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Tech Compact for Social Justice

MassTLC has been benchmarking and reporting on the demographic make-up of the Massachusetts tech sector, specifically focusing on race, ethnicity, and gender, since 2015. The Council created a board-level Executive Diversity and Inclusion Steering Committee (EDISC) in 2018 to address the lack of progress being made toward the Council’s mission of developing a more inclusive tech ecosystem.

See MassTLC’s Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives

Since the death of George Floyd, our EDISC has been meeting weekly to listen, hold difficult conversations, and thoughtfully consider options for how the industry can come together to create meaningful change and demonstrate leadership in diversity, inclusion and social justice.

From day one, the EDISC felt it was important that we not simply release a statement or letter of support, but rather come together as a community and commit to meaningful change. We recognize that Boston and the tech industry have not done enough to support and encourage inclusion of black, Latinx and Indigenous people, and, by joining the Tech Compact for Social Justice, we commit to making the Massachusetts tech industry more welcoming and inclusive.

In Massachusetts, only 5% of tech occupation workers are Black or African American, and 7% are Hispanic or Latino.
MassTLC’s State of Tech Economy Report, 2019

 

The tech workforce is predominantly white and male. Without change, it will take generations for Blacks and Latinos to be broadly represented in the tech workforce.

The Boston Globe, November 13, 2017 

We invite companies to join the Tech Compact for Social Justice by committing to make change in at least three of the areas listed below.

  • We commit to introducing or expanding educational programs/opportunities for diversity, inclusion, racial inequality, unconscious bias, managing diverse teams, and/or creating a judgement-free culture.
  • We commit to increasing financial contributions to existing organizations/ initiatives that support racial diversity, inclusion, economic opportunities, and/or social justice.
  • We commit to greater racial diversity in hiring, leadership development, and/or board composition.
  • We commit to providing increased resources to support employee learning and participation in activities related to social justice, anti-discrimination, and/or volunteerism.
  • We commit to annual self reporting of aggregate demographic data by June 2022.
  • We Commit to annual self reporting of aggregate and/or group level racially diverse hiring, leadership development, and/or promotion data by June 2022.
  • We commit to reviewing, updating, and leveraging company products and communications platform to increase support for communities of color.
  • We commit to advocating for public policies and/or lead with corporate policies that support economic opportunities for people of color.
  • We commit to greater racial diversity in talent pipeline development programs (support for K-12, internships, etc.).
  • We commit to annual self reporting on racial diversity initiatives in purchasing and procurement starting no later than June 2022.
  • We commit to annual self reporting of aggregate pay parity data by June 2022.
  • We commit to requiring companies on whose boards we sit to report on racially diverse hiring, leadership development, and promotion as well as include racial diversity metrics in evaluation of the CEO.

MassTLC’s Work on Social Justice is Underwritten by:

The following companies have made the commitment to join the Tech Compact for Social Justice: