Friends and Colleagues-
Commonwealth Compact Welcomes 5 New Signers
Welcome to our newest signers! Lowell General Hospital, Museum of Fine Arts, Paradigm Properties, Samet & Co. and Wheaton College all joined us in early December. This brings out signer count to 182 signers representing more than 285,000 Massachusetts workers.
Commonwealth Compact in the News
CC was featured in the November issue of Inclusion, a publication of The Banner. In addition, Georgianna Melendez was quoted in the article on workplace diversity in The Boston Globes issue of the Top 100 Places to Work, also in November.
Commonwealth Compact Held Higher Education Workshop
Neither snow nor slush stopped Commonwealth Compact's first sector workshop, which attracted attendees representing 18 colleges and universities, to Bentley University on the stormy morning of December 9.
Bentley President Gloria Larson, UMass Lowell Chancellor Martin Meehan, and Deans Donnie Perkins of Northeastern and Steve Crosby of UMass Boston were among those pressing for action that is both concrete and prompt.
Many specific initiatives were aired. Several participants talked of the need for top leaders to make sure the entire campus understands that efforts to improve diversity are appreciated. President Larson said Bentley evaluates and compensates its managers partly on their diversity efforts. Harvard, M.I.T. and Babson began a discussion of the advisability of having a chief diversity officer or diversity council -- or both. Wheaton talked about a top-to-bottom diversity review, including the infusion of a diversity perspective throughout the curriculum. And there was support for collaboration among the schools in recruiting nationally for students, faculty and staff.
Participants unanimously favored holding such workshops regularly, perhaps 3 or 4 times a year, and we will schedule the next one shortly. Meanwhile, we are planning workshops for other sectors, as well as public conversations about diversity issues. We hope and expect these workshops and forums will prove a significant benefit for our signing organizations, and for the community at large.
Our thanks to President Larson, Earl Avery and others at Bentley for their generosity.
Boston Indicators Report Data from Commonwealth Compact's first-year report, "Stepping Up," figures prominantly in the newly-released Boston Indicators Report from The Boston Foundation. The report cites the Compact as a significant player in the effort to produce "leadership that reflects the full diversity of the city and region in the for-profit, nonprofit and public sectors." Several key findings from our Benchmarks initiative are quoted. We take pride in being included among the Indicators, a biennial publication that has become the authoritative report card on Boston's civic health. Click for the full report. "I have become evangelical about the Commonwealth Compact. Massachusetts has so many assets and so many opportunities. If we don't share them, to illuminate them and to build on them then we are missing significant opportunities. It's on that basis that we hope you will join this evangelical movement and become signers of the Commonwealth Compact and help us recruit others."
-Ralph Martin, co-founder of Commonwealth Compact and the Managing Director, Boston of Bingham, McCutchen.
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