Connecting underrepresented-owned businesses to capital and support As part of our ESG strategy to Promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, we have a goal to provide at least 250,000 underrepresented-owned small- and medium-sized US businesses access to capital and financial education from late 2020 through 2024. We’re progressing toward this goal by delivering educational resources, expanded access to credit and loans, grants, marketing support, and more. For nine years, we’ve partnered with Women Impacting Public Policy and the US Small Business Administration to help boost the prospects of women entrepreneurs to gain government contracts. Our ChallengeHER program offers free training webinars, workshops, mentoring, and direct access to government buyers and local partner resources. From 2013 through the end of 2021, this initiative has hosted 170 webinars and facilitated over 4,800 meetings between women-owned small businesses and government officials. In 2021, there were more than 2,300 total attendees for ChallengeHER webinars. We also hosted Contract Connections for the ninth year at the 2021 Business Class LIVE virtual event for small business owners, connecting many underrepresented-owned small business suppliers with large corporate and government buyers in one-on-one sessions. We continued to offer small business owners’ access to Business Class, a platform offering customized business education resources. We also maintained our support of Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (MWBEs) as part of our capital markets funding and share repurchase programs. In 2021, we engaged four MWBEs for underwriting and share repurchases, and through May of 2022, we engaged six such MWBEs. We have a goal to provide at least 250,000 underrepresented-owned small- and medium- sized US businesses access to capital and financial education from late 2020 through 2024. 2024 250K INTRODUCTION PROMOTING DE&I ADVANCING CLIMATE SOLUTIONS BUILDING FINANCIAL CONFIDENCE OUR ESG GOVERNANCE & OPERATING RESPONSIBLY SUPPORTING DATA OUR COMMITMENT TO ESG 34
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