Why Corporate America Values Equal Opportunity - Fact Sheet
Americans for a Fair Chance - June 10, 2003
The Leadership Education and Development program (LEAD) is designed to encourage minority students to become leaders in the business community. Each year, the program selects approximately 100 African-American high school seniors to learn about the business world through classes and tours of companies and business institutions. Of its approximately 6,000 participants over the last 20 years, about 2,500 now work in the corporate world, while two-thirds earned college grade point averages of 3.0 or higher. ("Minority Students Get Schooled in the Ways of the Business World," Washington Post, August 1994)
IBM's equal opportunity program highlights early identification of employees with high leadership potential, broadening career opportunities, and recruiting qualified employees from a diversity of backgrounds. Central to IBM's Executive Resources program is the idea that recruiting, training, and retaining talented minorities is the responsibility of IBM's management, from the CEO down through second line managers. From January 1996 to March 2001, the percentage of minority executives increased 170 percent - from 117 to 316 officials. (IBM, June 2002)
The Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program was created in 1982, establishing a goal to increase the share of qualified "socially and economically disadvantaged" firms in transportation and construction industries. Flexible equal opportunity programs such as DBE have expanded opportunities for minority-owned businesses, thereby expanding the government's pool of potential business partners. From 1982 to 1991, the dollar volume of federal contracts increased by over 125 percent to minority-owned firms. (Edley, Christopher, Jr. and George Stephanopoulos, "Affirmative Action Review," Report to the President, July 1995.)
