More than 100 companies join coalition to support refugees in U.S. as new data shows consumers more likely to back brands that support refugees

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Jun 20, 2022, 09:00 ET

CEOs and former Secretary of Commerce call on businesses to hire, train, and support refugees across the country, make commitments at summit in September

NEW YORK, June 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- To mark World Refugee Day, the Tent Partnership for Refugees (Tent) is announcing that more than 100 major companies have joined its Coalition for Refugees in the U.S. to help create economic opportunity for forcibly displaced people as they start their new lives in America. The organization also announced a summit in September that will feature significant corporate commitments to hire and train refugees.

As part of this growing Coalition launched in the wake of the evacuation of Kabul, some of America's biggest companies have pledged to explore how to reduce barriers for refugees to integrate into the U.S. economy – a lifeline for displaced people and a vital step for America to harness their economic potential. New companies joining the coalition include Burger King, Cargill, Delta Air Lines, Indeed, Lyft, and Marriott.

"I am so proud of the more than 100 companies stepping up for refugees today – this outpouring of support for refugees would have been hard to imagine just a few years ago," Hamdi Ulukaya, CEO of Chobani and Founder of Tent, said. "We must seize this moment and encourage all companies in every sector and every state to support refugees in the way they know best: by giving them a job to help them start a new life."

Building on this Coalition, and in coordination with Welcome.US, CEOs – including Ulukaya, Pfizer's Albert Bourla, ManpowerGroup's Jonas Prising, and EmPath's Carlos Gutierrez, the former U.S. Secretary of Commerce – issued an urgent call to action, challenging the country's largest employers to commit to hire, train, mentor, and support refugees over the next three years. They called on companies to announce their initial commitments to help tens of thousands of refugees at a U.S. Business Summit for Refugees to be held in September.

Tent also released a new survey with the NYU Stern School of Business showing that supporting refugees makes good business sense. The research reveals that 63 percent of U.S. consumers are more likely to purchase from brands involved in helping refugees – exceeding the percentage of consumers that back brands selling fair trade products or environmentally-friendly products.

"With equity as one of our corporate values, Pfizer set a goal to hire at least 100 refugees by the end of 2022 and mentor at least 150. We are proud to have already hired 50 refugees who are bringing a wealth of ingenuity, hard work, and life experience to our business," Bourla said. "Additionally, we have begun to mentor 70 refugees to date. As these people rebuild their lives, our company will thrive too, and I urge more businesses to join us in welcoming our refugee neighbors into our workforces."

"As labor shortages continue to hinder so many sectors of our economy, companies will benefit by including traditionally overlooked job candidates – like refugees – in their workforce. We call on more businesses to seize this unique opportunity to diversify and expand their talent pool, while helping refugees better integrate in their communities," Prising said.

"As someone who came to the U.S. as a child refugee from Cuba, I believe that the private sector can have a transformational and uplifting impact on communities and whole societies – and businesses will benefit when they open their doors to refugees," Gutierrez said.

The names of the more than 100 major companies that have joined the Tent Coalition for Refugees in the U.S. can be found here.

A summary of the survey findings, How Helping Refugees Helps Brands, developed in partnership with NYU Stern can be found here.

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About the Tent Partnership for Refugees
With more and more refugees displaced for longer periods of time, businesses have a critical role to play in helping refugees integrate economically in their new host communities. The Tent Partnership for Refugees mobilizes the global business community to improve the lives and livelihoods of more than 36 million refugees who have been forcibly displaced from their home countries. Founded by Chobani's founder and CEO Hamdi Ulukaya in 2016, we are a network of over 250 major companies committed to including refugees. Tent believes that companies can most sustainably support refugees by leveraging their core business operations – by engaging refugees as potential employees, entrepreneurs and consumers. The full list of Tent members can be found here. Find out more at www.tent.org.

SOURCE Tent Partnership for Refugees