For more than 30 years, EBF has placed promising students of color in internships at the nation's leading media, entertainment and tech companies.

About

The Emma Bowen Foundation (EBF) is a talent pipeline focused on building a more diverse media ecosystem.

EBF’s history traces back to Emma L. Bowen, a community activist who dedicated her life to making sure young people of color were given the same opportunities as others. She was especially concerned with the media's growing negative portrayal of people of color. With this in mind, Emma worked with the support of media executives from major television networks including NBC and ABC to form the Foundation for Minority Interests in Media (renamed in Emma’s honor after her passing the 1990s) to develop new initiatives encouraging diverse hiring, training and programming. This set the foundation for what EBF is today.

The media industry has changed drastically since EBF was established in 1989, but societal challenges remain, and the media industry continues to play a pivotal role in the national conversation.

EBF works with 70+ member companies across the media landscape to advocate for best practices in diverse hiring, retention and advancement. This is accomplished through employee professional development opportunities, topic-focused councils, and year-round events.

A key leader in DEI initiatives, EBF provides consultation and data-driven insights for their member companies to create more informed and robust offerings to meet their organizational goals.

History

EBF was created out of an understanding that media serves as a public square for deliberation and idea exchange. Our culture is influenced by exchanges in this space, so this public square should include and represent all voices. The civil rights movement and the continued distorted representation of diverse communities in media highlighted to trailblazing community activist Emma Bowen the power of media, the need for inclusion and the potential to hold society accountable and provide a venue for all citizens to have a voice.

Emma Bowen took on these challenges by joining a group of community activists to form Black Citizens for a Fair Media (BCFM). BCFM went directly to media executives at major television networks and their New York City-based flagship television stations to develop new initiatives that promoted diverse hiring, training and programming. These actions would lead to the creation of community affairs positions to better relationships between the media and local communities.

As BCFM ignited change in media hiring and producing, it grew into EBF as Emma Bowen turned to the future of the industry to build a pipeline of young diverse talent for the industry. With the support of several major networks – NBC, CBS and ABC– EBF began diversifying newsrooms nationally by connecting local television stations to diverse student interns in 1989.

Mission

EBF's mission is to increase diversity in media, entertainment and technology across all functions and levels. We do this by connecting promising students and experienced professionals of color to opportunities at top companies and advocating for best practices in diverse hiring, retention and advancement through our programs serving people of color at all stages of their careers.

State of the Industry

Racially and ethnically diverse companies have a 36% higher likelihood of financially outperforming less diverse companies. Despite this, media, entertainment and technology industries face issues of diversity in the United States:

·       Although 11% of U.S. workers overall are black, they make up only 7% of newsroom employees.

·       Latinos make up 4% of media industry management, despite making up 18% of the overall U.S. workforce.

·       Asian Americans make up the racial group least likely to be promoted into positions of leadership.

·       Native Americans make up less than .005% of the tech workforce in even though they represent 2 percent of the population.