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Inspirational Leadership and Achievement
The NAACP on the
Eve of Its Centennial
Trailblazing
Partnerships
With Corporate
America
By Judith L. Turnock
As the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) prepares
to launch its year-long centennial celebration beginning February 12, 2009, Forbes and
the NAACP pay tribute to the corporate partnerships that have dedicated vital leadership
to the elimination of racism and discrimination, promoted diversity and advancement in
the
t workplace, and together have advocated for economic parity,
ensuring
e
that the American promise is a reality for everyone.
The NAACP: A Century of Economic Equity Action
T
1915: NAACP protests against racial
stereotyping by launching a nationwide boycott of The Birth of a Nation.
2008: B
2008:
2008
Barack
arackk O
Ob
Obama
bama iis elect
elected
l tedd th
the
44th President of the United States.
1910–1934: Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois,
founder and editor of The Crisis magazine,
encourages African-American empowerment and the Negro Cultural Renaissance.
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The Corporate Legacy
“The world we face today is very
different from — and much
better than — the world we
faced in 1909.
”
Julian Bond
Chair, National Board of Directors
NAACP
The NAACP Legacy
When the interracial NAACP formed
in 1909 with more than 100 multiracial activists, W. E. B. Du Bois, an
original founder and intellectual giant
of the civil rights movement, stated
flatly: “The problem of the 20th
century is the problem of the color
line.” Now Julian Bond — the longtime NAACP leader and chairman
of the National Board of Directors
since 1998, a distinguished professor of history at American University
and the University of Virginia, and a
20-year veteran of the Georgia State
Assembly — can declare: “The world
we face today is very different from
— and much better than — the world
we faced in 1909.”
With the time-honored American
virtues of hard work, determination,
1938: Thurgood Marshall leads
strategy session after U.S. Supreme
Court orders University of Missouri
to admit Lloyd Gaines.
discipline, a positive attitude and a
belief in basic justice, the NAACP
challenged the “usual way of doing
business.” Working with corporate
partners, it developed broad-based
programs and initiatives and advocated for policy changes to promote
equality in politics, education, housing, employment and in people’s
hearts and minds.
That’s a powerful legacy, and the
work continues.
Last year, Benjamin Todd Jealous,
35, was selected as the 17th president and chief executive officer of the
NAACP. As the youngest person to
hold the position in the organization’s
nearly 100-year history, the organization’s decision reflects its powerful, forward-moving, change-inspired
momentum.
1944: An NAACP branch in
Detroit marches in a parade
for victory over “Jim Crow.”
Since its inception, NAACP grassroots activists have sought to level
the playing field for social, political,
economic and employment advancements. “By breaking down barriers,
we helped America get comfortable
with the notion that a black person
could run the highest office in the
company — and the country,” says
Jealous. “The election of PresidentElect Obama has transformed the
vision of all children that color and
gender need not be a barrier to reaching high pinnacles.”
For the NAACP and its partners,
the achievements of President-Elect
Barack Obama, as well as other
community and corporate leaders,
mark the culmination of a century
of hard work. “It is a testament to
the faith and sacrifices of men like
Medgar Evers and women like Ida B.
Wells and Rosa Parks,” says Jealous.
“It is proof that an inspired nation
can come together across racial, cultural and generational boundaries to
bring about change.”
One way to celebrate the positive
changes is to highlight the successes of
individual African-American corporate executives who have been inspired
by NAACP leadership, many of whom
remain directly involved today.
Consider Maurice L. Coleman,
senior vice president, senior client
manager for Bank of America in New
York and New Jersey. He grew up
in Trenton, N.J., with parents who
1962: Protesting
hotel discrimination
during the NAACP’s
53rd Annual
Convention
in Atlanta
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were “card-carrying members of
the NAACP who focused on education as the key to advancement.” At
the urging of a high school teacher,
also active in the NAACP, Coleman
earned a scholarship to Northfield
Mount Hermon School and then
went on to attend Columbia College, the School of International and
Public Affairs and Columbia Business
School. Today he is living a corporate
career beyond his personal dreams.
His engagement in the community
lives up to his mother’s philosophy
that “Service is the rent you pay for
space on this earth.”
Coleman joined FleetBoston Financial in 1999 working in private equity
and investing in urban markets. The
reach of his development ventures
has mushroomed over the years, and
he currently shares responsibility
for Bank of America’s $1.5 trillion
community development investment
and lending goal over the next ten
years. “The Community Development Banking Group reports through
the Commercial Banking Group, so
we are a core part of our business,”
says Coleman. “The Bank of America provides banking services for all
Americans, and that’s the vision of
our CEO and his executive team. We
live our name.” Coleman maintains
his NAACP connection today by serving on the Centennial Task Force.
