Equity & Inclusion at Walmart & Beyond

SASB: CG-MR-330a.1
GRI: 103-1, 103-2, 103-3, 405-1
UN SDGs: 5, 8
S | Published: July 21, 2022

We aspire to be a transformative force to advance equity and inclusion in our business and beyond—in how we create opportunities for our associates and suppliers and use our business and philanthropic resources in partnership with others to address systemic challenges in communities.

Inclusive, equitable societies foster resilience and growth, as members feel able to achieve and contribute their full potential. Numerous studies have shown that diverse, inclusive businesses tend to outperform their peers, as they attract and retain talent, foster innovation and better reflect the complex character of the customers and communities they serve.⁸ Businesses benefit from—and can also help strengthen—diversity, equity and inclusion in their communities and society more broadly. Yet workforce representation is uneven in society (especially at senior levels, across sectors)⁹ and disparities remain in outcomes related to education, financial, health, criminal justice and other societal systems. Events over the past couple of years, including racial violence in the U.S. in 2020 and COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on communities of color and women, serve as a further call to action for everyone, including companies, to work for greater equity and inclusion within their own operations and across society.

Walmart continues to strive for our associate base to reflect the widely diverse communities we serve. We believe that our business and communities are stronger and more resilient when all our associates, suppliers, customers and community members are included, heard and empowered.

With approximately 2.3 million associates globally as of the end of FY2022, a presence in thousands of communities and an extensive supplier base, we believe we can use our business to accelerate progress toward a more equitable and inclusive society in ways that also strengthen our company and better serve our stakeholders. Our strategies include:

• Fostering Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Walmart: We are focused on cultivating a culture where all associates feel they belong, and seek to create a more diverse, inclusive team at every level of our company.
• Inclusive Sourcing: Walmart supports diverse suppliers and helps smaller producers access markets.
• Advancing Equity in Society: We aim to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in society more broadly, helping to tackle drivers of systemic disparities through complementary business initiatives and philanthropic investments.
  

Fostering Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Walmart | Inclusive Sourcing | Advancing Equity in Society

We seek a workplace culture where associates at all levels are—and feel—included. We have set governance structures, incentives and reporting practices to guide this culture and drive accountability. Through training and resources, we strive to develop our associates to be inclusive leaders who make decisions based upon our values of Service, Respect, Excellence and Integrity. We also seek to enhance belonging by listening to our associates and facilitating engagement in associate groups.

Our governance structures aim to provide effective oversight of our diversity, equity and inclusion strategy. To help drive accountability, we have inclusive leadership expectations in place, and we measure progress and report data to inform our actions.

Governance structures

• Walmart Inc. Board of Directors is comprised of directors with diverse backgrounds, experiences and viewpoints, which we believe improves board dialogue and decision-making. The Board has adopted a policy requiring that search firms include women and people of color candidates among the pool of potential directors, and we ask Board members to annually disclose their gender and race/ethnicity. As of April 2022, the Walmart Board included 27% women and 18% directors who are racially/ethnically diverse.¹⁰ We provide recurring culture, diversity, equity, and inclusion updates to senior leadership, including our President and CEO, and members of the Board of Directors.
• Global Chief Culture, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer leads our Global Office of Culture, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (CDEI) and is responsible for the activation and strategic evolution of Walmart’s culture; integrating CDEI principles into the full associate life cycle; creating an inclusive brand experience for our associates and stakeholders, increasing equity and accessibility across our enterprise; and leveraging technology to monitor key performance indicators on diversity and inclusion. Read more: 202I CDEI Annual Report.
• President’s Inclusion Council comprises twelve Walmart executives (including President and CEO Doug McMillon, who chairs the Council) and serves in an advisory capacity to Walmart’s Executive Committee and the entire organization to help Walmart sharpen its culture and foster inclusion across the enterprise. The members represent each of Walmart’s business units and corporate centers of excellence, and serve for a two-year term.

