KIND Team,

Following our discussion yesterday, on behalf of Daniel, the KIND Leadership Team, and myself:

• We reaffirm that racism has no place in our world, and certainly no place within KIND.

• We reaffirm our foundational mission to foster empathy and kindness, including our work via Empatico and the KIND Foundation to ensure that we all recognize our shared humanity and foster a culture of authentic respect towards all.

• In our quest to be more empathetic and better informed in order to tackle racial prejudice and bias, we have commenced Community Conversations, including every member of our Leadership team, with our entire team, with small groups, and alone with Black team members within the KIND Family.

• We announce the creation of a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Action Team, led by Keysha Bell-Brown (Chair), Ozie Pela, and Victoria Chatman-Galloway, in close partnership with Rebecca Bagin, our head of HR, and myself. We will create a concrete DEI charter and plan that is unique to KIND. We will be seeking team members to join us and will leverage the insights and ideas from our Community Conversations. At a minimum, as part of our plan:

• Anti-Bias Training will expand and become mandatory for every single team member on an annual basis; additional training, resources, and professional development will be provided.

• We will work to consciously expand and diversify our recruitment sources, such as Historically Black Colleges & Universities, National Black MBA and other professional networks.

• As shared last week, we will also meet the moment more directly by investing $100,000 in organizations that focus on addressing systemic racism from a variety of lenses through 2:1 donation matching and direct donations. The organizations include NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Equal Justice Initiative, UNCF, Harlem Grown, and Black Health Alliance. As Daniel alluded, we may add additional organizations to this list. Otherwise, all donations to any other non-profit organization will be matched 1:1.

Eradicating conscious and unconscious discrimination is not a problem we can address alone. We must all be committed to doing the work, as individuals and as an organization. It will not be easy and it will not always be comfortable. This is the point. Change doesn’t come when we feel comfortable.

Thank you,
Mike Barkley
Chief Executive Officer