Congressional Black Caucus Releases Corporate Accountability Report on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Recently, Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Steven Horsford (NV-04) and members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) released its new corporate accountability report, “What Good Looks Like”: A Corporate Accountability Report on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion – a first-of-its-kind report to hold Fortune 500 companies — across all sectors — accountable to their diversity, equity, and inclusion commitments and racial equity investments post-George Floyd.

The new report commissioned by the CBC finds that the majority of Fortune 500 companies that responded to a survey by the CBC remain committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace despite right wing attacks in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn affirmative action in the landmark Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard in June 2023. Since the ruling, diversity initiatives have come under attack in corporate America, on college campuses in nearly 30 states, and in federal programs and venture capital firms for Black and minority businesses, despite research from institutions such as the Black Economic Alliance Foundation, which proves that 78 percent of Americans agree that corporate America should reflect the racial diversity of the American population, and McKinsey & Company showing that companies with racially diverse executive teams outperform their peers in profitability by 39%.

“The CBC commends corporate leaders who have overwhelmingly reaffirmed their company's commitment to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in their business practices and operations," said Horsford.  "We cannot allow a handful of right-wing agitators to bully corporations, and this report offers corporate America a guide to strengthening their diversity practices. This report is the initial step in a strategic effort to ensure the tools of economic opportunity are protected as we work to advance our Black wealth and economic prosperity agenda in the next Congress to close the Black-white wealth gap in America.”

Majority makes progress

The report analyzes corporate diversity practices based on data shared with the CBC aggregated by industry according to the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) and the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Of the Fortune 500 companies reflected in the GICS data, a majority have made progress to their commitments to workplace diversity and racial equity.

The report further outlines 12 Best Practices and innovative approaches (or “What Good Looks Like”), taken by companies across various industries to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in their workplaces and beyond, which the CBC hopes corporations will use as a standardized tool to strengthen, magnify, and expand diversity, equity, and inclusion practices across industries.

The report comes nearly 10 months after the CBC issued its corporate accountability letter in December 2023 in response to the ongoing attacks on diversity initiatives in the private sector. The letter urged corporate America, particularly those in the Fortune 500 who made public pledges to diversity and racial equity post-George Floyd, to stand firm in their commitments and to update congressional members on the progress of their commitments.