Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) recently announced that Chief Executive Officer Scott Drury was named 2022 CEO Diversity Champion by the Southern California Minority Supplier Development Council (SCMSDC), which represents more than 1,500 certified minority-owned businesses and is the leading minority business certifying organization in Southern California.
The Job Creators Quest Grant will help diverse small businesses continue to create premium wage jobs and act as a recognition of the existing investments these organizations have already made themselves to retain and grow their workforce during the pandemic. Funding for this grant program was facilitated in part by a $1 million grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, in conjunction with Founders First Capital Partners’ recent $9 million Series A financing. Additional partners include ADP, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Union Bank, and Small Business Majority.
The leaders say California has not lived up to its commitment to equitably include African American contractors and businesses in the state’s ongoing infrastructure investments.
President-Elect Joe Biden’s administration plans to support legislation offered by District of Columbia Democratic Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton that would ensure federal agencies advertise with minority-owned businesses, including the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA).
Beginning later this year when federal agencies submit proposed budgets to one or more of the 12 Appropriations Committees, those requests now must include a line item detailing what they are spending with minority-owned businesses, which include black-, women- and other minority-owned media outlets.
The California State Legislature recently passed legislation, SB 103, championed by the California Legislative Black Caucus that will increase procurement opportunities from the California Department of Transportation for minority owned small business enterprises.
Compared to national figures, procurement with California’s minority businesses better mirrored the state’s demographics but was still low