For more information on our Board and other corporate governance topics, please visit our Corporate Governance website.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in performance evaluations and compensation decisions

Walmart’s Leadership Expectations (LEs) translate our values into expected behaviors for associates throughout the company. They were developed with input from our CEO, leadership teams and other campus and field associates based on surveys, interviews and focus groups. They were implemented in Walmart’s Home Office in July 2021 and launched to our field population in March 2022. The LEs have been designed to help our associates understand how to bring our purpose and values to life in everyday work and will be incorporated into annual evaluations, training, and talent and development programs. In addition, select U.S. associates (including all officers, Home Office senior directors/directors, and all field salaried management) have Inclusive Leadership Expectations (ILEs) focused on fostering a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion. These ILEs outline specific actions, including participating in training sessions and mentoring fellow associates. As of January 2022, more than 68,000 associates had ILEs incorporated into annual performance discussions. Violations of our Global Discrimination and Harassment Prevention Policy leading to a written disciplinary action or violations of the Code of Conduct may lead to a reduction of certain associates¹¹ Management Incentive Plan payout from 25% to 100% depending on the level of violation.

Measurement & Reporting

We track and publicly disclose key diversity metrics such as representation, new hires and promotions with respect to women and people of color to inform action plans for continued progress and increase transparency.

The CDEI team develops and curates resources and training to help upskill Walmart associates as inclusive leaders. Recent examples include:

• Walmart's Culture, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (CDEI) Institute. The CDEI Institute, launched in 2020, is a virtual training program designed to cultivate inclusive leadership skills for CDEI advocacy. Associates who participate in the five-week program examine five major areas: promoting values-based leadership, exploring the power of diversity, mitigating unconscious bias, fostering a sense of belonging, and creating equitable environments. After completing the program, associates are encouraged to remain engaged and help integrate key learnings among their teams. More than 700 associates participated in FY2022.
• Inclusive Leadership Education eModules. All U.S. associates have access to a collection of self-paced eModules on Walmart’s ULearn learning management system. Available eModules include Cultural Competence, Disability Inclusion in the Workplace, Leading Across Generations, Introduction to Unconscious Bias, and Unconscious Bias in Hiring. The eModules had more than 18,000 views in FY2022.
• Inclusion and Equity Programs. Walmart offers associates an optional training that examines the history of race in America and systemic racial inequity in its institutional and structural forms. Since the training was introduced at Walmart in 2018 in collaboration with the Racial Equity Institute, more than 1,600 associates have completed the two-day Phase I workshop.
• LGBTQ Allyship Training. Walmart worked with PFLAG National to deliver an advanced workshop as part of an ongoing series of trainings to develop effective allyship skills. The workshop led participants in a skill-building experience to refine their capabilities as an engaged ally, and developed resources to respond as an ally in difficult situations. The workshop had more than 600 participants in October 2021.

The CDEI team utilizes post-event surveys following programming such as Inclusive Leadership Education trainings and other diversity and inclusion events to measure the effectiveness of its offerings. Both qualitative and quantitative feedback is collected with five core quantitative elements captured on each survey: applicability, content, facilitation, impact and net promoter score (NPS). The feedback gathered through these surveys is analyzed and shared with the program managers responsible for various offerings to aid in the refinement of programming and is also regularly shared with senior leadership to provide a report of CDEI’s organizational effectiveness.

We help build associate belonging and community, including through:

• Associate Listening Sessions. Our Global Chief Culture, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer and other senior leaders routinely engage in listening sessions to understand how matters of inclusion and equity, such as the anti-Asian bias during the pandemic, impact the lives of our associates. Read more about other ways we listen to and engage our associates in the Human capital: good jobs and advancement for associates issue brief.
• Associate Resource Groups. The Associate Resource Group (ARG) model remains a pivotal part of Walmart’s inclusion strategy today, helping to drive business results by aiding in the attraction, retention and development of top diverse talent; enhancing Walmart’s reputation in the community; and leveraging diversity through inclusion to drive innovation. We have nine ARGs: Asian Pacific Associates Network, Black African American Resource Group, FAVOR (interfaith), inABLE (disability), LatinX Network, PRIDE (LGBTQA+), Tribal Voices Indigenous Associate Resource Group, SERVES (veteran and military families), and the Women’s Resource Community. SERVES is leading the way in advancing ARGs to U.S. field (retail and supply chain) locations, and some ARGs, particularly disability and LGBTQ+ groups have been established in International markets.
• Mentoring Circles. Close to 3,000 associates have participated in over 1,000 Lean In Mentoring Circles since the inception of the program to support one another along their learning and development journeys

We aim to hire and build diverse and inclusive teams at all levels, create opportunities for career growth, and reward associates equitably

In FY2022, 56% of new hires in the U.S. were people of color and 51% were women.¹²  Our approach to hiring focuses on enhancing diversity and inclusion throughout the talent pipeline:

• Strategic Partnerships and Initiatives:
  
  • We have strategic partnerships with two Historically Black Colleges and Universities—North Carolina A&T State University and Jackson State University—focused on strengthening pathways to careers at Walmart, career readiness, and academic enrichment.
    
