We strongly believe that in a society where the playing field is level, Black and Hispanic businesses will play a vital role in restoring the health of our economy and in driving long-term wealth creation across North America.

GERRY SMITH, CEO of THE ODP CORPORATION

Our actions are simple and straight forward, Elevate Together was established to:

Identify a consortium of like-minded corporate partners to invest time, talent, and financial resources to support Black and Hispanic businesses

Partner with established non-profit organizations to deliver measurable business outcomes for Black and Hispanic businesses

Deliver measurable and sustainable outcomes for Elevate Together participants across the initiative's key goals of education, access, mentoring and sustainability

The ODP Corporation is the initiative’s founding partner and established Elevate Together™ with an initial investment of $250,000, helping launch the program in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and South Florida in early 2021. Subsequently, The ODP Corporation activated customer campaigns, employee contributions, to name a few, totaling their support to over $2 million dollars. NCR Foundation became the first official Elevate Together™ corporate partner in June 2021, investing $200,000 in Atlanta to support minority small businesses through this initiative.

In 2022, Elevate Together® expanded to Dallas-Fort Worth, Detroit, Houston, Minneapolis and Phoenix.


Impact

Through a partnership with the National Urban League’s (NUL) Entrepreneurship Centers and the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC), the initiative helps support Black and Hispanic small businesses with five or less employees.

Elevate Together® directly supports Black and Hispanic small business owners with the mission of helping local economies, fostering job creation, and helping to close the racial wealth gap. As of December 2022, the initiative has raised over $3.6 million dollars from corporate gifts, customer and employee donations. Over 250 small businesses have received Elevate Together cash grants of $5000 – $10,000, and technical assistance grants have supported the technical assistance programs and mentoring offered by Elevate Together’s community partners.

Learn More

Impact

Through a partnership with the National Urban League’s (NUL) Entrepreneurship Centers and the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC), the initiative helps support Black and Hispanic small businesses with five or less employees.

Elevate Together directly supports Black and Hispanic small business owners with the mission of helping local economies, fostering job creation, and helping to close the racial wealth gap. As of December 2021, the initiative has raised over $2 million dollars from corporate gifts, customer and employee donations.  Over 80 small businesses have received Elevate Together cash grants of $5000 – $1000, and technical assistance grants have supported the technical assistance programs and mentoring offered by Elevate Together’s community partners.

Learn More