Josie Thomas, another NAACP
Centennial Task Force member, is
senior vice president, Diversity, CBS.
She remembers joining her parents
at NAACP meetings in Minneapolis and Denver, but it took a while
for her career to link back to the
NAACP. After Harvard College and
law school at the University of California, Berkeley, she worked as a law
firm associate in intellectual property
before leveraging her law degree into
a dream job at CBS.
“I loved watching sports with my
father and writing stories with compelling characters,” says Thomas. When
she joined the CBS Law Department
in 1986, negotiating agreements for
the Entertainment, Sports and News
divisions, she tapped into both of those
passions. She rose to vice president of
business affairs at CBS News in 1995,
and when CBS created a new diversity
position in 2000, she saw the chance
to create a more deeply personal legacy. “I’d already worked with executives across the company, so I knew
they were on board, and I now report
directly to President and Chief Executive Officer Leslie Moonves,” says
Thomas. “There’s no limit on my ability to identify issues and develop initiatives to overcome the challenges.”
Thomas has launched the prestigious CBS Diversity Institute in Los
Angeles for promising actors, writers
and directors. “We see the Institute
as a contribution to the industry as a
whole,” reports Thomas, “but I won’t
deny that it’s helped CBS win the loyalty of a lot of top new talent.”
From her post, Thomas also oversees the strong CBS partnership with
the NAACP, including serving on
(Continued on page 8)
“ By breaking down barriers, we
helped America get comfortable
with the notion that a black person
could run the highest office in the
company — and the country.
”
Benjamin T. Jealous
President and CEO
NAACP
1965: The Voting Rights Act
is passed by Congress.
1963: March on Washington to
demand economic opportunities
for black workers
1979: Hon. Percy Sutton, Julian Bond and
other NAACP leaders meet in New York City
to discuss response to Andrew Young’s forced
resignation as Ambassador to the UN for his
role in the Egypt-Israeli peace process.
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Bank of
America
ank of America received top
honors in the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People’s (NAACP) Economic
Reciprocity Initiative Report, which
rates companies based on account
employment, marketing/communications expenditures, supplier diversity,
charitable/philanthropic giving and
community service, and reinvestment.
The bank received a score of 3.45 out
of 4, the highest score ever awarded
to a company by the organization.
“In addition to being the right thing
to do, encouraging a diverse, inclusive
workplace gives us the business advantage of understanding and meeting the
needs of our diverse customers, clients,
the communities we serve and shareholders,” says Geri Thomas, the bank’s
global diversity and inclusion executive.
B
2009, our community development
investment and lending goal will be
$1.5 trillion over 10 years — the largest ever established by a U.S. financial
institution. This unprecedented effort
will translate into more new homes,
more new businesses and greater
financial opportunity for diverse individuals and their communities.
“We are committed to strengthening
the long-term health of the communities
we serve by providing greater access to
capital and credit to working individuals and families across the country,” says
“ We are committed to strengthening the long-term health of the
communities we serve by providing greater access to capital and
credit to working individuals and families across the country.”
Andrew Plepler, President, Bank of America Charitable Foundation
Stemming from our commitment to
create healthy, vibrant neighborhoods
for all, Bank of America has a long
history of helping diverse communities open the doors of opportunity
through our support for education,
critical advocacy groups, local nonprofit organizations, arts and heritage,
and community development.
Bank of America has an aggressive
program to foster economic opportunity, primarily in low- and moderateincome communities. Beginning in
Andrew Plepler, Bank of America Charitable Foundation president. “In order
to achieve this goal, we work with local
community leaders and organizations
serving a wide range of diverse community members. The NAACP has been
key to the success of this effort and we
value their partnership.”
As part of a long-standing and
deeply rooted relationship, Bank of
America and the NAACP have partnered to remove the barriers that stand
between many African-American
individuals and families and their
dreams of financial independence.
We have provided more than
$1 million annually to the NAACP
in unrestricted funds and support for
economic outreach programs, seminars and sponsorships, as well as to
NAACP affiliates and the NAACP
Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
“Over the years, the bank and the
NAACP have worked to provide
homebuyer education, credit counseling and technical assistance for small
business owners and entrepreneurs,”
says Maurice Coleman, Bank of America senior vice president, community
impact manager. “The bank recently
completed a five-year, $4.5 million
commitment to the NAACP to support
the organization’s national operations
and advance the NAACP’s vision of
economic empowerment.”