    • 65 students from North Carolina A&T State University and Jackson State University participated in our Walmart Immersion Program in March 2022. They interacted with members of the  African-American Officer Caucus and other Walmart leaders, and participated in hands-on experiences to explore careers in their fields of study.
  • Walmart joined the OneTen Coalition as part of a commitment to upskill, hire and promote one million Black and African American individuals over the next ten years into family-sustaining careers.
  • We support early career candidates across a broad portfolio of schools, the majority of which are minority-serving institutions. We support candidates through mock interview programs, resume writing workshops and career fairs.
    
    • To help college students prepare for job interviews and their first careers, we offer programs like the World of Walmart Bootcamp and the Diversity Leadership Summit.
  • We leverage diverse media channels via strategic recruitment marketing campaigns and attend dozens of events and conferences to connect with diverse candidate pools.
• Hiring Guidelines and Interview Training:
  
  • Our Diversity Equity and Inclusion Talent Principles guide our hiring managers and recruiters to interview diverse candidate slates, assemble diverse interview panels, and remove photos from the recruiting process to mitigate bias. We also have a policy to refrain from requesting salary history to set pay for external candidates.
  • All hiring managers can access an interactive, scenario-based interview training that emphasizes the importance of structured interviews and reviews how to mitigate bias.
• Technology-Powered Tools: We deploy technology like SeekOut to source and attract a diverse applicant pool. We also use an AI-powered job ad tool that helps recruiters and hiring managers write using more inclusive (including gender-neutral) and engaging language.
• Candidate Data Review: We assess candidate data in aggregate to measure progress and the results of our efforts.
• Continuing Our Commitment to Veterans and Military Spouses: We launched a new Find-a-Future program in June 2021. Find-a-Future strives to help veterans and military spouses—whether early career, mid-career or experienced professionals—with tools and resources to build a roadmap to find employment opportunities at Walmart, gain education needed to help achieve future goals, or grow veteran businesses and bring their product/service to market. Since 2013, we have extended offers to more than 430,000 U.S. veterans and military spouses. In 2021 alone, we extended offers to over 52,000 veterans and 30,000 military spouses. Over the last two years, veteran promotions have trended higher than for non-veterans.
• Second Chance Hiring: We assess and strive to lower barriers to provide more people with the opportunity to secure gainful employment, get valuable experience and advance on the job. We were at the forefront to “ban the box” that asks about prior criminal convictions on the initial job application. In 2021, in coordination with Business Roundtable and other member companies, Walmart was a founding member of the Second Chance Business Coalition, a cross-sector group of large employers committed to expanding opportunities for employment and greater upward mobility for people with criminal records. Read more about our second chance hiring efforts in the "Advancing equity in society" section below.

To help associates acquire the experiences and skills needed for success in the jobs of today and tomorrow, Walmart invests in associate development—including new roles and career paths, cross-training, on-the-job coaching and training such as Walmart Academy, and access to our Live Better U education program. Read our Human capital: good jobs & advancement for associates brief for more detail on our training and development programs.

Some highlights particularly relevant for our diversity, equity and inclusion aspirations include:

• Focused Development Programs. These include Gateways, a two-year professional development program that aims to accelerate a pipeline of diverse leadership talent and enable business growth and the McKinsey Black Executive Program, a three-month program for a select group of Black and African American officers within Walmart and Sam’s Club that are one or two levels below the C-suite. 
• Live Better U. Live Better U (LBU) provides part and full-time hourly Walmart and Sam's Clubs U.S. associates with Walmart-paid formal education opportunities, from foundational offerings like high school completion, to short-form programs including Business Analytics and Project Management, to career diplomas and college degrees. 50% of active LBU students identify as people of color.¹³ According to a 2021 study by the Lumina Foundation, among bachelor’s-seeking LBU participants, the program exceeds national enrollment trends, particularly for Black learners. The Lumina study also reported that Black hourly associates who participated in LBU were 87.5 percent more likely to receive promotions than non-participants. White associates were 80 percent more likely, and Hispanic or Latino associates were 70.7 percent more likely.  We have strategically added partners to LBU, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). We also work with education providers to confer college credit for Walmart Academy training programs; this can streamline the process of getting a degree. Read more about LBU in the Human capital: good jobs and advancement for associates issue brief.

