By Ashleigh Fields
AFRO Assistant Editor
afields@afro.com
C-suite executives, students and leaders from around the country gathered at the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture on Feb. 22 to celebrate the fifth anniversary of JPMorgan Chase’s Advancing Black Pathways program. The initiative was created in 2019, sparking corporate efforts to address racial economic injustices.
“For far too long Black communities have faced profound challenges and inequality due to systemic racial barriers. At JPMorgan Chase, we recognize our responsibility as one of the world’s largest banks to address these disparities and are harnessing our expertise in business, policy, data and philanthropy to empower Black communities around the world,” Byna Elliott, head of Advancing Black Pathways shared.
The Feb. 22 event was widely attended by prominent Black leaders such as former Atlanta Mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms (D), former Baltimore City Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (D) and current Mayor Brandon Scott (D). Both cities have predominantly Black populations and received various investments from the bank in hopes of spearheading more racial equity.
Credit: Eli Turner
JPMorgan Chase recently announced a new virtual call center in Baltimore that would create additional jobs. The company also expanded its Atlanta office in Buckhead by 40,000 square feet, committing to hiring 500 employees by the end of 2025.
“We aren’t just in the business of moving money around but uplifting people and their dreams and hopes,” mentioned Thelma Ferguson, Vice Chair for JPMorgan Chase Commercial Banking. “When we first started this program in 2019 it was our goal to strengthen the economic foundation of the Black community and since then something great has materialized.”
To date, JPMorgan Chase has pledged $30 billion in investments by 2025 to support their endeavors to break down systemic barriers for minority communities. A total of $30 million will be dedicated to supporting the success of students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) across the country. Local scholars at various HBCUs were in attendance to include Elliott’s son and Morgan State University students in addition to collegiate chapters of Black Girls Vote.
The organization invited the Howard University Gospel Choir to perform a rendition of the Black National Anthem and the gospel song Hold On (Change Is Comin’) paying homage to Black History Month with this historic celebration held in the Robert Frederick Smith Family Pavilion.
Currently, JPMorgan Chase reigns as the first and only financial institution to partner with all 9 members of the National Pan-Hellenic Council.
“All of the Divine 9 collectively believe in upward financial mobility being the real answer to how we move our collegiate members into opportunities to create a lifestyle that they dream of and desire. Advancing Black Pathways gives them the technical skills, the career capacity and shows them mirror images of who they can become,” said Dr. Stacie NC Grant, international president of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority. “This is a powerful program and I love the leadership from the top down, from the C-Suite to ranking followers. Everybody has an opportunity to win and you can’t be what you don’t see. Tonight, we saw an example; celebrating a company that is invested in the success of Black and Brown people.”
Other National Pan-Hellenic Council presidents were in attendance and openly shared the benefits of working in collaboration with the cutting edge program. Last year, the company launched the Black Future Leaders program in South America to help individuals develop professional skills and is currently providing two year English course technology training to over 150 students in Brazil free of charge.
“We are a proud partner of JPMorgan Chase through their Advancing Black Pathways Program. It’s exciting to celebrate five years and exhilarating to work with them on a day to day basis to serve our community,” expressed Elsie Cooke-Holmes, president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. “This is a great milestone, we definitely have a lot to build upon but we are excited to continue partnering with them as they embark on the next five years of this great program.”
These ventures started just two years after the company reached a $53 million settlement with the Justice Department due to violations of the Fair Housing Act between 2006 and 2009. During those years, the bank’s wholesale lending brokers charged minority borrowers more than White borrowers of similar financial means.
“If we turned someone down inappropriately that’s terrible, if you’re saying we did it because they’re Black I don’t know if that’s accurate but anyone who has something to say about that should send us their stuff and if they deserve a loan they should get a loan,” JPMorgan Chase’s CEO Jamie Dimon told the AFRO.
On stage at the Feb. 22 event, Dimon vowed to evolve efforts towards equity on a national and global front for minority communities throughout the world.
“There are issues like this for the Black community in Brazil, for minorities in India and we try to help them all,” Dimon mentioned to the audience after announcing that he sold $150 million worth of the bank’s stock for the first time since 2005 later that evening.
The sell comes at the helm of a larger plan to trade 1 million of the 8.6 million shares owned by Dimon and his family as revealed in an SEC filing. However, JPMorgan has assured that the sale is not related to leadership succession.
Dimon concluded by sharing, “Anything that works we’re going to double down on and if it doesn’t work we will change it; I’m not afraid of that either.”
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