The unique partnership with the
NAACP around Financial Economic
Empowerment for budgeting and credit
management, home ownership, business
entrepreneurship, and estate and retirement planning is key to ensuring that
our communities continue to thrive and
grow. Bank of America is committed to
continued investment in and partnerships
with organizations like the NAACP that
make such a positive difference.
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Target
hallmark of the Target® brand
is our commitment to delivering high-quality, trend-right
merchandise at a great value to our
guests. Our guests are savvy consumers, and they expect us to not only
deliver on our “Expect More. Pay
Less®.” brand promise, but also to
adapt our offerings to match their
changing wants and needs. As guest
segments and spending trends continue
to evolve, diversity remains an important part of the way we do business.
Where it makes sense for our guests
and our business, we tailor our merchandise offerings to cater to our
multicultural guests. Out of our more
than 1,600 stores, more than 500 have
in-store assortments customized to
African-American and Hispanic guest
populations, with merchandise presented prominently on shelves and endof-aisle displays. For example, in these
TRACEY
BURTON
A
Director
Of Diversity
Target
brand that would meet our guests’
preferences. The team collaborated
with Sylvia’s through all the up-front
work required to demonstrate that its
distribution and supply-chain management could meet Target’s high
standards. As a result of this partnership, today Sylvia’s is a success in the
stores that feature its products and is
poised for long-term growth.
At Target, diversity is a core value, and we are committed to
fostering an inclusive culture by making team members and
guests feel welcome, respected and valued regardless of their
background or lifestyle.
stores, we offer merchandise designed
with our African-American guests in
mind, from beauty and hair-care products to décor, dolls and food.
To meet the needs of these guests,
we often work with diverse suppliers.
One example is Sylvia’s, a brand that
is synonymous with delicious homecooked meals in African-American
homes. In 2007, our supplier diversity team identified Sylvia’s as a
We are also committed to boosting
economic development in the communities where we have stores by
providing opportunities to the widest possible range of businesses. For
example, in 2007 we opened a store
in Compton, CA. At the time of the
opening, this was the largest retail
development in the country completely
developed, designed and constructed
by African-American-owned firms.
At Target, diversity is a core value,
and we are committed to fostering an inclusive culture by making
team members and guests feel welcome, respected and valued regardless of their background or lifestyle.
In honor of this commitment, we
launched our “Dream in ColorSM”
campaign earlier this year, starting
with Black History Month. Through
this platform, we celebrate the special people in our communities who
have worked tirelessly to make their
dreams come true. To date, the campaign has featured heroes like John
Legend, Iman and Holly Robinson
Peete, among other notable African
Americans.
With the world around us becoming more diverse every day, diversity is
and will remain one of our most
important business imperatives at
Target. We believe it is a competitive
advantage that greatly
adds to our ability to
innovate and deliver
positive results for
our guests, team
members, shareholders and communities.
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“Today, our corporate conversations
must address economic stability,
health equity and education parity,
as we work collaboratively to ensure
an inclusive society for America’s
culturally diverse population.
”
Roslyn Brock
Vice Chair, National Board of Directors
NAACP
(Continued from page 3)
the Nominating Committee for the
NAACP Image Awards. “Helping
to select the Image Award winners is
thrilling every year, but the real value is
the ongoing, creative, open, constructive and productive dialogue of what’s
working in inclusiveness at CBS and
what’s not,” says Thomas. “We make
progress because this partnership is
embraced by all our executives.”
CBS Corporation President and
Chief Executive Officer Moonves
echoes Thomas’s support: “All of us
at CBS value our long-standing partnership with the NAACP. With their
input we’ve embraced the challenge
of increasing diversity across all levels of our company, and we’re appreciative of the thoughtful, productive
guidance we’ve received from them
1988: NAACP First Annual
Fair Share Awards
along the way. CBS continues to make
strides in this important area, including our joint Diversity Fellowship at
USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and
the Centennial Task Force, and we’re
proud to have the NAACP as a friend
and partner as we work together to
effect positive change.”
Derek Jenkins, senior vice president
of East Coast stores for Target, was
a Navy brat, growing up in Italy and
Japan before returning to live in Virginia. His connection to the civil rights
movement was therefore different: He
watched his father work to promote
diversity in the Navy. Unsure of what he
wanted to do with his degree, Jenkins
began working at a retail store after
college. He found little satisfaction.
