Fighting Systemic Racism: Our Progress To Date

Expanding and elevating the CROWN Coalition

We remain committed to raising awareness of The CROWN Act. So far, 12 states have signed the CROWN Act, and bills inspired by the CROWN Act, into law (California, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Colorado, Washington, Connecticut, Delaware, New Mexico, Nebraska, Nevada). The CROWN Act has also been passed in 24 local municipalities. A federal bill was reintroduced in March 2021 in the U.S. House of Representatives (H.R. 2116) by Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) and in the U.S. Senate (S 888) by Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ). We have also shared the Dove CROWN Research Study and provided testimony in support of legislation in hearings across the US. Join us to help pass the CROWN in all 50 states – sign the petition here. 

National CROWN Day

In 2020, we established National CROWN Day (July 3rd) as an annual celebration of the inaugural CROWN Act signing. We commemorate this anniversary with activities to engage, uplift, and celebrate the Black community, while sounding a national call to action to support state and federal legislation. 

Funding and programs to empower the next generation

We are also expanding our partnerships to continue our work to empower Black youth by:

• Investing in educational equity by inspiring educators and administrators to take action to end race-based discrimination
• Celebrating and increasing the proliferation of authentic and diverse portrayals of Black girls and their beauty
• Addressing the impact of bias and perceptions by others

We have partnered with organizations doing critical work within the Black community to dismantle barriers to opportunity. Some of our partners include:

• Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
• Jack and Jill of America Inc.
• Save A Girl, Save A World
• EarthGirl

The EarthGirl "Lifting As We Rise Program" connected Black women in positions of power and influence to the next generation of leaders during a one-day virtual summit.

Boosting hair confidence in young people

In our ongoing commitment to Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair and build self-esteem and confidence in the next generation, we have expanded the Dove Self-Esteem Project with two new tools that directly address race and appearance biases. 

My Hair, My CROWN is a new evidence-based tool for educators, parents and mentors to boost hair confidence in kids with coils, curls, waves and protective styles – while also building allyship in others.

We are also expanding our Confident Me curriculum for educators to directly address appearance biases. We are expanding the current evidence-based, five-lesson tool to include a sixth lesson, which will incorporate more in-depth topics on appearance biases related to race, skin tone, body size and ability, so that educators can confidently navigate questions in the classroom and beyond. The lesson can be used on its own or part of the wider workshop over time. Download Confident Me now and keep an eye out for the new appearance bias lesson coming soon. 

Shattering stereotypes and amplifying Black voices

We have always championed diverse creators and continue to do so across our social channels. From our Dove partners to business owners and podcasters that are making a difference. Black content creators make up 38% of the Dove US influencer community and 41% of the US influencer budget goes towards Black content creators. 

The Getty Images #ShowUs Grant was launched in 2020 to provide financial and mentoring support to women and non-binary commercial photographers and videographers from around the world who are using their talents to create inclusive visual stories that authentically represent their community. The most recent grant awarded two $5,000 sums to emerging artists who were asked to submit against the brief of creating inclusive visual stories on the theme ‘Women’s Relationships’. The winners were: 

• LA media producer, filmmaker and writer, Stephanie Bell,who inspires, empowers, and uplifts women through creative concepts and storytelling. Stephanie’s winning project focuses on documenting the importance of Black-owned beauty supply stores and salons in Los Angeles
• London-based Nigerian documentary photographer Nwando Ebeledike, who is inspired by otherness/alternative realities and is finding various diverse ways of life and merging these realities to get a better understanding of life. Nwando’s winning project focuses on telling the stories of queerness in Nigeria, where it can be taboo and punishable by law

Pull up for change: Our commitment to Dove diversity

To reinforce our dedication to diversity, equity and inclusion and our commitment to change, we have partnered with ICRW Advisors (International Center For Research on Women) to develop an interactive training on appearance-based bias to address how employees can recognize and counter bias in themselves and in others. The “Mitigating Appearance-Based Bias in the Workplace” workshop provides participants with a foundational understanding of this bias and its manifestations in the workplace. Through interactive role-play activities and carefully crafted scenario-based examples, participants practice skills and raise awareness of this type of workplace discrimination. This tool is currently in the being piloted and will be available later this year on Dove.com.

We are committed to Creating a Respectful and Open World with NO RACISM. Please join us.