good afternoon and welcome everyone i'm jane clarke i'm president of our michigan west coast chamber of commerce and i'm so pleased to welcome everyone here today we're going to be embracing diversity celebrating local business and honoring companies and individuals who exemplify leadership and success in our community the west coast chamber is so very proud to be holding our twelfth annual minority business awards luncheon today we're going to be recognizing the economic impact our community enjoys from the contributions of minority o thank you jane what a beautiful day great time to be together to have some awards presented today some find my please thank you and good afternoon as we began we want to take a moment to recognize each and every one of you who made this event a priority to attend and we thank you for your support today we are a minority business and to minority business champions we salute their actions and support an environment that encourages minority businesses as well as celebrates cultural diversity in the workplace and in our community at this time i would like to invite curt wasing from gentex who is also a member of the chambers board of directors executive committee to join me at the podium to share an invocation with us after the invocation please enjoy your lunch and our program will resume shortly cur good afternoon let's pray our heavenly father we thank you for the beauty of the spring day in the blasphemes we were able to see as we drove here and we thank you for the representation in this room of multiple business leaders among our community this morning we will also want to think through the wonderful diversity of this community is able to celebrate diversity of thought diversity of industry  diversity of who we work with and what we do but also specifically to thank you for the diversity of race this morning in the impact it has had on this community and how we go about doing our business we thank you for the gifts that you provided everybody in the  business which they own and run through their employees and the impact on this community plus this food onto our bodies and help us to enjoy this we can honor you amen enjoy your food so this is one of those eat and listen type of times are extremely grateful to all of today's generous sponsors without their financial support this event could not happen i would like to thank our platinum sponsor blue cross blue shield blue care network and invite kimberly mendez up to say a few words kimberl wealthy and thank you for having me it is truly an honor to be here today please enjoy your lunches i just have a few words that i'd like to share with you blue cross blue shield of michigan is proud to support the michigan west chamber of commerce as a celebrates its twelfth annual minority business award luncheon the importance of cultural diversity and inclusion within our business community continues to grow as the economic climate of the region flourishes blue cross is dedicated to supporting individuals and employers across michigan who strive to positively impact their communities and help foster a vibrant and growing economy today we recognize a minority own business and two minority business champions who work has contributed to the success of the community through leadership and strong commitment to inclusion it is only through the great work of people and businesses such as these with the support of this chamber and the business community as a whole succeeds and when our local businesses thrive we as a community do as well and i do think you for your time and i hope you enjoy your l thank you kimberly and again we like to think blue cross blue shield blue care network the contributions of all our sponsors have allowed us to celebrate together today and to support all the west coast chambers minority outreach efforts please hold your applause until all the sponsors have been recognized as for gold sponsors fifth third bank gentex corporation smith hoggy rice and roe and now for a silver sponsors and there's a list of them so bear with me boar's head provisions company brooks capital management chemical bank consumers energy courtyard by marriott creative dining services dish or eastern floral first national bank of michigan t k construction global concepts enterprise g m b architecture and engineering grand valley state university hayworth herman miller cares holland board of public works holland hospital hope college lake michigan union spectrum health zealand community hospital the true group trans matic manufacturing and warner norcross and judd let's give them a round of applause at this time it's my pleasure to introduce our guest speaker dr jesse bernama dr bernard joined grand valley state university in two thousand and fifteen in oversees the university's coordinated efforts to advance diversity in campus climate for students faculty and staff prior to geve e s u he served as a director for diversity inclusion at santa clara university and senior diversity officer at the university of california office a president the president on a national level dr bernanke has been active in the national association of chief diversity officer is in higher education this panic association of colleges and universities the american association of hispanics and higher education in the national conference on l g b t equality he serves on the executive committee of the grand rapids cesar chavez committee is a member of the granville avenue arts and humanities board of directors and the talent twenty twenty five diversity and inclusion community of practice among other service efforts ladies and gentleman please join me in giving a warm welcome to dr jesse bern do continue enjoying your lunch the dessert is fantastic i had a bite of it before i came up here so make sure you get to that at some point as well so i realize that as i was thinking about this talk that for a lot of folks in the room that i'm speaking to the choir in many ways this afternoon as minority and women owned businesses who are being honored today and supporters of my no more minority businesses you understand the importance of diversity in corporate educational nonprofit and other institution institutional spaces and the title of this talk is a little misleading you see it up there beyond diversity how do we think about the importance of organizational climate misleading because both are necessary and misleading because both happen simultaneously instant and symbiotically message