Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-02-22
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

LGBT business event focuses on supplier diversity
by Gretchen Rachel Hammond
2016-09-28

This article shared 1084 times since Wed Sep 28, 2016
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


Law firm Baker & McKenzie hosted a Sept. 22 City Wide Pride event alongside the LGBT Chamber of Commerce of Illinois.

Four panelists addressed a standing-room only audience made up of representatives ranging from growing local businesses to worldwide industry titans on the topic of "Squaring the Supplier Diversity Circle."

Baker & McKenzie Senior Manager of Global Business Development Jeff Kessler was moderator for panelists including LGBT Chamber of Commerce of Illinois Board Chair Billy Stevenson, Grainger Senior Channel Development Manager Michael Gooding, British Petroleum ( BP ) HSSE Reporting and Investigations Lead Robin Hicks and National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce Senior Vice President Jonathan D. Lovitz.

The question at issue was the inclusion of LGBT-owned businesses in supplier diversity efforts ( targeted programming and policies designed to boost or intentionally include the use of socially or economically disadvantaged groups, minority-owned and small businesses in business procurement practices ) as the next frontier for the LGBT community to make further advancements in the wider business world and global marketplace.

"Former Congressman Barney Frank said something that sums up what supplier diversity is all about," Lovitz said. "'If you're not at the table, you're on the menu.' Without supplier diversity, we're not at the table. We don't have our foot in the door. It's a chance for an LGBT or other diverse-owned business to win a contract on merit—because you're a really good business and you just happen to be diverse. What these programs help you do is cut through the old, white, straight male boys club of the CFO's golfing partner always getting a contract because they go way back. It's not supposed to work like that. Everyone's supposed to have an equal shot."

"The LGBT community's 'pink dollar' is $917 billion," Lovitz added. "But what does that mean if we don't put it to use helping each other? It's as simple as making sure that every dollar that every ERG [employee resource group] spends or that every one of us chooses to do with our own money thinks 'could I make a choice that actively supports my own community?' We've got big municipalities saying that it's time that LGBT be included alongside everybody else because it's not just the right thing to do, it's really good business-sense."

Gooding made the distinction between the use of an ERG and a business resource group ( BRG ).

"An employee resource group is typically more of a networking function," he said. "So there is not a business imperative that they're designed to solve. A business resource group is supposed to align to some pillar or some function that the company is saying 'we need you to do this because there's a problem.'"

Hicks described her company's BRG in evolutionary phases.

"We started as an affinity group and then it became an ERG and then it became a BRG," she said. "Just as it's a journey to become a BRG, it's a journey to engage in supplier diversity, too."

She admitted that it was difficult to keep people engaged in a BRG.

"Everybody's got a different hot button," she said. "What's important to them today, might be different tomorrow."

Lovitz dramatically illustrated why the journey towards supplier diversity is, in some cases, a life-or death issue.

"LGBT economic empowerment means something different in places where our rights are not the same," Lovitz said. "Lest we forget that, in 80 countries around the world, it is still illegal to say that you're gay. Eight where you can be put to death right now. One of the best ways to fight back against that is to arm our community with money. It's a lot harder to oppress a community when they've got skin in the game in a local GDP [gross domestic product]."

Gooding noted that, in the United States, federal contractors are required to "Submit a subcontracting plan every year to the federal government to say 'of the amount of business that I'm going to buy stuff for, I'm going to try and meet these socio-economic goals.' You negotiate with the government on what those goals are going to look like."

Lovitz quoted federal government estimates of 1.4 million LGBT business owners in America. However, he acknowledged those figures did not take a lot of people into account.

"It's great to say that the whole country is wonderful but we know that there are pockets that are not LGBT-inclusive yet, so let's make Chicago the best place to do business," he said. "So that it spills over to the next state."

For more information about the LGBT Chamber of Commerce of Illinois, visit lgbtcc.com .


This article shared 1084 times since Wed Sep 28, 2016
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

Johnson and Vallas to take part in LGBTQ+-focused candidate forum March 22
2023-03-17
Affinity Community Services (Affinity), Association of Latinos/as/xs Motivating Action (ALMA) Chicago, Brave Space Alliance, Chicago Black Gay Men's Caucus, Life is Work and Task Force Chicago are co-hosting a virtual ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Folx Health, gay mayor arrested, powerlifter's suit, Versace visit
2023-03-10
Boston-based Folx Health—which provides primary healthcare services and gender-affirming healthcare to LGBTQIA people—made Fast Company's list of the world's 50 most innovative businesses. A few of the other healthcare companies ...


