At a recent summit on gun violence at McKeesport Area High School , Tim Stevens, Chairman / CEO of the Black Policial Empowerment Project (B-PEP) urged community members and leaders to continue to work together on outreach efforts to at-risk youth.
Additionally, Stevens urged business leaders to commit to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) efforts in filling job vacancies to provide good paying jobs to the region, ideally providing a pathway for those who would otherwise turn to crime out of desperation.
B-PEP's Corporate Equity and Inclusion Roundtable (CEIR) Initiative was formed in 2010 with the mission of dramatically increasing diversity in local businesses and industry.
The concept of the Corporate Equity & Inclusion Roundtable is to say to every part of our region – we want an ongoing commitment embracing what we call the Revised Rooney Rule. It says that for every job, from entry-level to the C-suite, an African-American, Hispanic, someone of color will be considered. That doesn't mean that all of a sudden, all the jobs are taken by people of color. It means that people of color are now in the mix.
We want commitments to the Hybrid Rooney Rule, which similarly states that before every contract is let, an African-American, Hispanic, someone up color will be considered.
Our philosophy is very simple: if every entity in the region takes on embracing the Revised Rooney Rule and the Hybrid Rooney Rule, over a period of years we will build wealth for people of color. If you're not working and then you begin to get a check every two weeks, that's wealth. If you have a company or create a company and the company is expanded, that's building wealth.
Comments