We are focused on advancing associates based on meaningful factors such as performance, qualifications and experience.

• Data-driven Talent Review. We strive to make our talent review process data-driven and objective. For example, we utilize a talent toolkit that equips leaders to have career conversations with associates prior to reviews, helping leaders identify talent potential while recognizing and mitigating unconscious bias.
• Objective Tools to Assess Leadership Potential. For promotion to officer levels, Walmart leverages psychometric tools to provide insights on leadership strengths, potential gaps, and readiness. These tools are used in addition to other information about the candidate—including prior performance, qualifications, and experience—to help reduce subjectivity and potential bias in the decision-making process.

We are creating a ladder of opportunity so associates can build a career at Walmart, regardless of where they start. Approximately 75% of our U.S. salaried store, club and supply chain management started their careers in hourly positions. In FY2022, approximately 52% of promotions in the U.S. were earned by women and approximately 45% were earned by people of color.¹⁴ See below for additional metrics on hourly-to-hourly and total management promotions earned by women and people of color.

Representation at Walmart - FY2022 U.S.¹⁵

Our strategy to grow diverse talent pipelines includes rewarding our associates equitably. Our latest pay equity analysis in the U.S. and Canada confirms that—taking into account relevant factors such as position, tenure and location—Walmart pays associates equitably, regardless of race, ethnicity and gender. We conduct analyses of pay and compensation practices in consultation with expert third-party firms following industry-leading standards. Through pay and policy adjustments, we correct for unintended pay differences and where appropriate adjust for market competitiveness as part of our annual and ongoing reviews. We continue to review our processes and analyses beyond the U.S. and Canada so that we can consistently review and report on our equitable pay and practices globally. We commit to annually updating this disclosure.

Fair pay is foundational to Walmart’s high-performance culture. Pay equity analyses are part of a larger set of practices to support and develop diverse talent and to treat all associates fairly, consistent with our core value of respect for the individual. Examples include:

• Hiring Practices: Gender-neutral job descriptions; interview training workshops and standardized interview questions; not requesting a salary history to set pay for external candidates; diverse candidate slates for U.S. officers and the Board of Directors
• Pay Controls: Market-based starting pay rates; limiting discretion on pay; reviewing pay and promotion decisions before finalization
• Transparency: Providing the pay range for a position upon an associate’s request; supporting associate inquiries regarding pay and providing confidential resources for raising concerns

For more information on associate pay, please see the Human Capital: Good Jobs and Advancement for Associates issue brief.

Retail supply chains can create economic opportunity for the millions of people around the world who produce food and other products. Walmart uses its business and philanthropic resources to help diverse suppliers and small producers access markets.

Walmart's supplier inclusion program provides companies owned and operated by racial and ethnic minorities, women, veterans, members of the LGBTQ+ community and people with disabilities the opportunity to work with us while growing their business. A diverse supply chain also helps us deliver the products and services our customers want and need at affordable prices. For our U.S. businesses we sourced more than $13.3 billion in goods and services from approximately 2,600 diverse suppliers¹⁹ in FY2022. In addition, the Walmart Foundation has awarded grants expected to reach over 730,000 smallholder farmers in Central America, India and Mexico, 44% of whom are women.

In FY2022, we enhanced two existing supplier programs to provide diverse-owned businesses quicker access to capital and increased opportunities to connect with our merchants. In April 2021, we partnered with C2FO to expand on our existing early payment program to help diverse- and minority-owned suppliers increase their cash flow by accelerating their receipt of invoice payments from Walmart. The program enables these suppliers to hand-select invoices to request early payments on at significantly reduced rates. This gives these suppliers the ability to receive paid invoices within 48 hours of submission.

In November 2021, we built upon our successful annual Open Call concept by expanding our partnership with RangeMe/ECRM to launch a diverse-supplier submission link on our Supplier Inclusion home page. The link allows diverse suppliers to propose new products for sale at Walmart by submitting their products for review to our merchants and to receive real-time feedback through the technology driven platform.

In FY2022, we also launched a Supplier Inclusion Advisory Council. The Council aims to foster, promote, grow, develop, and retain a robust inclusive supply chain. The Council provides guidance and recommendations on how to best engage and develop diverse suppliers to the individual merchant teams across every business segment as well as to our Supplier Inclusion team and executive leadership.

