SEATTLE, July 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- While attending the 2nd Diversity in Tech Summit at Howard University in Washington D.C., Zillow today signed on to the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Partnership Challenge created by the congressional Bipartisan HBCU Caucus.

The Challenge, led by Congresswoman Alma S. Adams (D-NC), focuses on promoting greater engagement and recruitment efforts from private companies to HBCUs and the students they serve. Zillow is among 35 other companies, including Amazon, Dell, Lyft, Pandora, and Volvo Group North America, to take the Challenge.

"Zillow believes in the value of investing in, and actively engaging with HBCUs because they provide a collaborative learning environment that equips students with the skills to become future leaders. Through our participation in the HBCU Partnership Challenge, we are committing to strengthening our recruiting pipeline through engagement with HBCUs to find many of the talented employees critical to fulfilling our mission of transforming the real estate experience for consumers so they can find and get into a home they love," said Racquel Russell, vice president of government relations and public affairs at Zillow. "Public-private partnerships like this are critical to growing a talented and diverse workforce. We applaud Congresswoman Adams and the Bipartisan HBCU Caucus for their tireless and inspirational leadership to create meaningful partnerships between the tech industry and HBCUs."

"We must ensure all industries look like America. HBCUs are the key to creating pipelines to a well-prepared, diverse workforce that are so integral to this mission. I look forward to working with Zillow to forge strong and sustainable partnerships with HBCUs to ensure equal access to 21^st century opportunities for students of color," said Congresswoman Adams, founder and co-chair of the Congressional Bipartisan HBCU Caucus. 

With offices located in the same states as half of the country's HBCUs, Zillow's participation in the Challenge is key to developing and nurturing a direct pipeline to a diverse, talented workforce in many of the communities that it currently operates in. Zillow strives to build and maintain a culture of equity and belonging where everyone feels like they belong and has the support and resources to do the best work of their careers. It's Zillow's strong belief that embracing a diverse workforce not only enhances the workplace culture but is key to its success as a company.

The HBCU Partnership Challenge encourages partners to make greater investments to engage with HBCUs. As part of the work related to the Partnership Challenge, the Bipartisan HBCU Caucus has been working together with participating businesses to establish best practices for the recruitment and retention of diverse talent. More information can be found at adams.house.gov.

About Zillow
Zillow® is transforming how people buy, sell, rent and finance homes by creating seamless real estate transactions for today's on-demand consumer. Zillow is the leading real estate and rental marketplace and  a trusted source for data, inspiration and knowledge among both consumers and real estate professionals. 

Zillow's proprietary data, technology and industry partnerships put Zillow at nearly every major point of the home shopping experience, helping consumers search for and get into their new home faster. Zillow now offers a fully integrated home shopping experience that includes access to for sale and rental listings, Zillow Offers®, which provides a new, hassle-free way to buy and sell eligible homes directly through Zillow; and Zillow Home Loans, Zillow's affiliated lender that provides an easy way to receive mortgage pre-approvals and financing. Zillow Premier Agent instantly connects buyers and sellers with its network of real estate professionals to help guide them through home shopping process. For renters, Zillow's innovations are streamlining the way people search, tour, apply and pay rent for leased properties. 

In addition to Zillow.com, Zillow operates the most popular suite of mobile real estate apps, with more than two dozen apps across all major platforms. Launched in 2006, Zillow is owned and operated by Zillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:Z and ZG) and headquartered in Seattle.

Zillow and Zillow Offers are registered trademarks of Zillow, Inc.

SOURCE Zillow