Celebrating Black History Month 2021

As part of our commitment to advancing diversity and inclusion in our company and community, Altice USA is proud to celebrate Black History Month.

Throughout the month, Altice USA and its businesses have been engaging in activities and events in our community and our company that promote Black representation, inspire cultural understanding, and support Black-owned business.

In partnership with Altice’s Black Employee Affinity Network (BEAN), some of the events that we have offered and sponsored include:

• Mentorship opportunities: Through a continuation of our partnership with the Coalition to Back Black Businesses, we have opened an opportunity for our employees to volunteer their time to help these businesses in areas such as financial planning, HR and communications.
• Experiential learning curriculum: Working with EverFi, we will be offering online courses, available for free to our community, about the Black experience in America. Learn more here.
• Funding classroom projects: Altice USA will allocate $10,000 through DonorsChoose to fund Black History Month classroom projects in schools throughout our footprint.
• Digital tool kits for Black-owned SMBs: Altice Business has published digital toolkits to help Black-owned SMBs continue to shape the U.S. business landscape. Available for download, they feature a variety of topics, including email marketing and social media strategy. You can find the Optimum toolkit here and Suddenlink toolkit here.
• Black History Month specials: Our news brands, Cheddar and News 12, both aired Black History Month specials to kick off the month and will continue to push programming throughout February with specific segments to profile Black leaders and experts in different fields.
• Discussion and reflection: The company is hosting a conversation around allyship in the workplace open to all employees featuring Derreck Johnson, President of the NAACP.

For more perspective on these activities, we spoke with Sheniecia Edwards, group leader of BEAN, about the company’s efforts to celebrate Black History Month.

What does it mean to you to have a moment like BHM where across the company we shine a light on the contributions made by Black people throughout history and take actions to help support Black communities in our world today?

I have worked in organizations where there was no acknowledgement of Black History Month, so it means a great deal to me to work for an organization that not only celebrates the month, but has meaningful initiatives to support Black employees and Black people in the communities we serve.

In what ways are you most looking forward to helping celebrate BHM with colleagues at Altice?

BEAN’s theme for Black history month is on representation and why it matters. I would like for my colleagues to learn more about the Black experience throughout the month and the achievements and contributions made by Black people. During Black History Month and beyond, my hope is all of us will think about the role each of us has in creating a better society by working towards dismantling systemic racism and increasing access to opportunities where Black people have been excluded.

BHM is an annual occurrence. This time next year, what do you hope BEAN and Altice collectively have been able to achieve together in 2021 in support of the Black community at the company?

BEAN’s goals for 2021 are to increase Black representation in various areas across the company along with continued dialogue on building an inclusive environment. I am grateful for the support that Altice USA senior leaders has provided to BEAN. From their willingness to listen and learn to their efforts in championing internal conversations on race relations and allyship their actions were important to helping me feel valued and welcomed. 

Visit our Diversity and Inclusion page to learn more about Altice USA’s ongoing diversity efforts.