misleading because enhanced diversity improves climate and a more inclusive climate yields greater diversity many of you already know this i'm fortunate at grand valley to be in the business of thinking about planning for and strategizing with institutional leaders about this kind of work at grand valley and the university of california previously have been able to work with my teams to implement organizational strategies in planning and intentional ways that advance inclusion in diversity and equity with the goal of reaching ultimately full equality in traditional majority spaces whether that be white majority spaces male dominated spaces middle men upper class dominated spaces christian spaces those with citizenship status those who are able bodied those who are straight and so on so this afternoon i contemplated what to share with folks who are attending a minority business awards luncheon obviously many of you got it and the west changed coast chambers should be applauded for this opportunity and each of you for your support to those minority owned businesses in our community and their leaders who have been pioneers in the efforts in the spaces that you occupy what i thought i would focus on is on what we can do to continue to advance efforts to full inclusion movement moving beyond what i and many of you would call the business imperative although statistically in research and i'm a big research nerd so sorry if i get up and tangent in that area that there's compelling evidence there but to really enable us to speak to multiple audiences is a diverse range of organizations and in direct and also subtle that more west michigan type of way of talking which i've learned being in michigan for now two years  and you know as a poor kid who grew up in south texas originally in a mexican immigrant family with migrant farm worker grandparents and parents having spent the last fifteen years in california before i moved here two years ago it's a fine finesse and underpinning regional dynamic that is important to recognize important to honor and work within as well as push forward so let's talk about how we think about creating inclusive workplaces i use the term organizational climate not talking about the weather when i use that term it's something that we use within academia a lot and something many of you have thought about either as minority business owners yourselves and even for you i would challenge you to think as leaders in those organizations to think about how intentional you bring this to your organizations for others if this is a new topic for other organization leaders that support the advancement of diverse workforce there may be some new information shared in the next few minutes as a higher education academic nerd and i will call myself that till the end of my life probably i'll talk a bit about the research behind this much of the research has focused on higher education and recent work on organizational climate and close of hiring practices particularly for faculty in higher education which have been a predominantly less diverse space in our country i've tried as best as i can to keep what i'm going to say over the next few minutes bro because i know you represent a diverse range of organizations here today but i always start with this question why diversity and i like starting with this conversation with some research as well as in practice specifically as it relates to higher education connects to business and nonprofit communities about why we do this work why diversity matters one it's because how i convince my boss that i need to keep my job so that's always the best way to start here secondly he also acknowledge that our work in this area was not altruistic the motivation was not altruistic what has moved our organizations in this area was not purely a values based move for many of our organizations and how we think about diversity and inclusion here when we talk about why diversity is important particularly in higher education as this does not like me very much right now there we go just to put all of this that there were my point is that might be the better answer there we go so one of the biggest pieces of research that we think about when we think about the importance of diversity in organizations and specifically in higher education and how that connects to your organizations was this body of research that developed in the ninety's and early two thousand that we call the educational benefits for all research and there are some direct links to how it benefits other organizations outside of education this research developed around supreme court cases both in california and in michigan surrounding bans on affirmative action in the use of admissions in hiring and part of this research has demonstrated significant positive effects on economic education educational outcomes for all students when a diverse student body is president and even more so when universities and colleges capitalize on that diversity by implementing intentional programming and classroom dynamics that incorporate diversity and for students from different backgrounds to interact with each other what the research demonstrated is demonstrates is that we see positive outcomes in critical thinking we have students who can think deeper can think more broadly can expand their perspectives and this concept  improved democratic values students who go to diverse universities for example are more likely to vote they're more likely to run for office they're more likely to participate in church and civic societies and so we see this through some of the perches patient as diversity increases in some of our organizations in higher education and of course we can draw similar comparisons to hear what all of you are involved in the business and nonprofit organizations the second piece of this is really the corporate case or the corporate imperative for diversity in this was actually based on research in the night early late ninety's and early two thousand and a survey at thousand and destry c e o s in presidents across across industry across sector across the country employers told us that in addition to the knowledge base skills developed through college curriculum or training components employers also one employees who can work together who can work across correct across culture who can bring diverse perspectives to their team and we know that diversity improves our organizations employees who work in diverse environments are better employees