Guilford County government passes all sorts of resolutions for all kinds of things – such as, for instance, celebrating National Ballroom Dance Week.
And, on Thursday, July 18, the Board of Commissioners is going to adopt a resolution at their meeting honoring the second anniversary of the “Accelerate Economic Equity Summit + Opportunity Fair,” which will take place on the same day the resolution is adopted – July 18.
If you own or run a local business, are high up in the HR department, or are just interested in learning more about DEI for your workplace, the commissioners are encouraging you to take part.
The timing of the resolution is a little unfortunate because it is meant to bring publicity to the Equity Summit but the county commissioners will be discussing the matter right as the event is ending.
The resolution concludes “Now, Therefore, Be It Resolved that the Guilford County Board of Commissioners does hereby proclaim and celebrate ‘The Second Annual Accelerate Economic Equity Summit And Opportunity Fair’ and encourages Guilford County businesses to participate in the summit and educational workshops that will encourage economic development in an effort to affirm our community’s commitment to the principle of equality. Adopted this, the 18th day of July 2024.”
The purpose of the summit, according to the promotional materials for the event is “to educate the business community about the importance of purposeful, targeted diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts and to expose ethnic minority-owned firms in the region to contract opportunities with large companies, public institutions and municipalities.”
It will take place at North Carolina A&T State University.
The event starts at 10 a.m. at Harrison Auditorium, with a short program to share updates about supplier diversity and economic equity in the region.
According to the promotional literature, that will be followed by “a can’t-miss fireside chat featuring real stories from successful businesses.”
“Real Talk. Real Stories” will be moderated by NC Triangle and Triad’s Business Banking Market Executive for Bank of America Felicia Woodard.
At noon, the summit will continue at the Alumni-Foundation Event Center with a Triad Business Journal Leaders in Diversity Panel, which attendees can hear while enjoying lunch.
From 1:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. there will be two different workshop tracks offered at the Alumni-Foundation Event Center: One for HR, DEI, business partners and administrative professionals. It will address equity in the workplace. The other is for minority-owned businesses, and it covers topics such as financing, strategic and succession planning and procurement.
Then from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., the Minority Business Opportunity Fair will be held in Corbett Sports Center at NC A&T.
“Companies with contracting opportunities and/or supplier diversity goals are encouraged to sponsor a booth at the fair,” the organizers note. “Attendance at the fair will be open to local minority-owned firms. The goal of the opportunity fair is to create space for mutually-beneficial relationships to develop between minority-owned businesses and regional anchor institutions. There will also be business resources and strategic networking.”
Individual tickets for the morning session only from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. are $20.
Tickets for the full day will set you back $100. That includes the morning session, the Triad Business Journal panel discussion, workshops, and the opportunity fair.
Title Sponsors are Cone Health and Bank of America, and this event is being hosted in partnership with the Greensboro Chamber and East Greensboro NOW.
The commissioners’ resolution to be adopted by the county states that “through the leadership of the Greater Greensboro Chamber of Commerce and East Greensboro NOW, we celebrate their efforts to merge common interests and attract majority- and minority-owned enterprises into the industry conversation and create additional contracting opportunities.”
It adds that the Chamber’s Accelerate Economic Equity Summit and East Greensboro NOW’s Minority Business Opportunity Fair merged two years ago, and it “recognizes the outstanding results of educating the business community regarding dedicated, purposeful, and targeted diversity, equity, and inclusion thrusts in the entrepreneurial space.”
It concludes that the “shared goal of community building embodies this event in Guilford County and recognizes and celebrates a combined effort to enhance and sustain the economic vibrancy of our community, and to promote successful collaborations from all regions in their continued growth and success.”
Smile.
Semantics! Socialism is the short version.
Aren’t a lot of big corporations firing their DEI departments now? Infact, I thought DEI was passé. The geniuses are now calling it IED (not to be confused with intermittent explosive disorder or improvised explosive device, totally applicable puns) because it is stupid, and society is done with it.
Our tax dollars at work.
In all of human history, economic equity has been best exemplified by laissez faire free market systems.
I suggest our local yokels implement policies that reduce barriers to entry, cut regulations, restrictions, and requirements, and lighten the burden of taxation and red tape.
