RBJ committed to expanding DEI coverage

The Rochester Business Journal started hosting the annual Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Summit in 2019 to educate business leaders on the importance of adopting diverse practices and creating a diverse company culture.

This year’s event, held March 15, drew more than 200 attendees to hear insights from keynote speaker Julio Jordan, Director of Diversity, Equity, Justice, and Inclusion for the Ibero-American Action League, and from panels on Building Inclusive Work Environments and on Power, Privilege and Allyship. You can read more about Julio’s keynote address and the lessons from the two panels on these pages.

We are incredibly grateful to our sponsors for their continued support of this event. Presenting Sponsor ESL Federal Credit Union, Leadership Sponsor Woods Oviatt Gilman LLP, Recognition Sponsor Trillium Health, Advocate Sponsor L3Harris, and all of our supporting sponsors played a critical role in allowing us to host this important event.

The Rochester Business Journal is committed to providing more regular content for local businesses about the importance of DEI efforts and about the diversity of the businesses and business leaders we have here in the Rochester region.

First, we are planning to launch a monthly column on DEI insights by leveraging the expertise of DEI leaders at local companies and organizations. I would encourage any DEI leader who is interested in contributing to reach out to me for further discussion.

We also want to increase the number of stories we tell about minority-owned businesses, and we are working with organizations in the community to tell those stories. That includes a new partnership with LáLew Public Relations, LLC to publish a monthly feature spotlighting Black and brown businesses. If you know of a minority-owned business that you think we should write about, please reach out to me with their information or visit www.lalewpr.com and click on “Submit Your Story.”

And we want to tell the stories of companies that are taking the lead in making DEI practices a key part of their culture. If your company is doing an excellent job with its diversity efforts and you would like to share how the company has achieved those results, please reach out to me so we can consider shining a spotlight on your company and its practices.

We have seen great insights shared over the course of five years of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Summits. We have also seen indications that companies have put those insights to use in improving the way they do business.

At the same time, we know the Rochester region has a long way to go to make the business community a truly diverse, equitable and inclusive environment. We want to continue to do our part to help it get there.

You can reach me at [email protected], and I welcome suggestions, feedback or questions from anyone.