Then fortune tapped Jenkins on
the shoulder. When the retailer filed
2001: Thomas W. Jones is added to
FOX Entertainment’s Board of Directors,
fulfilling the final condition of News
Corp.’s MOU with the NAACP.
for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, former Target executives were
hired to come in and run the company. He was hired as a Target store
team leader in training. His good
fortune continued, as he attracted a
well-placed mentor who taught him
how to navigate the company. “He
gave me the feedback I’d never had
before, and I gained the confidence
that I could achieve more.” The job of
senior vice president of store operations in the corporate headquarters
was his opportunity to “test new
‘soft’ skills and actually influence
what happened.” After working with
other senior leaders across the company, he was ready for his current
leadership position.
“Target is such a good corporate
citizen,” says Jenkins, referring to
the company’s customer focus and
its commitment to contribute 5% of
its income — more than $3 million
per week — to support education, the
arts, social services and volunteerism.
“Even if I hadn’t been successful here,
I think I’d still feel proud to be associated with Target.”
The 21st Century:
NAACP/Corporate Partnerships
Economic empowerment, equal justice and a robust economy are solutions to discrimination and poverty,
and the NAACP has therefore always
focused on partnerships with corporate America to create and sustain
dynamic leadership. “The struggle
2007: Launch of Gateway to Leadership,
a summer internship program with the
Money Management Institute, to place
black students at Wall Street firms.
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continues,” notes National Board
Chair Julian Bond, even after so much
progress. At the dawn of its second
century, the NAACP and its partners
still need to work “for lessening economic inequality and broadening of
middle-class status — for economic
empowerment, for wealth building,
for jobs and justice.”
“Our goal is to make the promise
of this country real for all families,”
says Jealous. “We celebrate the success of individuals and continue our
work knowing that our success is
defined more by the condition of the
grass roots rather than by the number of glass ceilings broken. Economic empowerment, social justice
and a robust economy are important
steps toward reducing discrimination and poverty.”
The NAACP and corporate leaders are creating partnerships that
will change the American conversation around race, gender and ethnic diversity. “While segments of
America continue to frame the race
issue in the context of the past,” says
Roslyn Brock, NAACP vice chair,
National Board of Directors, “we
have just witnessed an extraordinary
demonstration of our democratic
potential, in the results of the Presidential election, when a majority of
Americans across the nation looked
beyond race and voted to elect, for
the first time, an African American
as our 44th president.
“This vividly shows us that America has made significant progress
toward creating a post-racial society
that affirms the history, contributions, talents, hopes and dreams of
all her citizens. Today, our corporate
conversations must address economic stability, health equity and
education parity, as we work collaboratively to ensure an inclusive society for America’s culturally diverse
population. The NAACP’s mission
to ensure social and economic justice for all is not complete. We will
harness the power, energy and optimism of this historic moment to
shape and mold a generation of leaders, committed to enter the doors of
corporate America with a new and
engaging perspective, toward political, social and economic change.”
America’s 20th-century legacy is
a phenomenal pace of change, and
the NAACP has led the way. This
legacy has laid the foundation for a
21st-century global world, not just a
global economy, and the world relies
on the U.S. for continued leadership. The most successful companies
already know that not only do cultural competence and inclusiveness
spark greater employee productivity, increased customer loyalty and
improved bottom-line results for
investors, they also outline the promise of future global success.
The NAACP has been and will
remain a leader among leaders. If
your company does not already partner with the NAACP, consider the
many ways you can get involved. Join
today the hundreds of thousands of
other NAACP members who stand
up for freedom, equality and economic growth. Visit www.naacp.org
for more information.
Web Directory
Bank of America
www.bankofamerica.com
National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People
www.naacp.org
Target
www.target.com
www.ForbesDiversity.com
JANINE
FONDON
President
And CEO
UnityFirst.com
UnityFirst.com
And Forbes:
A Partnership to Distribute
Diversity-Focused Business News
U
nityFirst.com, a distributor
of diversity-focused business news via its quarterly
e-magazine and weekly Business
World Index, will now share the
special advertising sections on diversity produced by Forbes Custom
Solutions. Beginning December 1,
2008, UnityFirst.com will post select
diversity-focused news and articles
on ForbesDiversity.com as well as
source new stories and trends relating to diversity in the workplace and
global market.
Janine Fondon, President and CEO
of UnityFirst.com, says, “This collaborative approach to covering the changing dynamics of diversity in the U.S.
and beyond will add new perspectives
and value to the critical discussions
about the emerging generational shifts
and new cross-cultural landscape of
the world’s emerging markets.”
“Cultural competence is the key to
global growth,” notes Selden Blommer,
Executive Director, Forbes Custom
Solutions, who invites corporations
and other organizations to participate
in the special advertising sections.
“By covering the key issues and sharing success stories and best practices,
we offer authentic and important
dialogue about the role of diversity
in future global business success.”