for students who go to diverse institutions the research tells us that they earn more money after college they're more likely to go on to graduate school and advance training opportunities the diversity of ideas created by diverse environments and all of our organizations  improves productivity and creates opportunities for innovation and tied closely to this corporate case for corporate corporate imperative is this idea that all of our organizations or many of our organizations are seeking individuals who becoming global citizens so the idea of creating a global citizen network that we no longer probably never did operate in a homogeneous society our local context are growing more and more diverse and we're increasingly tied to immerse individuals and groups around the world and finally and this is really at the heart of the work that i do specifically in the work that we are advancing at grand valley and the idea of social justice or social mobility argument and this is where we hope to push individuals as we think about the business imperative for this work the idea that we as leaders in the spaces that we occupy have a responsibility to shift traditional power dynamics by increasing our attention to under served and historically under represented populations and that through higher education and through all of our all of your organizations under served populations are able to advance educationally economically socially and leadership and decision making roles for which every single person in our community deserve a voice so the bottom line or over here and we like to think about bottom line in a lot of different sectors is that diversity matters because it supports recruitment challenges and skills strong shortages we will increasingly face as a country and this is equally true as you all know for our region and that is if we are not recruiting and retaining diverse individuals we won't have a workforce or we won't have the best possible workforce because our population will increasingly be more and more diverse and the demographics i'm just in to stop looking back there and assume that there are new slides popping up so that maybe not me if it's not and the demographics really show this to us currently about twenty four percent of michigan's ten million people are people of color so identify as latino native american and black or african american or asian estimates and there are various ways on  how these estimates have to have sort of been debated the timing or speed of the projected increases in racial minorities as a percentage of the total population but some of the best estimates based on those likely to stay or migrate to michigan as well as based on demographics of current children in michigan are that at least one third of the population in this state will be people of color by two thousand and thirteen particularly increases in latino and asian populations and west michigan estimates are that particularly for our under represented communities or communities of color for west michigan estimates are that the latino population in particular will grow to an even higher rate by twenty thirty two at least twenty or twenty five percent and our education institutions have some work to do as we are education educating more employable citizens more people to enter your ization all of us as commerce leaders and leaders in our community depend on us says educators and higher and education institutions those who will enter your great organizations will come from some of our spaces and we take this responsibility really significantly in this light again shows the state population of racial minorities in the light blue on the left and added the current population at the fifteen michigan or you're public institutions in the dark blue on the right and here we can see the equity challenge we face in colleges and universities in the state and the equity challenge we face as a state in as a whole particularly for latino and african american communities so again diversity matters because it supports our workforce we don't and we won't have a full and adequate workforce without a diverse workforce so even thinking beyond representation or simply having seats or bodies to fill economic needs or educational institution institutions researchers also shown that businesses with more diverse workforce is have more customers higher revenues and profits a greater percentage of the market share less absenteeism and overturn a higher level of commitment to their organization by their employees and by their communities and as with the educational diversity research increase diversity in corporate in nonprofit fields also improves critical thinking and increases the diversity of ideas the decision making table in all of our organizations which leads to greater innervation and productivity through diversity of thought and perspective and addition increased diversity means casting a wider net to connect with a greater variety of people and access broader and deeper networks for all of our organizations this increased communion  gage meant can result in importantly with potential members new members new employees volunteers donors supporters students all members of our community this diversity can result in further reach greater is ability for all of our organizations from a civic engagement an equity perspective our engagement with diverse communities in particular also supports community building more broadly and it shapes the market base industries that are important to our economic development as a region and a community and for organizations like grand valley that furthers and demonstrates the values that we say we value and care about and imagine the value of equity and diversity are similar to the values that many of your organizations hold so diversity does matter but we also know that institutional or organizational or what we call in higher education campus climate matters we'll call it organizational climate just for the sake of the diverse audience we have here numerous studies have concluded that how employees experience their work environment influences both personal and professional development outcomes that discriminatory environments have a negative impact on bird productivity as well as employee wellbeing this research also suggests that employees for example who consider their workplace climate healthy and inclusive are more likely to feel personally and professionally connected connected and supported and dedicated to that