Kentucky State Agencies to Rethink Minority Hiring Goals
Feature Story by civilrights.org staff - 6/15/2005
Kentucky governmental offices fell short of their 10 percent minority employment goals in the last half of 2004, according to newly released data from the governor's office.Statewide goals were raised from 7.51 percent by Governor Ernie Fletcher last summer to reflect latest census figures. All seven state constitutional offices, including Fletcher's office, failed to meet the new minority employment goals.
Fletcher's 60-person office employed five minorities between July and December 2004, which at 8.33 percent, falls short of the governor's own new goal.
Harry Alford, president of the National Black Chamber of Commerce said in a Courier-Journal article that it is up to Governor Ernie Fletcher to effect statewide change on this issue. "All the governor has to say is, 'Look, team, this is what we're going to do,' and the team follows," he said.
Other offices are taking a variety of steps to recruit minorities and rectify the situation.
Former state Rep. Eleanor Jordan is preparing a plan for Attorney General Greg Stumbo's office--his office includes 20 minorities out of a total of 225 employees (8.89 percent)--that includes recruiting at high schools and universities, partnering with civil rights groups, and involving minorities in the interviewing process.
Transportation Secretary Bill Nighbert's solution is to change the affirmative action hiring goals entirely. Minorities make up 360 of the 5,275 transportation employees, or 6.82 percent.
Nighbert proposes to raise the goal in areas of Kentucky with a higher minority population and lower it in areas with a very low population of minorities. Similar policies have been enacted in Indiana and Massachusetts, based on the theory that hiring policies should reflect the racial makeup of the populations in which each agency is located.
However, many critics say that this strategy does not address the real problem of the state's hiring practices and instead, offers only a quick fix to a problem that requires creative solutions. A coalition of clergy, civil rights activists, and minority contractors plan to hold a rally today at the Statehouse and Transportation Cabinet in Frankfort to protest Nighbert's new plan to lower goals.
The Transportation Cabinet must submit a new and updated affirmative action plan to the Federal Highway Administration by July 19 or risk losing federal dollars.
Other avenues considered by the Cabinet to boost recruitment include a tuition program with Kentucky State University. Under this proposal, the Cabinet would pay students' tuition and, in exchange, the students would be required to work for the Cabinet after graduation for a few years.
