Cleveland: Diversity Drives Economic Recovery
JUDI MCMULLEN
CUYAHOGA COMMUNITY COLLEGE
ANDRE BURTON
CUYAHOGA COMMUNITY COLLEGE
DR. AN THONY S TALLION
CLEVELANDC LINIC
92 DiversityInc
inclusion, is comprehensive. The multi-campus college offers education
opportunities to a diverse slate of students—roughly 39 percent are Black,
Latino or from other underrepresented groups, while 62 percent are women.
To further increase retention/graduation rates and help break down racial
barriers, the college launched its Minority Male Initiative (MMI) last year,
which includes mentoring, tutoring, field trips, mock interviews and more.
Thanks in part to the efforts of its diversity recruitment committee, Tri-C’s
3,000 employees are 29 percent Black, Latino or Asian. Similarly, its tenure-track faculty searches yield an underrepresented applicant pool averaging
between 20 and 29 percent, above average for faculty searches nationally.
Recently, with construction projects on the drawing board or under way,
in addition to ongoing campus-wide initiatives, the college has focused on
supplier diversity and set a subcontracting target of 15 percent minority-owned business enterprises, 5 percent women-owned business enterprises
and 3 percent veteran-owned vendors. “I’m happy to report that, so far, we
have been hitting those targets thanks to our outreach efforts,” says Burton,
noting Tri-C’s supplier-diversity workshops for creating business plans,
preparing bonds and other capacity-building tools.
“We try to weave diversity and inclusion into everything we do,” says
McMullen. “That’s when we know we’ve been successful—when diversity
just comes naturally.”
Also pivotal to the region’s
supplier-diversity success is
repeatedly recognized commis-
sion member Cleveland Clinic,
No. 4 on The DiversityInc Top 5
Hospital Systems list. The
nonprofit academic healthcare
system, with a workforce of
42,000, operates nine community hospitals and 15 family
health centers in northeast
Ohio, in addition to facilities
nationwide and globally. Currently under construction and scheduled to open
in late 2011 is its $25-million, 50,000-square-foot Huron Community Health
Center. Acknowledged as an opportunity to generate jobs in Cleveland’s
underserved communities, the clinic set an MBE subcontracting goal of 30
percent for this project and is on track to hit 40 percent MBE participation in
the project overall.
“We view our work as an opportunity to lead the rest of Cleveland,” says
Chief Community Relations & Diversity Officer Dr. Anthony Stallion. “As
organizations like ours are able to fully realize their commitment to diversity
and inclusion, our patients benefit and all of Greater Cleveland benefits.”
The clinic reached supplier-diversity procurement of nearly 30 per-
cent on the Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center completed last year.
By holding matchmaker events, collaborating with external partners and
hosting vendor meet-and-greets, the clinic is effectively connecting with
existing MBEs. It also helps potential MWBEs grow their size/scale to
do business with Cleveland Clinic through numerous partner projects—
including the GCP Commission’s Minority Business Accelerator 2. 5+—as
well as supports workforce-development programs to increase the number
of Black, Latino, women and other underrepresented laborers in the clinic’s
capital-improvement projects.
HURON COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER
