FOR BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Ownership - They act as stewards of the company’s culture by holding themselves and others accountable to the values and principles essential to Amazon’s success.

Community- They are a conduit for Amazon into the Black community and work to facilitate relationships between Amazon and key strategic partners focused on racial diversity in tech and the Black community overall.

Throughout the year, they look for ways to celebrate our diversity, provide support and growth for our associates, and make an impact in our community. Some events they have hosted in addition to supporting 100 Black Men:

•Professional Development Office Hours (Resume Writing, Interview Skills, LinkedIn Support, Career Growth options within Amazon)

•Volunteering at the Greater Cleveland Food Bank

•Financial Literacy Events

•Building Hygiene Kits for Walls of Loves

•Beatification Day at Ronald McDonald House

•Guest Speakers – Ron Brewer, Director of Player Engagement for the Cleveland Browns

•Support local park and beach clean-ups in the city of Euclid.

CLE3 celebrated three years of delivering smiles on 9/08/22 with an inaugural all-Affinity

Group 5K. Each of our 8 Affinity Groups picked a different local charity to disperse a CLE3 total site donation of $7500. The associates wear each given two tickets to vote on which charity they would like to support, with the winner getting the grand prize amount of $3,00.00. The Black Employee Network (BEN) looked around the community for sustainable impact when choosing a charity. They landed on 100 Black Men of Cleveland Inc. because it all starts with our youth. “The 100 Black Men of Greater Cleveland Chapter provides various educational, informative, and uplifting programs for the whole family. Their programs teach the necessary leadership and development skills to assist their mentees and their families in realizing and maximize their full potential. Standing on the pillars of Mentorship, Education, Health & Wellness, and Economic Empowerment, we unanimously decided to support them in our charity. Our associates also felt passionate about their mission; they were the most-voted charity and won the grand prize. We celebrated our winners and completed our 5k event on our anniversary weekend.

We look forward to celebrating our grand prize winner in person on 2/8 when we distribute their check for $3,000,” said Shian J. Harper, Sr. Human Resources Business Partner for Amazon.

Affinity groups are essential in building internal networks for creating a community, advising Amazon business units, leading service projects, and reaching out to communities where Amazonians live and work. Amazon’s Black Employee Network’s (BEN) mission is to recruit, retain, and empower Black employees. BEN connects members with mentors and provides career and personal development workshops. BEN also engages with the local and regional chapters of the National Society of Black Engineers, leads recruiting initiatives with Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and partners with other organizations. In 2018, two members of the BEN leadership team raised a business idea, which then became their full-time jobs. They created a team that launched the black haircare store—Textures & Hues—on Amazon. The concept came out of BEN meetings and led to a plan approved by leadership, new roles for the two BEN leaders, and creating of a team to support the work.

“I would like to thank BEN for this presentation; this will help our ongoing commitment to improve and implement our programmatic initiatives continuously is what drives us. Helping shape our mentees realize their potential by showing them how to be successful and significant, stressing the importance of obtaining and applying education, and providing them the tools that empower them for self-sufficiency, cultivated civic, and business leadership,” said Gregory Lockhart, Vice-Chairman of 100 Black Men of Greater Cleveland, Inc.

Amazon’s 2023 Black History Month theme, “Black is …”, commemorates different aspects of Black culture, from extraordinary achievements to impressive contributions by the Black community, which are remarkable and worthy of celebration. In February, Amazon celebrated the depth and diversity of the Black community by amplifying employees and their voices and highlighting their impressive accomplishments.

Amazon does more than deliver packages to your house; they hold themselves and each other accountable for demonstrating Leadership Principles through their actions every day. Our

Leadership Principles describe how Amazon does business, how leaders lead, and how they keep the customer at the center of decisions. Their unique Amazon culture, characterized by Leadership Principles, helps them relentlessly pursue our mission of being Earth’s most customer-centric company, best employer, and safest place to work.

The 100 Black Men of Greater Cleveland, Inc. feels committing ourselves to personify the type of people our children will look up to and emulate; we embrace the immense responsibility we have to our mentees and our communities. We provide these children another choice by being around like-minded individuals with similar aspirations and goals.

As we have grown The Network of 100 Black Men of America, Inc., more companies and programs have been formed to assist in delivering the education and empowerment needed to change the course of these children’s lives. This is done through the 100’s Four For The Future focus areas; Mentoring, Education, Health & Wellness, and Economic Empowerment.

The 100 Black Men of Greater Cleveland was able to share with BEN about the organization and about partnering with the mentees. Letting them know our catchphrase, “What They See Is What They’ll Be®” is more than a motto. It is a source of motivation for all members of our 100 Black Men chapter network. Additionally, our motto reminds us that we must consistently commit to personifying the type of people our children will look up to and emulate. We fully embrace our immense responsibility for our mentees and communities.