Community

Working alongside community partners, we create solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges and build long-term programs that have a lasting, positive impact. We work to address immediate needs, such as reducing hunger and homelessness, providing affordable housing, and serving communities in need following natural disasters. We also look to the future, by providing programs that support STEM education and skills training.

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On this Page
our progress
2021 Highlights
1.8M
Students reached through Amazon Future Engineer
20M
Meals delivered in 25+ U.S. cities, as well as in communities in Australia, Japan, Singapore, Spain, and the UK
$2B
Housing Equity Fund launched to preserve and create affordable homes
225M+
In-kind donated items, including personal protective equipment, school supplies, and other essentials
$40M
AWS commitment to supporting health equity in communities
10M
Students impacted by Whole Foods Market’s Whole Kids Foundation since its founding
Access to Food and Basic Needs

We help address urgent issues faced by children and families from underserved communities by improving access to food and basic necessities.

our progress
As of 2021, Amazon has provided more than $8 million and 50,000 instances of support to students and their families since 2018.

We leverage our logistics network to support food banks and community organizations, delivering groceries and prepackaged meals directly to vulnerable families.

We also work to eliminate barriers to learning by providing students with clothing, hygiene products, and other supplies that help them focus on their studies. We donate to nonprofits supporting school districts in Washington state’s Puget Sound region, Northern Virginia, and Nashville, Tennessee.

Housing Equity

We believe that all people should have access to housing they can afford.

In January 2021, Amazon launched the Amazon Housing Equity Fund, a commitment of over $2 billion to preserve and create more than 20,000 affordable homes in three communities where we have a high concentration of employees: Washington state’s Puget Sound region; Washington, D.C., and Arlington, Virginia; and Nashville, Tennessee.

Our Progress
As of March 2022, the Amazon Housing Equity Fund had a significant, positive impact on rental affordability in communities Amazon calls home, with more than $1.2 billion in low-rate loans and grants committed. These commitments have preserved or created over 8,000 affordable units to house more than 18,000 people.

Spotlight
In 2021, AWS committed $40 million over three years to help organizations develop solutions to improve health outcomes for underserved or underrepresented communities. The program is open to organizations around the world that want to harness AWS technology and expertise to advance health equity.

In collaboration with local nonprofits, AWS also launched community development initiatives in villages adjoining AWS infrastructure sites in West Java, Indonesia, and Telangana, India. Initiatives include renovation of schools, provision of clean water facilities, toilets, waste management systems, hyperlocal environmental initiatives, and skill development programs for local youth.
Disaster Relief and Response

Amazon’s disaster relief and response efforts leverage our innovative technologies and global logistics network to provide fast and effective aid for communities impacted by natural disasters.

our progress
In 2021, we provided relief for 28 natural disasters. Since 2017, we have donated more than 18 million relief supplies and emergency aid items, including flashlights, tents, and search and rescue equipment.

We have filled cargo jets and shipped truckloads of Amazon-donated items to communities across the globe. We also enable customers to donate products and cash on Amazon.com and we help disaster response organizations expedite their response efforts at scale through AWS. We offer support through cloud computing technology, technical expertise, and volunteer time to help communities at every stage of a disaster lifecycle.

spotlight
To enable an even faster response to natural disasters, we opened our first disaster relief hub in our Atlanta fulfillment center in 2021—a major advancement in disaster relief planning.

It can take multiple days to respond to a natural disaster and assess, procure, consolidate, and pack supplies. To accelerate this process, Amazon analyzed data across four years of support to prepare ahead of hurricane season in the U.S. and Caribbean.

We donated and pre-stocked over 500,000 relief supplies in our hub. This preparation ensured readiness for helping six of Amazon’s humanitarian relief partners, and the hub was instrumental in providing support to Louisiana communities following Hurricane Ida.
Skills Training and STEM Education Programs

Amazon believes in the power of education to unlock human potential, which is why we invest in a range of subjects and tools to help children, higher education students, and adults tap into their potential.

In 2020, we pledged to help 29 million people around the world grow their technical skills with free cloud computing skills training by 2025. Our programs to support this commitment include Amazon Future Engineer, AWS Training and Certification, AWS re/Start, AWS Academy, AWS Educate, AWS Think Big Space, our partnership with Girls in Tech, and AWS GetIT.

Amazon Future Engineer is our global childhood-to-career computer science program, created to inspire and educate thousands of students each year from underserved and underrepresented communities. As part of this program, students explore computer science by meeting actual Amazon employees in virtual live career talks or explorations of our real-world innovations.

our progress
In 2021, Amazon Future Engineer reached 1.8 million students, and it is now available in the U.S., the UK, India, France, Germany, and Canada.

Whole Foods Market: Supporting Local Producers

We support local food producers through Whole Foods Market.

Our Progress
The Local Producer Loan Program has provided more than 370 loans since 2007, representing $26 million in capital, to our suppliers.

In addition to featuring local products in our stores, we’re providing loans to small, local, independent farmers and artisanal food producers to help them expand their businesses through the Whole Foods Local Producer Loan Program.

Whole Foods Market Foundations

To make an impact in our communities, Whole Foods Market has three foundations to support strategic programs that make an impact across the globe:

Whole Planet Foundation
Whole Cities Foundation
Whole Kids Foundation
Whole Planet Foundation is committed to alleviating global poverty for people living in communities around the world that supply products for Whole Foods Market stores.
Whole Cities Foundation expands healthy food access and nutrition education by partnering with community-led organizations to build thriving local food systems.
Whole Kids Foundation supports schools and inspires families to improve children’s nutrition and wellness.
Spotlight
In 2021, Whole Foods Market launched Sourced for Good, an exclusive program dedicated to helping customers easily identify products that support workers, communities, and environmental stewardship where our products are sourced. Customers can find the Sourced for Good seal on more than 100 products in stores, including on bananas, asparagus, peppers, tomatoes, and tulips. We’ve also expanded the program to seafood as well as to domestic suppliers, as we strive to serve more communities.

Purchasing Sourced for Good products directly contributes to causes that Whole Foods Market and our customers champion, including fair wages, ethical trade, and improved health care access.
On Whole Foods Market
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