Apple Donates Over $50 Million to Increase Diversity in the Tech Industry

MacRumors · Mar 10, 2015

Apple's annual shareholders meeting is currently underway at the company's headquarters in Cupertino, California, and one big item on the agenda, according to Apple's human resources chief Denise Young Smith, is a plan to partner with a few non-profit organizations on an effort to bring more women, minorities, and veterans into the tech industry (via Fortune).

The deal is said to be a multi-year effort worth $50 million, and to start off, Apple is partnering with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, a non-profit which focuses on supporting students enrolled in "historically black colleges and universities."

The two will work together in expanding the role of minorities in the field, with Apple planning to donate over $40 million to the organization.

"Historically, other organizations have provided scholarship dollars or focused on whatever area matters most to them," says Johnny Taylor, president and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. "What differentiates this partnership with Apple is that it hits on everything that we do--it is the most comprehensive program ever offered to an HBCU organization."

The company will partner with a separate, female-focused non-profit, the National Center for Women and Information Technology, to help with increasing the presence of women in the field. Apple will donate $10 million to the fund, with a four year plan to double recipients of the organization's scholarships and internship programs.

Tim Cook will allow Rev. Jesse Jackson a few moments to speak during the shareholder meeting taking place today, and USA Today met with Jackson beforehand. He noted that the start of a more diverse presence in the tech field, most notably in Silicon Valley, is just beginning.

"President Obama said in Selma (Ala.) this weekend 'the march is not yet over,'" Jackson is scheduled to say in a statement. "In Silicon Valley, the march for diversity and inclusion is just beginning. Several companies are implementing new diversity and inclusion strategies, most notably Intel's landmark $300 million diversity Initiative.

"Apple and this thriving Silicon Valley are solving the world's most challenging and complex problems. Diversity and Inclusion is a complex problem -- if we put our collective minds to it, we can solve it, too. (Apple CEO) Tim (Cook), with Apple and your creative leadership, sensitivity and commitment, we know it can be done."

Jackson has worked with Apple in these regards for over a year now, and has attended the shareholder meetings of other companies like Google, Hewlett-Packard, Facebook, Verizon and eBay, in a similar capacity to what he has planned today during Apple's meeting.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Apple Donates Over $50 Million to Increase Diversity in the Tech Industry

-LikesMac- · Mar 10, 2015

Great. Also, of course this is on PRSI.

Already anticipating some of the reactions on here.

boast · Mar 10, 2015

Theres lots of diversity in the tech industry.... Thanks to H1B visas.

guzhogi · Mar 10, 2015

In before the "That's nothing compared to how much they make in profits" comments. Just remember, not donating =/= not advertising that you donated. However, to be fair, why advertise this, and not everything else?

As far as diversity is concerned, I'd like to see people of all genders, religions, races, sexualities and whatever other characteristic, have the opportunity to learn tech skills and get into the field. However, I am against hiring anyone based on anything other than their merits.

Four oF NINE · Mar 10, 2015

Diversity huh.. I'd argue that anyone hired increases diversity. Doing it on the basis of arbitrary physical considerations seems moot to me.

yaxomoxay · Mar 10, 2015

I don't get this, but it's their money.

-LikesMac- · Mar 10, 2015

guzhogi said:
However, I am against hiring anyone based on anything other than their merits.

My thoughts exactly.

nuckinfutz · Mar 10, 2015

Well there clearly need to be an effort to bring in a wider dynamic range of people.

Just reading the nonsense that was Gamergate lets me know I don't want any part of the Tech version of an "Old Boys club"

jkcerda · Mar 10, 2015

guzhogi said:
In before the "That's nothing compared to how much they make in profits" comments. Just remember, not donating =/= not advertising that you donated. However, to be fair, why advertise this, and not everything else?

As far as diversity is concerned, I'd like to see people of all genders, religions, races, sexualities and whatever other characteristic, have the opportunity to learn tech skills and get into the field. However, I am against hiring anyone based on anything other than their merits.

the way it should be.

tgwaste · Mar 10, 2015

Great. Now if apple could only give some of its enormous wealth back to the customers who gave it to them that would be also great.

Let's start with free AppleCare+ as a standard.

Plutonius · Mar 10, 2015

The best way Apple can increase diversity is to fund education. I'm sure when people get their jobs, they want to know they were hired because of their merits rather than a quota.

mozumder · Mar 10, 2015

jkcerda said:
the way it should be.

White people are currently enjoying the remnant benefits of actual SLAVE labor that built the US economy. People complain about China's "slave" labor, but black people in America were actual SLAVES.

Black people were systematically oppressed and now they're at an economic disadvantage.

It is time to forcibly fix that imbalance.

The correct action would be to pay reparation to families of slaves. That means the 20 acres and a mule that were promised to slaves after the emancipation, but were taken away, should be paid with interest.

That'll do a lot to repair their economic disparity.

SarcasticJoe · Mar 10, 2015

I'm probably going to get attacked by people representing the far left for this as usual, but I personally don't like to see favoritism no matter who it favors. My idea of equality is to offer everyone equal opportunities and then hire people based on their skills, motivation, experience, past achievements and teamwork skills, not their gender, sexual orientation or their ethnic background.

I don't mind working with minorities or women, I have worked with both and never had an issue because of gender or ethnicity, but diversity for the sake of diversity is as dumb as separation based on gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation. The way you should hire people is by getting the best people you can find no matter what gender, age, race or sexual orientation they represent. Plenty of people have tried convincing me that diverse groups provide the best results, but all the evidence I've been presented has been anecdotal at best.

