We are excited to share that Best Buy was awarded a silver Halo Award by Engage for Good, an organization focused on helping companies pursuing socially responsible agendas. The Halo Awards are North America’s highest honor for corporate social impact initiatives that successfully engage consumers and/or employees.
We were recognized in the category of Best JEDI Initiative (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) for our partnership with PopSockets, which launched during Black History Month last year. The partnership matched four teens from Best Buy Teen Tech Center® programs with mentors from PopSockets.
Teen Tech Centers are safe, after-school spaces where teens can explore their passions with access to cutting-edge technology, including tools for film, digital media, audio engineering and music production. Alongside their mentors, the teens created PopGrips, small, round attachments that connect to the backs of phones and tablets to help users hold and prop up their devices.
The teens were commissioned and compensated through PopSockets’ process for freelance designers, giving teens a chance to follow along on the journey from ideation to seeing their creations sold in-store and online at Best Buy and online at Popsockets.com. A portion of each sale of the PopGrips is donated to the Best Buy Foundation and reinvested into the Best Buy Teen Tech Center® program.
The program has expanded over the last year, doubling its reach during LGBTQIA+ Pride Month and Latinx Heritage Month. Later this summer, Best Buy and PopSockets plan to unveil another batch of teen-designed PopGrips.
This initiative between PopSockets and Best Buy Teen Tech Centers works to better address underrepresentation, technology inequities and educational and career opportunities for those who need it most.
Learn more about how Best Buy is supporting local communities.