the increased dialogue around racial injustice, we have been able to lean on long-standing relationships we have with several organizations to help us as we listen, learn, and act. As Gary shared last week, “We stand alongside our Black Employees, Customers, and communities whose voices will no longer be silenced. There is plenty of work to be done, but we are committed to doing our part to drive change.”

 

 

Southwest is donating $500,000 through the Southwest Airlines Foundation (a corporate-advised fund within the Silicon Valley Community Foundation) to the National Urban League and 100 Black Men of America. This donation is above our continued local investments and will help advance the mission of these organizations at this critical moment in our country. It is being made from a protected fund, set aside from our normal operating expenses, for the sole purpose of allowing Southwest to make charitable contributions around our system.

 

We’ve been proud to support the National Urban League and 100 Black Men of America in their efforts to promote education, mentorship, and leadership development as they lift up Black communities all across the country. Our funds will be used to support long-term, sustainable change through national strategies and local initiatives centered on their impactful programs. Both organizations conduct crucial work that help create a catalyst for change and encourage Black men and women to realize their highest potential.

 

We invite our Employees and Customers to join us in supporting these organizations by visiting southwest.com/liftingcommunities and sharing this link with friends and family.

 

“The 100 is grateful for its corporate partnerships with those who stand with us in support of social justice,” said John E Armstrong, Chief Executive Officer of 100 Black Men of America. “Together, we can progress toward racial equality, economic equity, social justice, healthcare parity, and human dignity in the communities we serve.”

 

100BMOA1.jpg

 

“As we move forward to create a more equitable economy that expands opportunities for all, the National Urban League is more grateful than ever for our partnership with Southwest,” National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial said. “Southwest understands that strength lies in diversity and access to economic opportunity builds stronger and more vibrant communities.”

 

GBUL.Southwest.jpeg

 

For nearly 50 years, Southwest has lived by a culture of love and followed the Golden Rule. While these guiding principles are not new to us, we’re using current events as an opportunity to look at them through a fresh lens. There’s work to be done, but we know, together, we will continue to spread inclusion, hope, love, and kindness across the communities we serve.

 

No matter what comes our way, we will continue to look out for one another because community is more than a place, it’s at the heart of what brings us together.

1 Comment