July 27th 2023.
OneTen is an ambitious nonprofit organization, founded in 2020 during the social injustices that gripped the US, with a goal to find one million jobs for Black people without a four-year bachelor's degree. Led by CEO Debbie Dyson, who has over 30 years of experience as a corporate executive, the organization has made significant progress in the three years since it was founded.
According to Dyson, the organization was conceived by a group of CEOs, including Ken Frazier, Charles Phillips, and Ken Chenault, who wanted to do something to close the “opportunity gap” disproportionately affecting Black communities. Dyson told Essence magazine, “They decided to do something to try to close the ‘opportunity gap’ that seemed to be plaguing, disproportionately, the Black population.”
The mission of OneTen is to equip Black talent with the necessary skills they need to perform a job, rather than obtaining a degree. Dyson explained, “So this is not just minimum wage, but to ensure that whatever the dynamics are in the composition of your family that you’re able to afford, obviously the basic necessities: Healthcare, etc., opposed to trying to get a degree it’s like ‘What are the skills required for the job.’”
In addition to helping close the opportunity gap, OneTen is helping companies identify job seekers’ talent and skill sets instead of using traditional standards to employ people. The organization has already secured 88,000 jobs for Black people, and 70 companies and counting have joined its coalition in support of its mission.
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