Pinterest has announced the next stage of its Community Rebuild program, which it first launched in February to assist underrepresented business owners who have been heavily impacted by the pandemic.
Today we're launching Pinterest Elevates formerly known as the Community Rebuild program. The mission? Making @Pinterest more diverse and inclusive by supporting underrepresented businesses on the platform. ????️Shop here https://t.co/oE8GiTfsZE pic.twitter.com/E52HW8fcsd
— Pinterest Business (@pinterestbiz) September 29, 2021
As you can see in this tweet and clip, Pinterest is updating the name of the program to ‘Pinterest Elevates’ which is more representative of the aims of the initiative.
As explained by Pinterest:
“The program offers tailored training and ads credit to help uplift business owners who are people of color, people with disabilities and members of the LGBTQ+ community. The program also supports our goal to make Pinterest more diverse and inclusive, by enabling the growth of underrepresented businesses on the platform.”
As noted, Participants in Pinterest Elevates will receive training, as well as ad credits to help boost their performance in the app, while they’ll also be able to attend virtual workshops on topics like branding, creative strategy and campaign management.
All participants are also assigned a personal coach to guide them towards their specific business goals, while brands will also be featured in a dedicated Pinterest Elevates showcase in the app.
It’s an important initiative, with various research reports highlighting the more significant impacts of the pandemic on businesses owned by people from minority communities.
Indeed, according to Facebook’s State of Small Business report, businesses in majority-minority neighborhoods have seen far higher closure rates (36% versus 22%), among other impacts. That could lead to longer-term societal trends, increasing economic disparity, and as such, it’s important that we look to support such businesses where possible, with a view to helping them stay in operation for the long haul.
Pinterest itself has also been working to improve its own approach to diversity and representation, both internally and externally, after various questions were raised about its company culture by former employees last year.
The Pinterest Elevates program is another part of this, while Pinterest is also working on other features and tools to help improve inclusion, and maximize opportunity, and functionality, for more community groups.
You can find out more about the Pinterest Elevates program, including how you can nominate your business, here.
