As we celebrate what would have been the 190th birthday of our founder, Levi Strauss, today, we honor the values he instilled in the company from the beginning via the Levi Strauss Legacy Grant.
This year, the $25,000 grant will support the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation in providing personal development opportunities to emerging leaders committed to LGBTQ advocacy. HRC is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people.
The grant will fund the HRC Foundation Youth Ambassador Program which helps amplify the voices of teens and young adults, providing them with the leadership skills to engage in advocacy on the most pressing concerns LGBTQ youth face. The ambassadors tackle multiple issues, sharing their own stories and speaking about sexual orientation, gender identity, race, immigration and discrimination.
“Today’s young people are powerful voices for LGBTQ equality and the support from Levi Strauss & Co. will help us spotlight young leaders advancing LGBTQ rights all across the country,” said Jay Brown, acting Senior Vice President, HRC Foundation. “We’re so grateful for Levi Strauss for helping us elevate the voices of young LGBTQ leaders at this crucial moment in our movement’s history.”
This grant builds upon more than three decades of LS&Co. supporting the LGBTQ community. We were the first Fortune 500 company to extend health benefits to unmarried domestic partners more than 20 years ago, and the only California business in 2007 to file an amicus brief with the California Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage. The HRC Youth Ambassadors will also serve as powerful voices to provide education around the EQUALITY Act, a bill that Levi Strauss & Co. has proudly supported since the bill’s introduction in 2015.
This is the sixth annual Levi Strauss Legacy Grant. Previous grants have gone to The Pollination Project, Upwardly Global, Edgewood Center for Children and Families, United We Dream and the Chamizal Recreation Center & Library project in El Paso, Texas.