For more information on our supplier inclusion work, please see our Supplier Opportunity and Product Supply Chains briefs and our Supplier Inclusion Website. See also a report highlighting how our Market Access portfolio is working to advance women smallholder farmers.

We aim to advance diversity, equity and inclusion in society and build more inclusive, resilient communities using our business and philanthropic resources.

In mid-2020, Walmart established four Shared Value Networks (SVNs) to help advance racial equity in the U.S. criminal justice, education, finance, and health systems, with a particular focus on disparities affecting Black and African American people. Each SVN team, made up of Walmart associates, studies these national systems and pursues business strategies that draw on Walmart capabilities to contribute to positive and lasting change in the systems—for example, sourcing from Black-owned businesses, creating hiring and talent development programs, and providing high-quality, affordable healthcare.

The SVNs make recommendations to the SVN Steering Committee, led by Doug McMillon, President and CEO of Walmart Inc., to discuss and align on potential business initiatives. As of April 2022, we had over 50 SVN members, and over 70 enterprise stakeholders, launching approximately 20 initiatives with external and internal partners.

To extend the societal impact of Walmart’s business SVNs, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation committed $100 million over five years through Walmart.org's Center for Racial Equity, focused on eradicating systemic disparities experienced by Black and African American communities in the U.S. The Center has invested $35 million as of January 2022 across the U.S. criminal justice, education, finance, and health systems (see examples below). The center supports efforts such as research, advocacy, innovation of practices and tools, stakeholder convening and nonprofit capacity building. Walmart and the Walmart Foundation also seek to provide support to nonprofits led by people of color, particularly Black and African American leaders, and to encourage greater diversity at predominantly white nonprofits.

In addition, the Center funds racial solidarity efforts to foster understanding and address racism in communities. For example, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation committed up to $5 million over three years to support The Asian American Foundation, which works to accelerate opportunity in the Asian American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) community and fight increasing instances of anti-AAPI discrimination and hate. Walmart also granted $5 million to help establish the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Latino, which will be the cornerstone for visitors to learn how Latinos have contributed to U.S. art, history, culture and science. 

Highlights of the SVN and Center for Racial Equity efforts include:

Criminal Justice

• Bias Training. Walmart offers bias training for law enforcement and Walmart’s asset protection associates. The aim is to support criminal justice professionals in understanding how unconscious biases may impact their interactions with the communities they serve. Walmart also plans to conduct bias training for our field leadership teams and frontline hiring managers in approximately 4,700 stores on the barriers formerly incarcerated individuals often face.
• Second Chance Hiring. In FY2022, Walmart's Criminal Justice and Education SVNs began a partnership with The Last Mile to provide technical training for incarcerated individuals followed by wraparound services and job placement at Walmart once released from incarceration. 

The Center for Racial Equity supports efforts that aim to prevent opportunity youth at the highest risk of incarceration from entering the criminal justice system. The Center is supporting networks that are working to deflect these young people from criminal justice involvement through jobs and hiring,  building relationships between communities and local law enforcement, and supporting justice system stakeholders interested in developing or strengthening criminal justice diversion programs. Examples include:

• Opportunity Kids Network. The Walmart Foundation partners with The Prison Fellowship to build the capacity of the Opportunity Kids Network, a national network of community-based organizations creating positive experiences and preventing negative interactions with the criminal justice system for children with incarcerated parents.
• Offices of Violence Prevention Network. The Walmart Foundation supports the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform in their efforts to develop a juvenile deflection component within its Offices of Violence Prevention Network, a national network of civic leaders and mayors using a data-driven approach to prevent incarceration among youth at the highest risk of incarceration.
• Unlock Potential. Walmart made grants to Persevere and NEO Philanthropy, Inc., which support the Responsible Business Initiative for Justice (RBIJ). Together, Persevere and RBIJ lead the Unlock Potential hiring program, involving a network of community organizations and employers providing jobs and wraparound services for youth with incarcerated parents, foster youth, youth involved in the justice system, and young people impacted by human trafficking.

