Nearly 1 in 3 women worldwide have experienced sexual assault and/or domestic violence in their lifetime. It can happen anywhere – in our homes, our schools, our workplaces, our transportation and even our public spaces.
Sexual assault and domestic violence violate a person’s trust and feelings of safety. The ripple effects can last a lifetime. These issues know no boundaries and affect all genders and communities around the globe, including the Uber community.
Today we are making a major commitment to drive change.
Twenty-four people per minute experience domestic violence and/or sexual assault in the United States alone. That’s more than 12 million people over the course of a year. These are not numbers. They are our family, our friends, our colleagues and our neighbors.
Working together with members of courageous, thought-leading organizations like Raliance, National Network to End Domestic Violence and NO MORE, we have spent months learning from experts and doing what we feel is an important first step: Listening.
From having honest conversations with experts who are on the front lines tirelessly raising awareness of sexual assault and domestic violence everyday, to asking ourselves some important questions. How we can best use our resources? How can we activate our vast global network of users – including riders and drivers – and employees to raise awareness and drive prevention? How can we be part of the solution?
As a result of this ongoing collaboration we have begun to make important changes internally and will commit to use Uber’s scope and visibility to help drive awareness, education and prevention of sexual assault and domestic violence to millions globally.
- Committing $5 million to fund prevention initiatives
The $5 million commitment over five years will fund programmatic partnerships focused on prevention. An initial portion of the funding will go to our partners Raliance, National Network to End Domestic Violence, NO MORE, Women of Color Network, Inc., Casa de Esperanza, A CALL TO MEN, and The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs. These partners and the funding will also help address critical funding gaps with marginalized communities who are often the most underfunded.
- Providing important information to drivers and riders
According to experts, driving awareness can help prevent sexual assault and domestic violence. In collaboration with Raliance, National Network to End Domestic Violence and NO MORE, and our Safety Advisory Board, we have developed awareness and prevention messaging and are using our global scope and scale through our in-app technology to inform millions of riders and drivers.
- Making a commitment to employees
We have joined the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence to develop and adopt a commitment to appropriately assist employees who might need our help in this area.
- Implementing employee education and training
Starting with our executive leadership team, we are educating employees with training by experts from the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence and the National Network to End Domestic Violence. Our new partnerships have enabled us to offer world-class training to our customer support agents that reflects collective wisdom in this space and imparts an understanding of this societal issue while building empathy.
Uber’s technology enhances safety for riders and drivers in ways that weren’t possible before such as GPS tracking, the ability to share a trip with family and friends, and 24/7 support through the app. We use technology to increase accountability and transparency such as providing riders with driver and car information before a trip and our two-way feedback system and features like Real-Time ID Check which help verify that the right driver is behind the wheel. Continuing to invest in this technology and develop new products that contribute to the safety of everyone who drives and rides using the app is a top priority.
We will continue to listen, learn, collaborate and build on our commitment to prevent sexual assault and domestic violence. Many other efforts have already been set in motion from global listening tours, to internal speaker series, to engaging employee volunteerism. We choose not to remain silent but to join other leading corporations and organizations pioneering efforts in this area.
From our more than 15,000 employees to our millions of riders and drivers around the globe, we are helping create new allies who can shed a light on this important issue and help transform lives. Working together, we can help end sexual assault and domestic violence.
For more information click here.
Join the thousands of people who have taken NO MORE’s pledge. Take action.
Read Full Article Here: https://www.uber.com/newsroom/driving-change-together/