Facebook announced Thursday it is committing an additional $200 million to support Black-owned businesses and organizations.
The company says the funding comes as part of a $1.1 billion investment plan in Black and diverse suppliers and communities in the U.S.
In a statement, the company says "We're setting a goal to spend at least $1 billion with diverse suppliers next year and every year thereafter. As part of this, we'll spend at least $100 million annually with Black-owned suppliers, from facilities to construction to marketing agencies and more."
The company says it also plans to provide free training in digital skills to "1 million members of the Black community and 1 million members of the Latinx community," in the U.S. over the next 3 years. In addition, the company says it is giving 100,000 scholarships to Black students working toward digital skills certification.
The announcements come as the company faces backlash from the NAACP and others who say Facebook has not done enough to reduce hate speech on its platform.