organization there is also a direct link between workplace discrimination and herat harassment or bias and negative job and career attitudes it seems obvious and in fact employees who have encountered prejudice or harassment or discrimination and attribute its negative effects to decrease health and overall wellbeing turning into overt turnover as well as greater absenteeism in some of these spaces so the bottom line again is that climate also matters matters b is it improves productivity it reduces negative health effects of our employees and increases overall wellbeing of those people that we care about an organization that allows us to support the equitable success and opportunity of community members in our organizations and again healthy climate support further diversity because both because depend because of retention so there's no revolving door the recruitment of minority employees or recruits an individual word of mouth matters particularly to under represented communities and that reputation travels fast and effectively in many of our communities importantly the research tells us that these benefits just like those of the educational benefits of a diverse community that impact all students regardless of whether you're from a majority or minority background all of those critical thinking skills are improved for everyone this also extends to employees even those from majority backgrounds in our organizations so what is this campus climate and how do we even get to understanding it so i'll add that the definition is up there but what i will add is that in addition to the definition on the sly campus climate is also a measure of real or perceived quality of interpersonal and professional interactions and organizations a healthy climate what we know in all organizations is grounded in respect for others it's nurtured by dialogue between those of different perspectives and it's really evidence through a pattern of civil our interactions and commune among community members so both big spirits and the perception matter deeply when we think about our organizational climate climate also includes experiences that individuals and groups in organizations as well as the quality in the extent of those interactions and diversity is still an important component of campus climate  it but it's just one component of organizational climate and practice we have learned that it's certainly true that diversity and inclusion efforts cannot be complete without thinking about how we address organizational climate we can measure the health of an organization through what we have done and that academic world or factors there up here in the civilized pyatt chart we think about experiences these are specific experiences individuals in our organizations are happy having and my experience in biased behaviors that my experience in unfair treatment from my supervisors at the stream of i've been they've been victim of a sexual harassment and we also think about perception it's for my own groups my own identity groups as well as that those of others that i do not identify with believing that an organization is welcome for individuals for example because they allow employees to spot invite spouses and partners to company events or have policies that protect individuals from discrimination and also perceptions of institutional actions and efforts and commitment to advance diversity and inclusion also matter there's ability of leadership prevalence of training reward structures for doing diversity work in organizations and we also within this research collect a host of demographic variables we want to understand disparities and discrepancies between different groups of that we can and so that we can better address how to minimize to those disparities in discrepancies in key areas this is a complicated slide but what we also know is that climate is influenced by many factors even outside of the organization have also mentioned and i've already mentioned the importance of the people that we have an the diversity the bodies that we have in our organizations but we continue to ask which comes first sort of a chicken or egg kind of question so do we increase diversity person and then improve climate or do we improve climate and then increase diversity they happen simultaneously they must happen simultaneously to create the organizations that are committed to inclusion and equity and a fair fair campus climate in addition policies practices and programs are important and situations convey a sense of commitment to diversity and equity by visibly systematically and proactively addressing issues of harassment through their policies as one example they demonstrate the representation of diverse employees through programs that recognize and reward the efforts of individuals advancing diversity in their organizations most importantly through our practice not just our policies and what we say either in a brochure or on our website our practice how we implement policies how we do the work in our organizations is the biggest influence or a client and diversity if we are effectively for example implementing an inclusive hiring policy we should see progress in the diverse makeup of our organizations demonstrated visible and real leadership also influences organizational climate however commitment oss often manifests or has often manifested through organizational statements such as diversity statements or anti discrimination statements but those have mixed results these documents however when powerfully worded and widely disseminated and lead by leadership in organizations have which as have shown the most positive impact on organizational climate i'll say this again organizational leadership and visibility is key to improving and creating a healthy organizational climate our leaders must be at the forefront of sending these messages and implementing these practices ensuring that their leadership teams their consultants their advisors  their vendors are also reflecting the diversity that they expect for the entire organization so our how we engage employees really does matter in the starting place here for you is to really begin to understand the climate of your organization there's a lot of ways that we can do this and i won't go into all of those details they will say you know a cutting down what used to be like a two and a half hour course into about fifteen minute presentations so anybody centers in some of the strateg that would be going to implement i would