We stand with everyone who is suffering and processing the myriad emotions resulting from the ever-growing list of people falling victim to discrimination, injustice and hate— George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Botham (Bo) Jean and countless others. This has to stop.
In the late 1960s, my father, Gerald D. Hines, co-founded the Houston Area Urban League with a mission to enable African Americans and other minorities to secure economic self-reliance, parity, power and civil rights. As a family and as a firm, we continue to support their good work.
At Hines, we strictly prohibit discrimination, as clearly stated in our policies for decades and supported by our firm-wide focus on diversity and inclusion through our employee platform, OneHines. There is still work to do and we’re continuing to take action on our commitments to diversity and inclusion. The onus is on all of us to be a part of the conversation and a part of the solution.
On Friday, June 5, 2020, we are hosting a global all-employee forum for empathy and understanding to raise awareness of how current events affect our community and what we can do in response. In addition, we will reinforce the resources available through our mental health and wellbeing benefits for those being emotionally impacted.
We are also encouraging our employees, our partners and our communities to consider joining and/or donating to an organization that works to address systemic inequities in our society. I am making a $100,000 contribution to the National Urban League – the civil rights and urban advocacy organization with 90 affiliates, such as our Houston arm, serving 300 U.S. communities in total providing direct services to impact and improve lives.
We will continue sharing resources to combat discrimination and promote inclusion and allyship for our Black employees and colleagues and for the benefit of the communities we serve, reinforcing our commitment to do the right thing and be a part of the solution. In solidarity,
