Diversity & Inclusion
“To be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in a land
of dollars is the very bottom of hardships.”
-W.E.B. Dubois
The NAACP’s Diversity and Inclusion Program includes several efforts to promote greater opportunities for minorities in the American workforce.
Signature Initiatives:
Opportunity and Diversity Report Cards
Historically, the NAACP’s Economic Reciprocity Initiative (ERI) has focused on the workforce diversity of major companies within particular industries. In 2012 this project was transformed into the Opportunity and Diversity Report Card, a more formal survey-based report which assigns letter grades to companies based on how well they hire, retain, and promote minorities. In addition, the NAACP now focuses heavily on how these companies create jobs via procurement, and how well diversified their suppliers are as well. Visit Economic Reports and Issues for more of these reports.
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The Report Card has been a groundbreaking initiative for the NAACP and has resulted in invitations to speak to members of Congress, Federal agencies, and private companies about the findings in the report. Increasingly, regulations governing workforce and supplier diversity are encouraging managers to understand diversity in new ways, with an emphasis on not just hiring minorities but in identifying opportunities for promotion and procurement which create a lasting impact on the wealth in minority communities.