The only thing that has come out of Laissez faire free markets is monopolies, labor abuse, environmental abuse, and price fixing. Capitalism has been and always will be about a single focus, profits. Just look at early industrial age labor issues such as children workers, unsafe working conditions, pollution of local waters leading to illness and death of entire communities, small businesses being bullied out of business by large corporations.
Regulations force a minimum standard on Companies and without those regulations, they will burn down the world in the name of short-term profits. History doesn’t lie. Austin does.
Conservatives live in a fantasy land if they believe removing regulations will do anything other than line the pockets of big business. That’s why Trump and project 2025 want to remove ALL regulatory bodies, so they can stop having to worry about workers, environment, and competitive fairness and make more money for themselves.
Capitalism only works with a strong central government that protects its citizens, land, water and even more so now, Climate.
You post as a fool.
prove me factually wrong. Bet you can’t, given that all you could come up with is a childish insult. LOL Typical modern conservative.
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I apologize to all the readers. There is an angry loser here who monopolizes these columns and who has some kind of fixation with me.
He believes himself some kind of genius who can summarize the historic debates of Keynes v. Hayek, Samuelson v. Friedman, and even Marx v. Smith, right here in a couple of paragraphs.
We are – like you Chris – amazed by your intellectual abilities…
There goes Austin talking about himself again. You know, the guy that made 20 out of 48 comments under his own letter to the editor. Of course I was the other 21 comments LOL.
It is amazing the lack of self-awareness Austin has like a lot of modern conservatives. Must be a result of Reaction Formation. Maybe that is why he is so anti-LGBTQ?
What…???
Spoken like a true liberal. . .which everyone already knew. I recommend you take a class in economics called “Supply and Demand” so you will be educated on the difference and a new meaning on the how they balance out each other.
I have a minor in economics and read on the topic rather regularly, but I am not sure what you mean by supply and demand in regard to the importance of regulatory bodies to keep balance in big business’s pursuit of profits versus the common good of the communities that they operate in.
Are you just quoting from a children’s book on economics? May I recommend YOU take a class in economics called “regulatory economics” or “regulatory impact analysis” as that is actually what I was discussing in my comment.
But you be you.
Economic equity? You mean. . .communism?
DEI is alive and well in our local governments and the push for more DEI. In college you don’t hear DEI mentioned in economics classes in college, but you will an earful of it in the sociology classes.
Think if this way. . .you need to hire 2 employees to dig ditches. . .4 men show up. . .one Black, one White, one Asian, and one Hispanic. Who do you hire?. . . . .the ones who brought their own shovels, not the color of their skin.
Nope. That is the typical conservative propaganda. No one on the left believes government should take ownership of private enterprises. (look up what communism actually means) Economic equity only means equal access and fair play in the marketplace for job access and small business opportunities.
By your example, you believe in Economic equity. Good for you. It is a myth that DEI means hiring quotas or mandates. Even in a DEI world you hire the most qualified. I know your cult members tell you otherwise but as normal, conservative lie to feed their agenda. (Dems due to but in my opinion not near as much as Trump as made the norm.)
So. . .anyone who disagrees with you is spouting propaganda? Might I suggest that can also be said of you as well? I worked in the HR field for many years and can tell you that DEI “is” a policy of hiring certain percentages of the population based on race. . .er um, ethnic identities. It started back in the 1970s with affirmative action which was finally outlawed by the Supreme Court, so their proponents created a new term called DEI. See how this works?
Large general statements with no basis in fact is exactly what defines, propaganda.
– He starts his comment equating DEI with communism. = factually incorrect so propaganda
In regard to your assertion that my comment was propaganda, my reference / source for the comment comes from:
Executive Order 13985. It promotes equity, civil rights, racial justice, and equal opportunity within the federal workforce. It establishes that the federal government should cultivate a workforce reflecting the full diversity of the nation, removing barriers to equal opportunity. However, it does not explicitly mandate quotas; rather, it encourages a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment.
Another Source:
The applicable regulation promulgated by the Office of Federal Contractor Compliance Programs specifically forbids the use quotas and preferences in affirmative action programs. Specifically, Title 41 C.F.R. 60-2.16 (e)
If some corporations (i.e. private business) want quotas that is their personal choice…not a mandate of DEI programs.
Antidotes don’t = a source and my comment doesn’t = propaganda as it was based in fact.
But you be you.
Cone Health & BOA have been on my s%*t list long before now.