SHAREHOLDERPROPOSALS while supporting Black equity in society.90 This program includes developing and implementing a rigorous plan to increase Black employee representation at every level of the organization. • BlackBusinessAccelerator.WelaunchedtheBlackBusinessAcceleratortohelpbuildsustainableequityandgrowthforBlack- ownedbusinesses. The $150 million initiative explicitly targets barriers to access, opportunity, and advancement created bysystemic racism across America and was created in partnership with our Black Employee Network and a coalition of strategicpartners,includingtheMinorityBusinessDevelopmentAgencyandtheU.S.BlackChambers,Inc.TheBlackBusiness Accelerator aims to drive economic equity for Black entrepreneurs, providing them with financial support, business education and mentorship, and marketing and promotion of their brands and products as third-party sellers in our store. 91 and sustainability report92 • Promoting Diversity and Inclusion in Our Workplace. Our diversity and inclusion website provide examples of the many proactive measures we have taken to promote gender and racial diversity and inclusion in our workforce, including among our leadership ranks. We are continuing to invest in our efforts to bring more women andemployeesfromunderrepresentedracial/ethnic groups into leadership positions at Amazon. We have launched Rise, a leadership development program for Black leaders across all businesses. We employ hundreds of professionals in diversity, equity, and inclusion roles who are devotedfull-timetopromotingdiversity,equity,andinclusiongoals,initiatives, andmechanisms.Wealsohaveteamsineverybusinessandinexecutiverecruitingdedicatedtoattracting and hiring diversetalent,andweparticipateineventsandpartnershipswithgroupslikeAnitaB.org,GEMConsortiumFellows,AfroTech, Lesbians Who Tech, and the American Indian Science and Engineering Society. We also ran a virtual summit, “Represent theFuture,” in August 2021 that centered on Black, Latinx, and Native American talent (students and professional), and we are investing in internal and external programs to assist diverse leaders to advance into more senior roles. Our13employee-ledAffinity Groups, which engage employees across hundreds of chapters around the world, further foster our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. These groups include Amazon People with Disabilities, Amazon WomeninEngineering,Asians@Amazon,theBlackEmployeeNetwork,BodyPositivePeers,Families@Amazon,Glamazon, Indigenous@Amazon, Latinos@Amazon, Mental Health and Well-Being, Warriors@Amazon, Women@Amazon, and the WomeninFinanceInitiative. We host annual and ongoing learning experiences with a diversity, equity, and inclusion focus, including our annual Conversations on Race and Ethnicity (CORE) conference. At CORE, our largest global internal conference, Amazonians examine the intersection of gender with race, sexual orientation, disability status, veteran status, andotherdimensionsofdiversity. This conference has included diversity-oriented talks from academics and external leaders on technology, entrepreneurship, entertainment, and leadership and includes Amazon-specific training programs focused on personal and team development. Our focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion has been independently recognized by the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index; the NAACP Equity, Inclusion, and Empowerment Index;theDisabilityEqualityIndex;andthe2019AmericanFoundationfortheBlindHelenKellerAchievementAward.More information about Amazon’s diversity and inclusion efforts and employee demographics is publicly available at https://www.aboutamazon.com/workplace/diversity-inclusion. • Advocating for Racial Justice in Our Communities. We have made clear through the statement of our policy positions that “[t]he inequitable treatment of Black people is unacceptable,” and “we stand in solidarity with our Black employees, customers, and partners, and are committed to helping build a country and a world where everyone can live with dignity andfree from fear.”93 We will continue to support regulation that eliminates the unjust targeting of people based on race, including the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, and policies that protect and expand voting rights and provide better health and educational outcomes for Black and Brown communities around the world. Additionally, AWS provides support and mentorship opportunities to the Memorial Foundation’s Social Justice Fellows Program, a free eight-week 94 programwhere50fellows,ages18to35,focusonadvocacy,communityorganizing,andpublicpolicy. • Assessing, Addressing, and Mitigating the Impact of Our Operations on Communities. We also regularly analyze the environmentalandsocialimpactsofourbusinessesandassesshowwecanpositivelycontributetothemanycommunities inwhichweoperateacrosstheUnitedStatesandtheworld.Wereportonmanyoftheseactivitiesthroughoursustainability 90 Seehttps://www.mltblackequityatwork.org/about-the-certification/. 91 Seehttps://www.aboutamazon.com/workplace/diversity-inclusion. 92 SeeAmazonSustainability 2020 Report: Further and Faster, Together, available at https://sustainability.aboutamazon.com/ pdfBuilderDownload?name=amazon-sustainability-2020-report. 93 Seehttps://www.aboutamazon.com/about-us/our-positions. 94 Seehttps://www.aboutamazon.com/news/aws/training-the-next-generation-of-social-justice-leaders. 78