Moving past divisions to come together
"OneTen has the potential to address persistent intergenerational gaps in opportunity and wealth."
– Ken Frazier, OneTen co-chair and former chairman and CEO of Merck
Measurable actions. Immeasurable possibilities.
OneTen’s mission is to hire, promote and advance one million Black individuals who do not have a four-year degree into family-sustaining careers over the next 10 years. We take a skills-first approach, focusing on competencies, in an aim to close the opportunity gap and ignite potential for generations to come.
$143k
Average difference in family net wealth between white and Black families76%
Black adults in America without a four-year college degree79%
Family-sustaining jobs that require a four-year college degreeBlack Talent
Gaining skills to land a meaningful career on a family-supporting salary.
Talent Developers
Equipping Black talent with technical and professional skills to succeed on the job.
Community Partners
Providing wraparound services to support talent through their training, hiring and beyond.
Employers
Upskilling, hiring, and promoting Black talent without four-year college degrees into family-sustaining careers.
Unlocking opportunity everywhere
We aim to shatter systemic barriers and shift the focus toward skills, creating opportunities for Black talent to share their full potential. Here’s how.
Defining Actions
What is a family-sustaining wage?
As of 2021, a family sustaining wage ranges between $58k – $90k and above depending on a persons location. That wage is calculated by the MIT Living Wage calculator.
What is a skills-first approach?
Skills-first hiring and promotion emphasizes the specific competencies a candidate needs to be successful in the role.
It’s 5x more predictive of a person’s future performance than their education, and 2.5x better than their experience. It also diversifies talent pools, accelerates the hiring process and increases the likelihood of retention.
An estimated 4 million jobs today can be recredentialed to remove the requirement for a college degree.
Source: Michigan State University, Hunter, John E. & Ronda F. Hunter, “Validity and Utility of Alternative Predictors of Job Performance”
How can I get involved?
You can join us by taking a moment to tell us about yourself or your organization. A member of the OneTen team will reach out about next steps.
Galvanizing change within corporate America
The memory of George Floyd forged a reckoning with the systemic oppression of Black people in America. Days after his murder, leading Black executives Ken Chenault and Ken Frazier came together to discuss how corporations can take meaningful and sustained action for racial justice and equity in America.
Together, they formed a coalition to break through barriers to economic opportunity and mobility. In December 2020, nearly 30 founding companies—including Merck, IBM, Bain & Company, American Express, Delta, Gilead, HP, Nike, Nordstrom, Target, Whirlpool and many more—committed to upskilling, hiring and promoting one million Black individuals into family-sustaining careers over the next ten years.
Reaching for our full potential in America
"This will not only help our individual companies; it will help our country as a whole."
— Ginni Rometty, OneTen co-chair and former CEO and chairman of IBM
Creating opportunities to earn and achieve success
"You’re not just impacting that individual’s life, you’re enabling that individual to contribute to the generation before him or her, and a generation after him or her."
- Maurice Jones, CEO of OneTen
Partner Employers
Partner Talent Developers
