Joint venture highlights the diversity in Greenville

Posted Sunday, January 18, 2004 - 12:14 am – Greenville News

By Michelle Shain and W. Clyde Fowler

A Web site is being created to spread the word about the successes in the Greenville area.

This is not just another Web site. It was one born out of a small group project of the Diversity Leadership Academy brought to Greenville by Michelin and co-sponsored by Furman University through The Riley Institute. The venture was created in Atlanta by the Coca-Cola Foundation, in partnership with the American Institute for Managing Diversity Inc. In December, more than 40 individuals graduated in the inaugural class.

One of the primary goals of the Academy was to help raise awareness around the issues of diversity and to help create some solutions and systems. After doing some initial research through the Internet, local human resource officers and diversity recruiters, CEOs, economic development professionals and potential candidates, our group was staring at the obvious: From a marketing standpoint, our community has issues to overcome. We also came to learn that it is really as much about the quality- of-life expectations people have of our community.

Nationally, our negatives do appear on the radar screen in candidate recruitment as well as in economic development recruitment, according to the professionals. Many are touched by it in procurement.

Our solution was to launch a Web site initiative that would help us tell a larger story about Greenville and that could communicate some of the diversity initiatives and successes we have had in spite of our difficulties. We were determined to provide a tool to the community that would help them recruit the talented individuals we need to move us toward a new economy.

A successful Web site is a living, breathing marketing tool. Ours is just beginning to crawl. We have been in the process of assembling information about Greenville such as the diverse faith community, the entertainment scene and the facts that help tell a more accurate story.

Facts such as:

• Greenville's police chief is an African-American.
• Greenville's schools outrank our state averages and are in line with the national averages.
• The Greenville County Council is chaired by a woman and the Greenville City Council is governed by a female majority.
• Greenville has more than a dozen Japanese restaurants.
• Greenville has the only natural downtown waterfall in the country.
• And Greenville is the sister city to Bergamo, Italy; Kortrijk, Belgium; and Tianjinn, China; that we are home to the Greenville Braves baseball team and the Grrrowl hockey team, etc. You begin to get the picture.

Are we there yet? No. This simple act is an effort to create a clearinghouse for information that will help all of us do a better job of telling the Greenville diversity story. We are moving forward to position ourselves to bring better-paying jobs. We are recruiting top national talent.

We took the Web site idea to the Chamber of Commerce, finding a partner and home for it. It is in alignment with the Chamber's role in trying to attract and retain best-in-the-world talent for the region. It also aligns with another Chamber initiative called Project Advance, brought to Greenville by Johnson Controls to help build awareness and support for minority suppliers. We also raised more than $12,000 to help it get started and had an in-kind commitment of $5,000 from MDI, a certified woman-owned IT firm, to do the architecture for the Web site. UtopiaNet has offered to host the site in-kind for the Chamber. Many thanks go to the following firms for their generous financial support: Liberty Corp.; Nelson, Mullins & Riley; Rockwell Automation; Bi-Lo; and BMW.

The project didn't stop with the Web site. One outgrowth was the desire to create a new initiative called the Greenville Diversity Alliance. We see it as a community organization that could serve as a resource for CEOs, HR professionals, economic development professionals and firms that are facing diversity issues in their procurement as well as in their recruitment efforts. It could serve as another important tool that will help us bridge the gap between the global perceptions and the realities related to this community.

Greenville wants to build a forward-thinking, world-class, platinum reputation. Our state's financial situation cannot afford to wait. Job creation and research and development cannot afford to wait. We cannot afford to send companies and people to other states and markets.

We welcome you to check out the Web site, http://www.greenvillediversity.org/. If you have thoughts, ideas or sponsorship interest related to the site, please call Hank Hyatt at the Greenville Chamber of Commerce, 242-1050. If you are interested in being part of the formation of the Greenville Diversity Alliance, please leave a message for Michelle Shain or John Moore through the Greenville Chamber of Commerce, 242-1050.