Recent events have made one thing clear to us: our country is hurting. These events have caused us at Frontier Marketing to consider how we can take action.

One of our core competencies is Care for the Community. We value this as an organization because we believe in giving back to our community.

Therefore, we have taken these recent events to heart and reflected on what we can do to fight racism and police brutality. We purposefully and clearly are declaring Black Lives Matter. Here are the steps we will take to carry that message.

As we see what is going on with the world, it is clear to us that no change will come if we don’t take the time to listen. We believe in the importance of understanding all points of view. A quote we value is “seeking to understand rather than to be understood”. This concept seems very fitting with our current events and we at Frontier Marketing will do our best to live up to this principle.

Therefore, the first step we have taken is to stop and listen to conversations taking place. We believe this is an ongoing process and a valuable first step to figuring out how to make a difference.

Frontier Marketing supports our communities and nonprofits. We donate time, services and resources to a number of organizations throughout the Northern Illinois area. In response to recent events, we want to do the same for organizations doing important work in relation to supporting Black Americans.

We have decided to donate to the following causes:

We support this organization because of the valuable programs it provides for Black Americans. These programs promote safety and economic development for the people that need it most. Our hope is that our donation furthers the support those programs offer.

We have also decided to donate to our local chapter of Black Lives Matter. We appreciate this grassroots organization’s commitment to calling out injustice, violence, and racism. And we support them in their efforts to start important conversations in our country.

Finally, we are donating to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). We admire this organization’s passion for supporting hardworking students as they pursue a college education. We hope our donation will help give deserving students the opportunity to thrive.

Our goal is to continue to find good causes to donate to help those who need it.

We have volunteered together as a team to support good causes. We believe in loving our neighbors as we love ourselves. We want to find ways to donate our time collectively to end systemic racism.

Therefore, we are actively looking for ways to come together and serve. We don’t know what this will look like yet, but do commit to move forward with this action.

As we look for ways to help as a company, that has not stopped us from acting in our personal lives.

Support has looked different for each of us. Some have taken part in peaceful protests and engaged in civic discourse to raise awareness of important issues. Others have made donations to nonprofit and religious organizations dedicated to forwarding positive change.

We know we have a long way to go, but we are committed to continuing to find ways to contribute.

For our team, this has been a time of deep reflection and grief. We grieve for the Black community, and we condemn all forms of racism and injustice that still exist in this country.

Yet we also have hope because we still believe in the power of love. We know that as we work together to take positive steps for change, we can create a better world. After all, as Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.”