encourage you to follow up with me afterwards but here's just an overview of some of the deeper earn higher level strategies that we've implemented across ordinate organizations that have seen improvements in climate the key to this has been that the c e o the president has taken the most visible leadership role in saying that this is important to our organization so when i've given these talks before i usually share those strategies and i'm trying to move on to that last line but it's not going to help me there we go business means i'm wrapping up in how we do this kind of stuff edge of us you and other institutions but i will close by saying that there are many ways we can continue to prioritize diversity as a key value of organizations and our region i believe that this is a priority for this region even as a newcomer to this region we have dedicated individuals you are all dedicated individuals to this work it is hard work it is needed sustainable work there is certainly a business imperative many of you understand that but there's also a moral one and it will take all organizations in this room in our region and across our state to effectively create spaces that provide opportunity as well as climates where our employees and therefore our community can continue to thrive in the great way that we have grown and of course you are the leaders who are doing this and the leaders who are moving this work forward i want to thank you for the time with you this afternoon i also want to congratulate our honorees for the fantastic work you have been doing and pioneering the spaces of business and community that a lot of good information i take away diversity equals success there's a lot of people who talk the talk with few who walk the talk thank you for your work continue to do a good job and continue to educate because that's the start to power all right and now we're going to move on to the wards portion of our program this year's recipients will join a prestigious group of past winners many of whom have joined us for this special event today i would like to take a minute to introduce them so if you please hold your applause as i ask them to stand rosemary castro being go or hey gonzales our first award is a two thousand and seventeen minority business champion first let me share the criteria behind the award in order to be nominated the recipient number one must work for a chamber member f number two must promote or positively impact the minority business community and three must value diversity and promote appreciation of differences unfortunately last year's minority business champion willie watt with  skate ministries is unable to be here with us this morning but would like to pass along his best wishes and continued success to this year's recipients so i get the honor of introducing and we have a duel this is very exciting it's not just one it's two this year's minority business champion award recipients have a passion for helping the minority business community grow and thrive they have taken their own business experiences to mentor others toward their own professional development this pair of recipients have been friends and colleagues for years and found that their professional connection gave them a kindred person with whom to talk and share ideas noting that it is easier to succeed professionally when you are not alone when there are others around to support you and understand where you're coming from and where you want to go they decided to expand their small circle and began to organize social events geared toward meeting and uniting the business professionals in the local it dina community the first meeting was a dinner a few years ago and included five women by the end of the evening they all agreed this should be a regular event surprising right and with that decision their professional lake shore latino's group was formed the group has now grown to almost seventy women operating as an official affinity group of the west coast chamber of commerce meeting regularly and providing support for professional latinas along the lake shore is with distinct pleasure that i announced the recipients of the two thousand and seventeen minority business awards are dawn garcia ward and juanita bo a senior counselor for warner norcross and judd she holds a bachelor's degree in jurist doctor from notre dame and in two thousand and sixteen was recognized by the grand rapids business journal as one of the fifty most influential women in west michigan juanita as an assistant prosecuting attorney in the outer county prosecutor's office she earned her bachelor of arts degree in international relations and spanish from grand valley state university's honors program and her jur doctor from thomas m cooley law school both women serve on boards in the community including both serving on the board of directors that holland house together this dynamic duo bring a spirit of camaraderie and leadership to professional latino community and and are truly a minority business champions please join me in congratulating dawn and juanita as they make their way to the stage wow what a humbling experience thank you everybody good afternoon this wouldn't be possible without the support from the chamber so special things first and foremost to jane and colleen who make our meetings possible special recognition to blue cross blue shield who has been sponsoring all their meetings it sounds like we put a lot of work into this but i mostly it was just a desire to get together form a group where we could network where we could share stories where we could support each other the rust has just happened along the way yes it is an honor to be here thank you again to jean and the chamber for this award and for the support for this group but we also want to thank all of the women who so enthusiastically came out and joined our group i don't think that either juanita nor i realized that this group would grow as he said from five of us a few years ago to seventy now but looking back now that we've met this women it's not such a surprise given given the type of women who we have met and i want to describe them a bit so we had in our last meeting we each went around and were asked to describe ourselves in one word words like ambitious courageous strong willed and compassionate were used in all those words were accurate they were right on but we've also noticed that at these meetings women have been willing to share their personal stories and they've been willing