PR Advocacy Group Hold The PRess Merges With 600 & Rising

NEW YORK, July 27, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- 600 & Rising, a non-profit dedicated to advocating for and advancing Black advertising talent, has announced a merger with Hold the PRess, a newly-launched group committed to improving diversity in the public relations and communications industry. The two groups have united all efforts moving forward, with the aim of establishing effective policy and programming that dismantles systemic racism across the advertising, marketing and public relations spectrum. Hold the PRess will continue as an extension of 600 & Rising focused on public relations agencies and led by its founders.

"We're excited to be joining forces with the Hold the PRess team," said Nathan Young, president of 600 & Rising. "The move to unite the work of 600 & Rising and Hold the PRess makes sense, as we're both focused on making radical change for the better. By combining resources, we increase our ability to affect positive change in both industries and deliver progress for Black talent."

Hold the PRess was created by Sade Ayodele, director of Taylor's digital sports group; Nysah Warren, account executive at Taylor; Fatou Barry, founder of The PR Girl Manifesto; and Enoma Owens, account executive at Connective Agency. The initiative was founded in response to public relations agencies publicly sharing words of solidarity in reaction to police brutality protests; however, in practice, Black employees remain underrepresented in the industry. According to the Harvard Business Review's analysis of the federal labor statistics, the public relations industry is 89.7% White, 8.3% Black, 2.6% Asian and 5.7% Hispanic or Latinx.

"Hold the PRess has always been about truly holding the public relations industry accountable for its lack of diversity," said Ayodele. "By joining forces with 600 & Rising, we are able to bring a cohesive front to advertising and public relations, while maintaining our goal of enabling meaningful and measurable change for Black public relations professionals."

The Hold the PRess initiative includes over 300 signatories from the public relations industry, who will join 600 & Rising's membership, bringing the total to more than 3,800 Black members and non-Black allies. The initiative also includes a diversity data campaign asking public relations and communications to publicly share data on their racial composition and a diversity action plan by July 31, 2020, which will proceed. Public relations and communications agencies that have not shared their diversity data and action plans to diversify moving forward will be listed on their website beginning in August. The full list of Hold the PRess asks and demands can be found at www.holdthe-press.com.

As part of the union, Ayodele has been named to 600 & Rising's Board of Directors as the PR Agency Relations Chair. The remaining founders, Warren, Barry and Owens, will assume roles on 600 & Rising's PR Agency Relations Committee, which will specifically be focused on public relations and communications agencies.

About 600 & Rising 

600 & Rising is a non-profit organization dedicated to advocating for Black employees of U.S. advertising, marketing, public relations and communication agencies. We are committed to ensuring equal opportunity and pay equity for our over 3,800 members and allies, and we aim to bring about a world where Black agency talent can thrive as their true selves.

600 and Rising, Inc., is a Delaware non-profit corporation with pending 501(c)3 status.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Megan Tuck [email protected] 

SOURCE 600 & Rising