The Levi Strauss Foundation has committed $1 million to a Rapid Response Fund for the third year in a row. The fund supports organisations and initiatives that protect highly vulnerable communities across the United States and the world. This includes projects helping immigrants, refugees, the transgender community and religious minorities. The project supports organizations that challenge the Muslim ban, protect asylum seekers and refugees, and restore voting rights to individuals in marginalised communities.

In the United States, organisations receiving help include: Al Otro Lado, American Immigration Council, Define American, Live Free, National Immigration Law Center, Transgender Law Center, Undocublack, and United We Dream. In addition, the Levi Strauss Foundation will ensure support goes to Ascend Collaborative and International Refugee Assistance Project, both of which are based outside the US.

Levi Strauss is taking the opportunity as a newly publicly traded company to breathe fresh life into its brands and approach to business. The new chapter the company is writing is being driven by changes in retail-consumer relationship and the push to expand its reach to new customers in new ways. A key strategy is to become a leading world-class omnichannel retailer. Another vital strategy is to diversify the business by expanding more into tops and women’s under-penetrated markets.