At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, the feeling I get from the modern successors of the feminist and civil rights movements is that they've basically progressed to a point where it's no longer about getting equal opportunity, that was (for the most part) achieved decades ago, but how much MORE can they get in the name of equal opportunity.

2457282 · Mar 10, 2015

boast said:
Theres lots of diversity in the tech industry.... Thanks to H1B visas.

This is the problem. The article talks about minorities (which really means blacks) and women. There is also the whole H1b situation. And we latino always left out of the party.

KdParker · Mar 10, 2015

jkcerda said:
the way it should be.

Correct. Now how many developers do you know that shouldn't have a job because they do not know wtf they are doing?

They sure didn't get the job on merit.

----------

Plutonius said:
The best way Apple can increase diversity is to fund education. I'm sure when people get their jobs, they want to know they were hired because of their merits rather than a quota.

who said anything about a quota?

ThisIsNotMe · Mar 10, 2015

Funny how Tim Cook claims to be about equality and then does something bigoted like this.

rdowns · Mar 10, 2015

ThisIsNotMe said:
Funny how Tim Cook claims to be about equality and then does something bigoted like this.

How is this bigoted?

AlecZ · Mar 10, 2015

mozumder said:
White people are currently enjoying the remnant benefits of actual SLAVE labor that built the US economy. People complain about China's "slave" labor, but black people in America were actual SLAVES.

Black people were systematically oppressed and now they're at an economic disadvantage.

It is time to forcibly fix that imbalance.

The correct action would be to pay reparation to families of slaves. That means the 20 acres and a mule that were promised to slaves after the emancipation, but were taken away, should be paid with interest.

That'll do a lot to repair their economic disparity.

There are plenty of white people whose families were not in the United States until well after slavery was abolished, so there can't be any economic benefits of slavery for them to enjoy. The aristocrats who benefited from slavery are most likely in the minority, actually.

And I don't see how any black person born in the U.S. and a descendant of slaves is disadvantaged compared to non-black immigrants who come here with nothing and can hardly speak English (whose ancestors may have been enslaved in foreign countries too). I would never use "my family was enslaved many generations ago" as an excuse for anything.

AdonisSMU · Mar 10, 2015

I get wanting to help minorities out. However, why get Al Sharpton. Maybe get some other people involved? Surely there has to be a more creative solution than dialing up Al Sharpton.

budselectjr · Mar 10, 2015

mozumder said:
White people are currently enjoying the remnant benefits of actual SLAVE labor that built the US economy. People complain about China's "slave" labor, but black people in America were actual SLAVES.

Black people were systematically oppressed and now they're at an economic disadvantage.

It is time to forcibly fix that imbalance.

The correct action would be to pay reparation to families of slaves. That means the 20 acres and a mule that were promised to slaves after the emancipation, but were taken away, should be paid with interest.

That'll do a lot to repair their economic disparity.

Haha. Thanks for the laugh.

ThisIsNotMe · Mar 10, 2015

rdowns said:
How is this bigoted?

Because it is pushing the notion that employment decisions should not be made on the content of ones character rather the color of ones skin (or gender).

69Mustang · Mar 10, 2015

SarcasticJoe said:
...At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, the feeling I get from the modern successors of the feminist and civil rights movements is that they've basically progressed to a point where it's no longer about getting equal opportunity, that was (for the most part) achieved decades ago, but how much MORE can they get in the name of equal opportunity.

I guess it depends on perspective, but I disagree about equality being achieved decades ago. The laws have been in place for decades, but acceptance of those laws is still far from universal. I've heard people say, in this forum as well, hires should be based on merit only. I agree with that 100%. The problem is, for multiple generations those hires weren't based on merit only. They were based on the merit of the best white male candidate. There is a difference. What you have now, by and large, are those same white male candidates making the hiring decisions. With absence of malice, people like people, like them. Companies should be able to hire whomever they want, but if all those hires are "like me" hires then everything remains the same.

When it's actually completely merit based you still have to deal with the hundreds of years of biased employment decisions. How do you bring parity when the deck has been stacked so high for so long?

What's the answer? Hell, I don't know. But I have a pretty good idea that if no light is shined on the issue things will go back to the way they used to be.

Agree or not, but equal opportunity was not achieved decades ago; not even for the most part.

sputnikv · Mar 10, 2015

why can't people just hire the best qualified for the job? why is race or sex even considered? why additionally must we feel like we need to hire certain people simply to increase diversity? doesn't that do a disservice to those that would otherwise be more qualified that cannot change their ethnic background and lose out as a result? i'm opposed to the whole idea of race or sex being qualifiers in a job application. no one should have an advantage or disadvantage due to who they are

temna · Mar 10, 2015

mozumder said:
White people are currently enjoying the remnant benefits of actual SLAVE labor that built the US economy. People complain about China's "slave" labor, but black people in America were actual SLAVES.

Black people were systematically oppressed and now they're at an economic disadvantage.

It is time to forcibly fix that imbalance.

The correct action would be to pay reparation to families of slaves. That means the 20 acres and a mule that were promised to slaves after the emancipation, but were taken away, should be paid with interest.

That'll do a lot to repair their economic disparity.

Wow, seriously wow. They are at an economic disadvantage of their own making. There is nothing stopping ANYONE from going to college and getting a good job. It's the same with any minority. But any means of forcing advantages to any minority, is just plain wrong. It's called Affirmative Action, and that has basically been ruled as illegal in pretty much every situation where it has been brought to court. Want to get past your perceived disadvantage? Work for it, don't wait for the handout.

Robert.Walter · Mar 10, 2015

For a moment I thought Apple was letting Al Sharpton speak, then I realized it was Jesse Jackson.

Apple Donates Over $50 Million to Increase Diversity in the Tech Industry

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