Tim Cook meets with Congressional Black Caucus members as part of diversity push

The meeting was held on the first day of the two-day visit, in which the lawmakers met with top tech executives in order to encourage diversity in the industry, whether among engineers, executives or investors.

According to the Washington Post, four members of Congress made the trip to California, including Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), and Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY.) In addition to Apple, the officials met with representatives of Twitter and Airbnb.

Other focuses of the meetings included encouraging support for minority-owned startups, while also pushing for ways to make it more affordable to live in San Francisco and other tech hub cities. The members of Congress told the Post that they would also push Apple and the other companies in the tech sector to "commit to new investment goals, including greater funding for science and engineering education programs."

Apple reaction

Tim Cook sent a tweet after the meeting Monday, stating that it was an "honor" to host the lawmakers "for a conversation about diversity in tech."

Cook did not send a tweet last week or issue any public comment at all, after he met with President Trump at the White House.

Apple and Diversity

When it comes to diversity and racial discrimination, Apple has made a big push in recent years, following pressure from both activists and shareholders alike.

Apple has a 9 percent African-American U.S. workforce, although Apple said that half of the new hires it made during a 12-month period in 2016 and 2017 were from "historically underrepresented groups in tech, according to Apple's most recent diversity report, released late last year. It also found that non-whites now represent 46 of the company's U.S. workforce.

Denise Young Smith, Apple's first VP of Inclusion and Diversity, departed the company at the end of 2017.