Masco Becomes Founding Partner for New Human Library App
For Masco’s nonprofit partner The Human Library, which seeks to help people “unjudge someone” through the telling of personal stories, the pandemic brought about many challenges and many opportunities. One such opportunity is now a step closer to becoming a reality as Masco has become a founding partner of the Human Library Online, a new app the nonprofit is launching that will host conversations about diversity.
Masco was one of the first Human Library partners to offer virtual sessions for employees when COVID-19 hit, with 575 employees across our business units participating as readers from home in 2020; an additional 1,200 employees are slated to attend online sessions this year.
Masco President and CEO, Keith Allman, was among the first to engage and has since continued to “read” more Human Library Books. “My personal takeaway is that we all have common ground to connect on. We are surrounded by so many incredible stories with people overcoming adversity every single day. Expanding this learning experience to its full potential creates more access to conversations that help us better understand these important issues. The sooner we can do that, the sooner we can create a more inclusive environment in our organizations and communities.”
The Human Library app builds on the success and experiences gained from last year’s online work and allows the Human Library to unite its human resources from local book depots all over the world.
“Before Covid-19 you needed to be on location at the local library, university, or festival to become a reader, or maybe you could access it through work. With our own app and human books in more than 80 countries, we can connect more people with information. Creating a safe space to explore diversity will help us better understand each other, while scaling up by reaching more readers for an even greater impact,” says Ronni Abergel, founder of the Human Library.