Education

• OneTen Coalition. As noted above, Walmart joined OneTen, a coalition of U.S. companies coming together to upskill, hire and advance one million Black workers over the next 10 years into family-sustaining jobs and opportunities for advancement. Walmart continues to share available career opportunities via this coalition.
• Chicago Community Academy. The Chicago Community Academy opened in the Chatham neighborhood in March 2022, and provides associates an opportunity to grow and develop the skills they need to build careers at Walmart and beyond. This Community Academy also hosts classes for community members on topics such as entrepreneurship, resume writing, interviewing, and personal finance.

The Center for Racial Equity seeks to strengthen pathways for Black and African American people to better jobs through education, training and career development. Our investments in this area include:

• 1890 Universities Foundation, which aims to help students build careers in fields such as agriculture, healthcare and technology via four Centers of Excellence across the 19 1890 land-grant universities. Walmart's capacity building grant will help provide technical assistance across all 19 land-grant institutions, support the launch of the Center of Excellence for Nutrition, Health, Wellness and Quality of Life, and improve the broadband capacity for the 1890 universities and their students. 
• CodePath, which aims to increase diversity in tech by transforming college computer science education through entry-level courses, mentorship, technical interview practice and pre-internship services for students of color. With a grant from Walmart, CodePath is expanding its work to prepare students for technical internships and bringing its entire suite of services to more 1890 Land Grant HBCUs.
• Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies is conducting research, supported by a grant from Walmart, to understand the barriers that are blocking Black workers from achieving economic mobility through education and training. This research will inform the development of a framework for high-impact workforce development policy for Black job-seekers in employment and training programs.

Finance

• Supplier Access to Capital and Opportunity. Walmart is helping to provide access to capital by closing our first-ever green bond partnering with diverse book runners, partnering with C2FO to expand an early payment program providing suppliers with access to reliable funding sources, and investing in Morgan Stanley’s Next Level Fund and Ariel Capital’s Project Black Fund to support diverse-owned businesses. In addition, Walmart U.S. Marketing has set a goal of 40 percent of all production directors, photographers and crew members being women or people of color, providing opportunities to diverse creative and media companies across the advertising ecosystems.
• Financial Literacy. Walmart is partnering with Operation Hope to launch a national initiative to support embedding financial literacy into American culture, reaching millions of youth and working adults and enabling them to achieve greater financial success for themselves and their families. Walmart is also partnering with Merrill Lynch to facilitate quarterly financial wellbeing programs for our associates, including a special feature of weekly financial education events in April 2022 for Financial Literacy Month. 

The Center for Racial Equity seeks to support entrepreneurs in retail to strengthen and scale their companies, in turn helping to sustain their communities. Our initial investments went to organizations providing Black business owners with education, resources and training programs that open doors to networks and sources of financial and social capital. Additionally, one of the Center’s focus areas for FY2023 includes supporting socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers (SDFR) as related to our larger goals to advance economic mobility for Black Americans and reduce the racial wealth gap. As part of this effort, we’ve begun to make strides in our aims to support Black farmers through the lens of entrepreneurship.
Examples include grants to:

• Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), supporting WBENC’s Women of Color Outreach and Development Programs, which provide education, resources and access to peer and mentor networks for both WBENC certified and non-certified women of color businesses to overcome identified barriers to their growth and to scale. 
• Ghetto Film School, working to increase business owners' confidence, capacity building and venture capital readiness.  WOCstar will help provide technical assistance, marketing coaching, and other resources to help Black entrepreneurs.
• Alcorn State University, supporting the SDFR Policy Research Center to conduct research on sources of capital for Black farmers to identify potential barriers in accessing funding for farming operations, and to make policy recommendations.

Health

• Associate Doula Benefit. Walmart supports select associates and their dependents covered by the Walmart medical plan with a pilot doula benefit, with doulas certified by DONA International or the National Black Doulas Association. Maternal support is expanding  beyond Walmart associates to the community at large through a collaboration with Johnson & Johnson and CareSource. This pilot program launched in May 2022 and provides supportive care to expecting moms, educational tips, and a care journey to keep mom and baby healthy.
• Cultural Competency Training. We are developing training for Walmart healthcare providers to provide access to culturally responsive healthcare and help mitigate the effects of unconscious bias and racial inequity.
• Healthier Food and Habits. Walmart recently began working with various community organizations to design, test and evaluate Walmart food and nutrition offerings to improve access to healthier food options for Black and African American communities experiencing food insecurity. All U.S. associates have access to Fresh Tri, a science-based app that utilizes behavioral research to help users shift their mindset and build healthy habits that can stick. Fresh Tri incorporated evidence-based best practices from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Diabetes Prevention Program into its curriculum in July 2021 to which Walmart associates were among the first to have access.

