Arizona’s David Green is the latest CEO to join a national coalition of corporate leaders who have signed pledges to advance diversity and inclusion in their workplaces.  

Green, the president and CEO of blood services provider Vitalant, is one of more than 1,200 company presidents who have joined the new CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion.  

It’s not just about hiring more people, it’s about making a collective difference at the national level to end racism in the workplace, he said. 

“We believe that our employees want to have discussions about these kinds of issues,” Green said. “I think it behooves us to create those opportunities for dialogue because the more our employees feel comfortable talking about tough issues, I think the more engaged they will be and the more likely they will continue to contribute at a high level.” 

Vitalant, headquartered in Scottsdale, is the nation’s largest independent, nonprofit blood services provider with 5,000 employees nationwide. In Arizona, Vitalant companies employ 800. 

Among the steps Green is taking to do his part, is to hire a diversity and inclusion director to help guide the company forward. 

“What we’ll be asking for is to engage in dialogue with our employees to talk about some of the issues that many of us don’t know how to talk about and a review of all our policies and practices to be more in line with our company values,” Green said.

Largest CEO-driven business commitment  

The is the largest CEO-driven business commitment to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace. The coalition represents 85 industries, all 50 states, and about 13 million employees globally.

It is led by a steering committee of CEOs and leaders from Accenture, BCG, Deloitte US, The Executive Leadership Council, EY, General Atlantic, KPMG, New York Life, Procter & Gamble, and PwC.  

Those who join the movement sign a that outlines actions CEOS will take to “cultivate a trusting environment where all ideas are welcomed, and employees feel comfortable and empowered to have discussions about diversity and inclusion.”The group also shares best known actions, exchanges learning opportunities and creates collaborative conversations through the initiative’s unified hub,

Arizona CEOs who have signed the pledge

Other Arizona CEOs who have signed the pledge include:

• Donald Slager, Republic Services
• Girish Rishi, Blue Yonder
• Adam Goodman, Goodmans Interior Structures
• Morag Lucey, Televerde
• Guillermo Novo, Versum Materials
• Nancy Ham, WebPT
• Brian Hannasch, Alimentation Couche-Tard/Circle K

To see a complete list of all CEOs who have signed the pledge, go to: .

About Vitalant 

Formerly known as Blood Systems, Vitalant is headquartered in Scottsdale and is the nation’s largest independent, nonprofit blood services provider exclusively focused on providing lifesaving blood and comprehensive transfusion medicine services. Founded in 1943, today it comprises a network of more than 125 community blood centers. Vitalant provides blood and special services to patients in nearly 1,000 hospitals across 40 states.

For more information, .

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As the American economy wobbles under the outbreak of COVID-19, small businesses across the nation have a lifeline thanks to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Despite this massive federal stimulus, however, private enterprise still faces slumped demand, reduced spending, and regulatory burdens. This has put a strain on wages and forced many long-standing local businesses to close their doors.

In light of these economic conditions, Wells Fargo has transformed its stated commitment to promoting small business into reality. Donating $400 million in PPP transfer fees “back to nonprofits serving the small business community,” Wells Fargo has led the industry in supporting job creators and workers alike.

Open for Business Fund

“Community Development Financial institutions (CDFIs), nonprofit lenders and special purpose funds formed by CDFIs with an emphasis on serving racially and ethnically diverse-owned businesses are encouraged” by the bank to apply for said funds. This is an integral part of Wells Fargo’s commitment to stimulating growth for all Americans, especially those who have been disproportionately excluded from economic opportunity in the past.

As the United States and the rest of the world continues to weather the Coronavirus pandemic, the future is still unclear. But Wells Fargo has assured its customers that “[a]dditional grant cycles around technical assistance and long-term resiliency and recovery” will be open in the  future.

PPP impact

Already, the PPP has benefited thousands of American small businesses directly. And many of those who have received assistance are loyal customers to the stagecoach lender. In fact, 84% of PPP loan recipients through Wells Fargo have been businesses with 10 employees or fewer.

The bipartisan stimulus has provided aid through lending institutions to over , totaling $511 billion. Small businesses employ nearly half of all American workers, thus providing them with the extra liquidity necessary to bridge this recession is viewed as a primary objective of lawmakers in Washington.

More information on the details of the CARES Act’s PPP can be found .

A recovery for all

As corporations and citizens across the United States reconsider their strategies to eliminate racism and foster equal opportunity, Wells Fargo has made sure that in keeping industry afloat, the most vulnerable communities’ needs are at the forefront of the process. 

In its statement on diversity and inclusion, Wells Fargo says it is  “committed to advancing diversity and inclusion by helping ensure that all people across our workforce, our communities, and our supply chain feel valued and respected and have equal access to resources, services, products, and opportunities to succeed.”

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The murder of Mr. George Floyd by Minneapolis police on Memorial Day ripped open the never-healed wound of racism in the USA. The widespread, pain-filled, angry protests that have ensued are a consequence of us being involuntarily invited to watch a real live execution, seeing Mr. Floyd beg to breathe, call for his deceased mother and go limp in death. 

We are now suffering from PTSD as a nation. The horrific killing of Mr. Floyd occurred in the context of COVID-19, bitter, divisive partisan politics and no call for national unity from the White House. 

Our communication about one another racially must change. Stop calling non-White people minorities, which means less than the majority. Identify African-Americans and other non-Whites as people of color. 

We are not less than White people and there is nothing minor about the way God created us. People of color are the majority of the human race and will soon be the majority in our country.  

We must confess of America’s originating sin of systemic racism. However, it requires humility, honesty and transparency to take this absolutely necessary action for us to begin to experience lasting racial healing. 

From 1619 on, systemic racism has oppressed, abused, maligned, manhandled, mistreated and murdered people of color, especially African-Americans, both legally and illegally in this land. The White power structures in government, business and even religion have perpetrated and perpetuated the evil of systemic racism for over 400 years. 

The U.S. Constitution with its promise to establish justice did not have women or people of color in mind when written in 1789. Although it has been amended to include justice for them, virtually every aspect of our lives continues to be infected with the malignant virus of racial prejudice. That’s how we find ourselves in this ugly, deadly place even after having elected the first African-American president of the United States of America twice. 

The informed knowledge of White privilege and “Black underprivilege” must become as common as the American dream. The former involves the acquired benefits of being White. The latter is the assigned punishments for being a person of African descent. 

This brings us to a must for our healing—change. After realizing our context, rewording our communication about one another and confessing our national sin of racism, from the top to the bottom, we must repent of our perpetual transgression against people of color. 

Repentance means going in the opposite direction. Those of us who have committed the sin of systemic racism, some, perhaps, unknowingly and unintentionally, must commit with our total beings to destroy racism in America. That will only be done when the mostly White power structures and people partner with African-Americans and other people of color as equals working towards equity for all in our lifetimes. 

Context, communication,ĚýconfessionĚýand change—that’s what must be involved for us to heal from racism, Mr. George Floyd’s murder and its aftermath.

Dr. Warren H. Stewart, Sr. is senior pastor of the First Institutional Baptist Church, Phoenix, chairs theĚýAfrican-AmericanĚýChristian Clergy Coalition, led the Victory Together Campaign that won a MartinĚýLuther King, Jr./Civil Rights Day in Arizona by a vote of the people in 1992, and is a husband,Ěýfather ofĚýseven children and grandfather of 13.Ěý

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