Juneteenth, also known as Jubilee Day, Emancipation Day or Freedom Day, celebrates the end of slavery in the United States.

It honors the day on June 19, 1865, when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to enforce what the Emancipation Proclamation declared almost two years earlier: that all enslaved people in Texas and the United States be freed.

Learn more about the history and significance of this day at Juneteenth.com.

As a leading talent solutions firm and Fortune 500 company, Robert Half has continued to focus on deepening our efforts to help advance diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the business world. This work has led to developing new and expanded alliances with equity-focused nonprofits.

Two of our alliances are doing critical work in the Black community. On this Juneteenth, we want to share details about that ongoing work and other progress Robert Half has made to help support the Black community and advance our DEI efforts.

NABA Inc.

Since 1997, Robert Half has been working with NABA Inc. This nonprofit represents more than 200,000 Black professionals in furthering their professional goals in the fields of accounting, finance and business. NABA’s student members are served through the association’s mission of: “Empowering Black Business Leaders at Every Step in the Journey.”

Our company provides scholarships to NABA student members and participates in the association’s annual convention. This year’s convention brought over 3,500 individuals together in New Orleans, La., to participate in programs around the theme “Elevate.” Over the past few years, we’ve grown our relationship with NABA through increased chapter and conference sponsorships, as well as career fairs.

Through our partnership with NABA, Robert Half is making valuable connections that support our efforts to diversify our workforce. “Our partnership with NABA can help us attract more diverse talent internally and externally, which will have a significant and lasting impact on our teams, our company and our customers,” says Josh Howarth, Robert Half district president, who leads our partnership with NABA as an executive sponsor.

National Urban League (NUL)

Robert Half’s partnership with NUL began in late 2020. NUL supports many programs designed to address social inequality and racial injustice. Our key focus areas for partnering with NUL include career services, community involvement, workforce development opportunities and volunteerism.

Robert Half managing director Billie Moliere leads our company’s alliance with NUL as an executive sponsor. Moliere first connected with NUL many years ago through her community and social justice involvement practicing law in Louisiana, which she says allowed her to work directly with underrepresented constituencies.

Earlier this year, Moliere saw an opportunity to engage Marc Morial, NUL’s President and CEO, as well as a member of Robert Half’s Board of Directors, in an internal event through our Elevate Black Leaders (EBL) programming. EBL is designed to provide personal and professional development to our talent solutions and corporate services employees. His session with EBL attendees focused on developing self-awareness, operating in your values, leveraging your strengths, and practicing mindfulness.

“Robert Half’s alliance with NUL is of particular importance to me because of the organization’s unique mission, breadth and scope of resources to address social and economic challenges impacting underserved communities,” Moliere says. “It’s an example of how good deeds, citizenship and a focus on humanity benefit us all.”

Robert Half’s Black Employee Network

Robert Half’s employee network groups (ENGs) are organically created communities that share a common purpose, interest or background and are led and represented by employees from historically underrepresented groups and allies.

Now celebrating its third year, the Black Employee Network (BEN) was the first official ENG to form at Robert Half. When asked to reflect on Juneteenth and BEN’s impact at Robert Half, BEN leader and assistant vice president Chontell Woolridge said:

“Juneteenth is a time to uplift and celebrate Black culture, and I’m proud that BEN does that all year long. We are always doing what we call ‘bringing the BENergy,’ and it makes such a huge difference in our workplace culture to have this community. Connecting and collaborating with colleagues across functions, identities and tenures make being part of an ENG invaluable.”

A reflection on freedom

The alliances and activities outlined above are just some of the ways that Robert Half is working every day to create a more diverse, equitable and inclusive organizational culture and workforce. One internal effort, inspired by Juneteenth — which is also known as Freedom Day — was to ask our employees what freedom means to them.

We received many thoughtful — and thought-provoking — responses to that question, including from branch director James McField:

“From freedom comes opportunity. Because those ahead of me have fought for freedom, I have been afforded opportunity. Opportunity to love whomever I desire, live wherever I want and be judged equally amongst my peers of varied backgrounds. Freedom means my experience, work and contributions to society will be considered and celebrated because of their merit alone. Freedom means that I have the same opportunity to create generational wealth as my counterparts of other races and creed.”

Visit the DEI page on the Robert Half website to learn more about our deep and ongoing commitment to promote DEI at our company.