The Center for Racial Equity seeks to strengthen community food systems in Black communities with low food access by removing barriers to funding and supporting growth of community-driven food organizations and innovators. For example:

• American Heart Association’s Bernard J. Tyson Fund. The Walmart Foundation made a $5 million grant in FY2021 to support the Fund's work with community-based organizations and entrepreneurs in Atlanta and Chicago working to increase access to affordable and healthy food in communities of color.
• Equitable Food Oriented Development Collaborative and Fund. The Walmart Foundation made a $1 million investment in Community Services Unlimited to support the Equitable Food Oriented Development (EFOD) Collaborative and Fund, a field-building and resourcing initiative run by a coalition of EFOD organizations and leaders from community-based organizations around the U.S.
• Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC). The Walmart Foundation provided a $1.5 million grant to LISC to provide capacity-building grants to nonprofit organizations expanding access to healthy food in communities of color, prioritizing efforts in the rural Southeast United States with low food access.

In addition to our work through the Center for Racial Equity and the SVNs, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation help to build inclusive and resilient communities by providing targeted support to diverse communities and by supporting initiatives that unite people in communities across the U.S.

Our work includes supporting diverse communities:

• People of Color. In addition to initiatives of the Racial Equity SVNs and the Center for Racial Equity, we support organizations focused on serving people of color, including through funding and leadership. For example, in June 2021, the Walmart Foundation announced a USD $20 million commitment over five years to advance equity for Black and Indigenous Canadians through food security and economic opportunity. Walmart also hosted a matching grant campaign with the League of United Latin American Citizens and supported the American Indian College Fund’s efforts to purchase technology for students to complete degrees online during the pandemic. Walmart executives also serve on the boards of National Urban League, the Asian/Pacific Islander American Chamber of Commerce & Entrepreneurship, United Negro College Fund and Thurgood Marshall College Fund.
• Women. In addition to efforts to advance women associates and empower women in supply chains described elsewhere in Walmart’s ESG disclosures, Walmart supports community initiatives focused on women (especially women of color). We continue to build our #SparktheFuture podcast platform to inform, advocate and uplift women and communities of color. Walmart associates also serve on the boards of organizations such as the Center for Asian Pacific American Women, Enterprising Women, Women Impacting Public Policy and Women Presidents’ Organization.
• Disability Community. We collaborate with several disability organizations, including the American Association of People with Disabilities, the Association for University Centers on Disability, Disability:IN, National Council on Independent Living and Special Olympics. In 2021 we hosted an intersectionality panel with emerging disability rights leaders and held roundtable discussions regarding the disability experience and how Walmart can support the community.
• LGBTQ+ Community. In 2021 the Walmart Foundation provided a grant to PFLAG to expand its digital support services program, PFLAG Connects, to include Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, Latinx and Native communities. Additionally, the grant supports strategic planning for the organization, including a diversity, equity and inclusion analysis of its programs, policies and practices in order to help advance racial, gender, and LGBTQ+ fairness and equity.
• Immigrant and Refugee Communities. In October 2021, the Walmart Foundation contributed $1 million to Welcoming America to train community leaders on strategies to increase belonging, and to help communities develop inclusive policies and practices that enable all residents, including immigrants, to thrive and contribute fully.
  
  • Walmart and the Walmart Foundation also contributed a total of $1.5 million to support incoming Afghan refugees, our veterans and their families.  This included providing on the ground support as refugees entered the country and medical items to refugees living on military bases. Our support included $500,000 grant to the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors to support Welcome.US, a nonprofit empowering U.S. citizens to welcome and support our new Afghan neighbors, and $250,000 to the Tragedy Assistance Program For Survivors to increase the capacity of its National Military Survivor Helpline. 
  • In March 2022, Walmart committed to matching U.S. associate contributions 2:1 through our Donor Advised Fund at Charities Aid Foundation America, with the recommendation to support four organizations providing relief to Ukraine: Direct Relief, International Medical Corps, International Rescue Committee and Save the Children. Recognizing that Ukrainians will be resettling in communities where our associates work and live, Walmart provided an additional $500,000 to Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors to support Welcome.US, which is working closely with resettlement agencies to welcome Ukrainian refugees in communities across the country.
    