to support each other during struggles which have happened and during times of success like today so we want to share this award with all of the women who have so graciously come to these meetings and supported us and supported each other and as we look around the room we see some of our colleagues who are part of the group but more importantly we see a lot of faces who are now part of the group we have four beautiful ladies at our table who we just met today for all of you out there who have not joined the group but would like to learn more please feel free to reach out to us our next meeting is going to be held at the shops at west shore as part of the cinco there miles celebration you will find many of us there please come out if you have any questions in particular please feel free to reach out either to myself or to don we would be happy to take a few minutes  and explain to you what we're about we have a lot of fun we like to have a glass of wine here and there whenever you do that at the meetings you're not allowed to say that i was there but other than that please do come out and for additional information as well i think you can go on to the website for the chamber so thank you very much thanks again eighteen west coast leadership program applications are currently being accepted the deadline of may one so if you're interested in applying please be sure to get your applications in all right now it's time to recognize her two thousand and seventeen minority owned business of the year i'd like to share with you the criteria behind the selection of this year's recipient number one must be a member of the west coast chamber number two must be a minority owned business and three must have been in business for at least three years and four demonstrate strong financial stability is now my pleasure to introduce rosemary castro owner pro tax uno resurface as the two thousand and sixteen recipient of the minority business of the year will be presenting the two thousand and seventeen award rosemary thank you add it's a pleasure and honor to be here today and welcome everybody good to see everybody again i hope this year's recipient has the same experience as i did last year when in the minority business of the year award he told her she needed to work at prince manufacturing she started her career in manufacturing as a temporary employee through manpower at prince she was of a period and owner at prince taking every class she could always want learn and grow she always said she was not going to get married but after meeting her future husband at prince and getting to know him on a mission trip to the then it can republic they were married in one thousand nine hundred four they began their family and  thousand nine hundred ninety seven she began small cells in a five hundred square foot corner of an attempt to fast forward to now this week's marks the twentieth anniversary chapman this name is the forever reminder of the great adventure they knew what encounter they would encounter as they would travel over some high mountains in gold to some low valleys today they are blessed to operate in four countries including the us mexico china and hungry until it continues to desire to be a company based on biblical principles and universal values that includes trust humility service fun thank you everybody i think you very much can hear that considering our venturous success today it takes more than one minority person to get there so i would like to tell you a little story and that life is what it changed me i could've got lost in other circumstances of my upbringing and i'm not going to bore you with details but it wasn't the most pretty one but the good and the bad of those circumstances who i am today and i believe they formed who you are today your own circumstances so yes there was a time that i said i was never going to be married because i said i was never going to be hurt but i i never thought i was going to start a business i just know that whatever i did i wanted to count for something that the god that i saw in my grandma's life was not just for sunday the jesus she often talk about what's more than a carpenter so although i did need to know my husband in a mission trip in the dominican republic building schools you that like  i did not know what to do with my life but i still knew that i wanted to count and when i met him and realized that was also his passion i still did not know what opportunities life was going to bring to me so yes in a five hundred square feet interest started it and today i can say wow there was little space but back then there was a lot so i guess i don't have are the answers but i believe that the only reason the company have made it for twenty years is because i'm more or less than good with the business opportunity as much as the team members i get to work with in the very thing i used to fear of somebody ever heard in me again it makes it very fun adventure to be able to run this company with my husband but him and i have a lot of people that we can go in the mountaintops and we can go through the valley our desire really is about not so much creating jobs just for your skill with your hands but creating work the kind that you just want to give your best because that's your god given talent there is a few interests that are here today because i couldn't bring all of them there will be no room for you if they did but there's a few people that are not pressing with us today so if you just join me for just one minute with a lot of people in a big family i've been blessed with a big family  congratulations francis today's deserving award winners are leading as examples of progress and commitment to make a difference i want to thank them all for their contributions to our community and congratulate them again on their accomplishment this is the end of my portion of this show i'd like to introduce jane clarke the president of the best chamber  well i just want to wrap up today and say thank you to the midtown center for hosting today's event our lunch was provided by the hayworth and conference center and their staff did a wonderful job serving us today and eastern florida our friends at eastern floral provided the beautiful flower arrangements  on your name tag you'll be asked to take one of the beautiful floral arrangements with you today so those are going back to your office to thinks for our sponsors and our ward recipients today with that that wraps up our program have a great afternoon