Gay News

National Gay Basketball Association founder steps down after more than three decades at helm
2023-03-05
Mark Chambers—the founder of the National Gay Basketball Association (NGBA)—has stepped down after more than 30 years in the business, Outsports reported. The player and organizer has been on the LGBTQ+ basketball scene since 1990, when ...


Gay News

Coalition of tradeswomen, teachers, civil rights groups applaud end of Trump-Era rule allowing discrimination
2023-03-03
--From a press release - Washington, D.C. — On March 1, the United States Department of Labor's (DOL) Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) officially rescinded a Trump-era rule that vastly expanded the ability ...


Gay News

Author Rafael Frumkin displays Confidence with their latest work
2023-02-25
Rafael Frumkin is a transgender author who is heading to Chicago for a March 8 appearance at Women & Children First in Andersonville with their latest offering Confidence. Confidence is the story of Ezra Green, ...


Gay News

Woman-owned Family Tree Resale shop helps Chicagoans in need
2023-02-22
When Elizabeth Basa opened Family Tree Resale shop in 2009 at 5066 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago's Lincoln Square neighborhood, her mission was "to build an environmentally sustainable shop centered on helping those in need in ...


Gay News

At 'FIRST(ISH)' Sight: Producer Ashley Flowers speaks on 'honest' representation
2023-02-22
Ashley Flowers—a producer, co-creator and actor in the short film First(ish) Date, now in pre-production—wears many creative hats. She also has an extensive resume working with stage and film props as well; Flowers has been working ...


Gay News

Old Town home of gay pioneer Henry Gerber finds buyer
2023-02-20
An Old Town row house that was home to two of the founders of the country's first gay-rights organization recently found a buyer, according to Crain's Chicago Business. The Henry Gerber House, 1710 N. Crilly Ct., ...


Gay News

Political veteran Kim Walz joins aldermanic race for Chicago's 46th Ward
2023-02-16
Longtime political operative Kim Walz is a contestant in the aldermanic race for the 46th Ward on Chicago's North Side. Walz previously worked as director of policy analysis and chief of staff for then-Cook County Commissioner ...


Gay News

PASSAGES: LGBTQ and HIV/AIDS activist, retired business owner Lauren Verdich
2023-02-16
Longtime LGBTQ and HIV/AIDS activist and businesswoman Lauren Verdich died Feb. 12 of complications from pancreatic cancer. She was 77. Verdich was born Dec. 30, 1945, in Chicago. She grew up in the Albany Park neighborhood ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Mayor's honor, sexuality oath, Big Freedia, TikTok COO, AIDS Quilt
2023-02-11
Openly gay San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria recently became the latest recipient of the Latino Leaders Network's Antonio Villaraigosa Leadership Award during the organization's Tribute to Mayors, the Los Angeles Blade reported. The biannual event, held ...


Gay News

ELECTIONS 2023: 48th Ward candidate Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth on why running, biggest differences from other challengers
2023-01-31
A lifelong Chicagoan, Leni Manaa-Hoppeworth is running to become the next 48th Ward Alderperson. She is currently a small business owner (Chicago Dance Supply, 5301 N. Clark St., for the past 20 years) in the ward ...


Gay News

Chicagoans gather for Jackhammer re-opening
2023-01-30
Photos by Joseph Stevens - Rogers Park leather and fetish bar Jackhammer held its grand re-opening the evening of Jan. 27 after a long renovation process. The longtime North Side watering hole opened in 1999, taking over the space previously occupied ...


Gay News

Theater Review: tick, tick...BOOM!
2023-01-19
One of the wonders of live theater is that old works can be revived and reinterpreted to respond to changes in culture and society. Often a new directorial approach can make tried-and-true material feel fresh and ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Asylum-seekers, equality updates, cannabis, HIV and COVID
2023-01-15
Advocacy groups that specifically work with LGBTQI+ asylum-seekers and migrants criticized the Biden administration's expansion of the use of "expedited removal" of Cubans, Nicaraguans, Haitians and Venezuelans who enter the ...


 




Copyright © 2023 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives. Single copies of back issues in print form are
available for $4 per issue, older than one month for $6 if available,
by check to the mailing address listed below.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.
All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transegender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.