In addition, we apply an equity lens to our approach to our philanthropic grantmaking programs, including those focused on issues such as:

• Disaster Response and Preparedness. Walmart and the Walmart Foundation have prioritized equity in disaster response through grant and in-kind support to tribal and BIPOC-led organizations like the NAACP, Foundation for Louisiana, The United Houma Nation, First Peoples Conservation Council of Louisiana, and Greenville Rancheria. The Walmart Foundation also made a $3 million investment in the Gulf region to build capacity among community-based organizations and municipal governments to help vulnerable communities prepare for and mitigate the impact of disasters. These funds went to the Institute for Diversity and Inclusion in Disaster Management (I-DIEM), St. Bernard Project (SBP), the Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy at the Tulane University School of Social Work (DRLA). Each grantee is helping local governments and organizations embed equity into disaster mitigation, recovery and access to funding. Read more in our ESG Disaster preparedness and response brief.
• Healthier Food for All. The Walmart Foundation focuses on increasing consistent access and confidence in eating healthier foods, prioritizing investments in rural areas and racial and ethnic communities experiencing disproportionate rates of food insecurity, specifically Black, Latinx and Indigenous communities. For example, the Walmart Foundation made an $800,000 grant investment in First Nations Development Institute to support Native American food pantries and food banks that will build their organizational and program capacity to boost control, cultural responsiveness and infrastructure of community food systems. Our investments also focus on culturally relevant and positive experiences in selecting, trying and eating healthier foods for young children and their caregivers. For example, the Walmart Foundation provided a nearly $2.5 million grant to UnidosUS to continue scaling the Comprando Rico y Sano program which supports community health workers in reducing food insecurity and instilling healthy shopping and eating habits among the Latinx community.

Community resilience grows when residents feel they belong, can depend on each other, and can meaningfully contribute. Walmart and the Walmart Foundation collaborate with other funders and organizations to build trust, deepen empathy and encourage people to work across lines of difference in communities. Our work over the past year has focused on campaigns to help shift mindsets and programs with the potential to achieve long-term impact. For example:

• Ad Council’s Love Has No Label Campaign: In 2021, Walmart sponsored the Ad Council’s “Love Has No Labels” campaign, which strives to promote diversity, equity and inclusion of all people regardless of differences in race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age and ability. This sponsorship helps ensure that the Ad Council has the resources to respond to the events of our time by creating digital and other assets to promote a more inclusive world.
• Aspen Institute’s Weave Initiative: The Weaver movement seeks to repair America’s social fabric, frayed by distrust, division and exclusion. Weavers are working across the country to end loneliness and isolation and weave inclusive communities while building social trust. Weave: The Social Fabric Project of the Aspen Institute aims to shift our culture from hyper-individualism that is all about personal success, to relationalism that puts relationships at the center. The Walmart Foundation’s $800,000 grant in 2021 provides Weave with the support to continue empowering, supporting and elevating the influence of Weavers who build local community connections.

Read more about how we support communities in our ESG Serving Communities topic brief.

• Opportunity is not equally distributed across society, particularly along racial, ethnic, economic, and gender lines, and there is uneven representation  at senior levels of organizations.
• Walmart is working towards greater equity in interconnected criminal justice, education, finance, and health systems, but progress also depends on more effective policy solutions and a broader societal movement towards equity and inclusion.
• Walmart’s diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy depends in large part on the success of our human capital strategy—particularly identifying sources of diverse talent and building a pipeline into the company, retention of skilled, diverse associates, and upskilling our diverse frontline workforce. The effects of immediate actions, such as seeding the talent development and leadership pipeline with talent including people of color, will be felt over the course of several years and certain strategies may not yield immediate results, particularly at higher levels of the organization.
• Walmart is subject to local, national, and international economic trends and realities. There is strong competition among employers for skilled, diverse workers, and labor surpluses and shortages can impact retail businesses.
• Walmart’s business is evolving rapidly. Customer trends towards omnichannel shopping, including pickup and delivery, change the skills necessary in Walmart's frontline workforce and may outpace incumbent associates' skills and readiness. In the United States, people of color are at higher risk of employment disruption from automation and technological advances than others, potentially exacerbating existing disparities and heightening the urgency to upskill Walmart’s frontline workforce.
• Social science and literature on effective strategies for building diverse workforces and promoting equity at scale are still evolving.
• National and global catastrophic events, including pandemics, can exacerbate many of the above factors.

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