| |  | | | First Things First | | June 10, 2020 | By Jess Zafarris |
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| 600 Black Advertising Professionals Demand Meaningful Action From Leadership in Open Letter | |
 | | More than 600 Black employees from nearly every major agency in the U.S. are signatories an open letter requesting urgent and meaningful action from leadership at those agencies. The letter provides 12 steps that leaders can take immediately to make the industry more equitable—measures that go beyond words and one-off symbolic actions. The initiative was spearheaded by Nathan Young of Minneapolis-based agency Periscope and Bennett D. Bennett of creative consultancy Aerialist. "Now that we have their attention," Young said, "we’re going to make it clear, as a collective, the exact steps that we want agencies to take to remedy the systemic racism that exists in our industry." Those steps include making "a specific, measurable, and public commitment to improve Black representation," especially in leadership roles; annually reporting on workplace diversity; extending outreach for staff, residents and interns to more diverse institutions and those who took non-traditional paths; and creating panels and committees to address agency policies and prevent the publication of culturally insensitive work. Discover more: Read the full list of provisions here, and read more from Young and Bennett on how the initiative came together. - Related: Bianca Reed of Rain the Growth Agency further delved into the subject of fueling diversity in the industry, especially in the future: "Start with a conversation," she writes. "Make time on your calendar, make yourself available on LinkedIn and give yourself a tangible goal to have conversations with people of color who are trying to break into your industry."
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