February is Black History Month in the United States, honoring the triumphs and struggles of African Americans throughout U.S. history. Splunk's Black Employees Achieve More (BEAMS) employee resource group is shining a light on two great organizations that are creating change in BIPOC communities by nurturing our next generation of leaders. Read on to learn more about these two great organizations!
We Need Diverse Books
We Need Diverse Books advocates for essential changes in the publishing industry to produce and promote literature that reflects and honors the lives of all young people. Their mission is to put more books featuring diverse characters into the hands of all readers. To reach this goal, they've created programs to celebrate diverse books, mentor diverse writers and illustrators, support diverse publishing professionals, and provide books to classrooms nationwide.
To date:
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They’ve donated more than 100,000 diverse books to schools and libraries across the nation.
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More than 70% of their Internship Grant recipients now work full-time in publishing
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Writers supported by the organization’s grants and mentorships have won the Newbery, Printz, Morris, Pura Belpré, and American Indian Youth Literature awards.
SGAP Leaders
Student Global Ambassador Program provides opportunities for motivated underserved students to develop leadership and critical skills needed for college and career readiness. Their mission is to empower underserved teens to become agents of change in their communities and beyond by thinking critically, applying STEM, and championing social justice.
To date:
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They’ve impacted 5,295 domestic students (ages 13-18)
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They’ve brought programming to 80 domestic schools and 10 international schools
