DoorDash & NY Urban League Partner to Support Black New Yorkers

DoorDash & NY Urban League Partner to Support Black New Yorkers

Partnership will provide direct relief, resources for Black workforce, Black-owned businesses

New York, NY (November 12, 2020)—The New York Urban League (NYUL) and DoorDash today announced a partnership to provide direct relief to Black-owned businesses and restaurants through NYUL’s COVID-19 African American Family Relief Fund, support for NYUL’s workforce development programming and expanded access to low-barrier-to-entry earning opportunities like earning on the DoorDash platform through Dashing, and expanding support for Black-owned businesses. The partnership will build on NYUL’s 100-year history of civil rights work.

With an array of synergies between the organizations, NYUL & DoorDash are partnering on several engagement opportunities including three key initiatives:

Direct relief in the age of COVID: DoorDash will contribute to NYUL’s COVID-19 Family Fund to support black owned business, restaurants, and NYUL programming.
Workforce Development: DoorDash will partner with the New York Urban League to promote and support NYUL’s existing workforce development programming, counseling and referrals to help un- and underemployed individuals become job ready and take advantage of meaningful employment opportunities, as well as raising awareness among NYUL members of low-barrier-to-entry earning opportunities like Dashing through member education.
Expanding support for Black-owned businesses: NYUL will work with DoorDash to expand DoorDash’s Black-owned business program to NYUL members. In addition, DoorDash will work with NYUL to identify opportunities for DoorDash to support NYUL’s programming through providing gift cards or discounts for DoorDash orders. This will enable the NYUL to access free or discounted meals for Urban League events and programs.

Arva Rice, President and CEO of the New York Urban League said, “We are immensely grateful to DoorDash for their generous grant and partnership which will allow us to continue our work, ever more crucial during pandemic, which is disproportionately affecting the African American community.”

“We’re incredibly proud to join the New York Urban League and further our commitment to supporting Black communities and Black-owned businesses,” said David London, Head of U.S. East & Federal Government Relations at DoorDash. “From loan matching and direct financial relief, to elevating Back-owned businesses and entrepreneurs on our platform, to supporting state and local organizations, we remain dedicated to uplifting communities of color and look forward to partnering closely with the New York Urban League on this shared mission.”

Highlights of the New York Urban League’s Covid-19 Response Work

African American Family Relief Fund: NYUL’s Relief Fund for African American children and families provides direct cash grants of up to $1000 to assist families with rent, utilities and other bill payments during the pandemic.

Educational Town Halls: The New York Urban League has organized and hosted a series of Virtual Town Halls with local, state and federal officials, civil rights leaders and medical professionals, serving to provide information and to dispel myths and untruths about the coronavirus. Five such Town Halls have been held, including “The COLOR of COVID19” NYUL Virtual Town Hall on Health Disparities, Beyond the Classroom: Resources and Support for Virtual Learning and Support for Small Biz.

Highlights of DoorDash’s Support for Black-Owned Business

This summer, DoorDash announced a number of new initiatives and actions to support Black-owned businesses and stand for justice. These include the following:

Highlighting “Black-owned” businesses on both the DoorDash and Caviar platforms to help customers easily support Black-owned restaurants. A month later, DoorDash saw a 275x increase for these searches over the previous month.
Donating $1 million, with $500,000 going to Black Lives Matter and $500,000 to create a fund to be directed by the Black@DoorDash Employee Resource Group (ERG) towards state and local organizations.
Establishing a Dashers of Color Council to advise the company on issues facing Black Dashers, including safety and access.

Additional details on DoorDash’s commitment to equity and justice can be found on the DoorDash blog here, and here.

About DoorDash

DoorDash is a technology company that connects customers with their favorite local and national businesses in more than 4,000 cities and all 50 states across the United States, Canada and Australia. Founded in 2013, DoorDash empowers merchants to grow their businesses by offering on-demand delivery, data-driven insights, and better in-store efficiency, providing delightful experiences from door to door. By building the last-mile delivery infrastructure for local cities, DoorDash is bringing communities closer, one doorstep at a time. Read more on the DoorDash blog or at www.doordash.com.

About New York Urban League

For over 100 years, the New York Urban League (NYUL) has led the way in the education, employment, and empowerment of underserved African-Americans across the five boroughs of New York City. During this time, we are proud to have inspired, influenced, and ignited over one million Black people to achieve their highest aspirations. NYUL remains a vital resource for our city’s African-Americans and other underserved groups. We invest to transform the lives of over 8,000 families each year by providing quality higher education options, economic opportunity, and community engagement.

Visit https://www.nyul.org/, https://www.facebook.com/newyorkurbanleague/ and https://twitter.com/NYUrbanLeague.

Contact: Lisa Skriloff (for the New York Urban League)

Multicultural Marketing Resources, Inc.

212-242-3351, Lisa@multicultural.com

Charles Kretchmer Lutvak (for DoorDash)

Risa Heller Communications

917-748-3096, charles@risaheller.com