So much change. Where do we go from here?

Stories that span generations and work toward a common goal of equality.

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On today’s episode of Up To Speed…

Racial equity and corporate America

On today’s Up To Speed, I sat down, virtually, with Clarence Otis, lead Director of the Verizon Board of Directors, and Dr. Peniel Joseph, founder of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at The University of Texas at Austin. Among a range of topics about racial equality, we discussed why this moment feels different than previous calls for change. Clarence and Peniel shared how we need to examine the corporate structures we have in place and listen to the experiences of our Black employees and customers to move towards equality in the workplace.

To help in the cause for social justice, Verizon recently pledged our support of $10 million to six non-profit activist groups.

Also on today’s episode:

A conversation on criminal justice reform

As we celebrate our first 20 years as a company and look toward the next 20, check out our first #Next20 conversation, which will focus on criminal justice reform. It premieres tomorrow and will be hosted by Yahoo News’ very own Marquise Francis.

Meeting one of our Gen Z leaders

We also heard from V Teamer Alexandria Johnson, a Media Strategy Analyst for the Activation CMO team and a former Adfellow. Alexandria may be young in years, but she is already focused on making an immediate impact. She urges us all to embrace a spirit of change today that will help us work better as individuals and as a company in the future.

A new wallet-friendly Samsung 5G device

Great news for those of us trying to keep costs down (isn’t that all of us?). The Samsung Galaxy A71 5G U-W is coming to Verizon and you can pre-order this Thursday. At $649.99, it’s the most affordable 5G Ultra Wideband smartphone.

More 5G network innovation

Our 5G engineers have found an alternative way of using millimeter-wave spectrum to get the network running, even if they don’t have fiber in place. This breakthrough will be a huge help to first responders and public safety agencies who depend on their devices to work in an emergency. Congratulations to the Engineering team for helping our response teams run to -- and perform in -- a crisis.

That’s all for now. Until next time, you’re up to speed.

If you have any questions, email them to live@verizon.com.

Click here for a transcript of the webcast.

Get the latest information on our Coronavirus Resource Page (Inside Verizon, The Street).

Reminder, tune in to Up To Speed Live tomorrow at 12 PM ET/9 AM PT.

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