►
From YouTube: Inclusion Counts
Description
On this episode of Inclusion Counts, Rick Williams interviews Jennifer Olzinger from the City of Pittsburgh's Office of Management & Budget, Joann Massey from the City of Memphis, and Rodney Strong from Griffin & Strong.
A
Welcome
to
inclusion
counts.
My
name
is
rick
williams.
I'm
the
business
inclusion
manager
for
the
city
of
pittsburgh
office
of
equity
office
of
mayor,
william
peduto
inclusion
counts,
is
a
show
that
educates
informs
and
inspires
minority
women
and
veteran
contractors
across
the
state
of
pennsylvania,
with
a
local
focus.
It's
a
monthly
conversation
with
subject
matter:
experts,
government,
practitioners
and
businesses
that
operate
in
the
space
every
day.
The
goal
of
the
program
is
to
share
resources,
provide
capacity
building
information
and
to
also
promote
contract
opportunities
for
vendors
in
this
region.
A
A
How's
it
been
going,
I
mean
in
the
space
I
mean,
I
know
we're
still
working
from
home.
I
know
we're
still
dealing
with
the
pandemic
and
so
forth.
I
know
things
have
been
changing
in
the
city
and
so
want
to
give
us
an
op.
You
know
just
give
us
a
quick
overview
of
what's
going
on
and
we'll
go
from
there.
A
B
We've
we've
been
very
busy,
I'm
my
team
is
still
working
fully
remote
and
I'm
fortunate
to
have
a
a
very
dedicated
team
that
has
still
been
able
to
accomplish
a
lot
without
being
in
the
office.
We're
doing
a
lot
of
sustainability
and
socially
responsible
initiatives.
We're
working
on
our
first
quarter.
2021
buying
plan
we've
been
doing
some
educational
sessions
for
small
businesses
on
how
to
do
business.
B
A
Yeah-
and
I
guess
one
of
the
things
I
wanted
to
focus
on
with
you
today
is
about
those
educational
sessions
with
the
university
of
pittsburgh,
in
collaboration
with
our
office,
the
office
of
equity
and
the
city
of
pittsburgh's
small
business
resource
center.
Can
you
give
us
any
updates
on
the
program
and
also
how
can
people
be
involved
if
they
want
to
have
an
opportunity
to
view
some
of
the
sessions
or
be
part
of
it
moving
forward?
Can
you
give
us
a
little
bit
about
that.
B
Yeah,
so
the
city
of
pittsburgh.
I
think,
as
I
had
mentioned
on
my
last
appearance
on
your
show,
that
we
received
a
grant
from
living
cities
funded
by
citibank,
for
inclusion
on
and
small
and
diverse
businesses,
minority
owned
women
owned
and
just
small
business
in
general
to
help
uplift
those
businesses
and
make
reduced
barriers
to
contracting
with
the
city
to
make
it.
B
You
know
more
amenable
to
them
and
and
more
efficient,
more
timely
and
just
looking
for
things
all
around
to
to
help
improve
their
chances
of
getting
contracts
with
the
city.
So
one
of
the
things
we
did
with
the
grant
money
is
we
teamed
up.
We
originally
wanted
to
have
an
event,
but
then
kovid
told
us
no,
you
can't
have
an
event,
so
we're
like
okay.
Well
now.
B
So
we
offered
them
starting
late
september
and
throughout
october
every
other
week.
We
did
another
session
another
another
class.
I
would
call
them
and
we
had
over.
90
businesses
attend
the
courses,
all
three
courses.
It
was
very
well
attended
and
they
walked
the
businesses
through
everything
from
you
know,
signing
up
for
beacon,
which
is
our
website,
helping
them
prepare
the
documents
that
they
need
to
bid
talking
to
them
about
how
to
have
an
elevator
pitch
ready.
B
For
you
know
just
things
just
not
only
help
them
to
do
business
with
the
city,
but
to
help
them
grow
their
business.
In
general,
they
talked
about
the
eorc
paperwork
and
what
that
means
for
the
city
and
what
those
requirements
are.
We
talked
about
things
like
building
resumes,
building
a
one-page
pamphlet
for
their
business.
They
gave
them
all
kinds
of
resources
and
different
things,
and
also
let
the
company
know
all
of
the
different
things
that
the
sbdc
over
at
pitt
can
provide
to
all
of
these
companies
free
of
charge.
B
B
There's
just
so
many
things
that
the
sbc
sbdc
has
to
offer
that
a
lot
of
these
companies
weren't
aware
that
they
could
access
and
again
that
they're
federally
funded,
and
that
is
all
free.
So
we
recorded
these
sessions
and
we
also
have
the
all
of
the
educational
materials
and
packets
that
they
made
to
go
along
with
them.
B
We're
going
to
be
posting
them
on
the
city's
purchasing
website
and
that's
just
purchasing
dot
pittsburgh
and
those
the
videos
of
the
sessions
and
those
informational
packets
are
going
to
be
posted
online
in
early
february.
So
anybody
who
missed
those
sessions
in
education
and
still
wants
to
go
through
them
can
go
back
and
listen
to
them
and
still
get
all
of
the
same
content
that
they
would
have
had
had
they
been
able
to
attend
back
in
october.
A
Well,
that's
that's
great.
I
mean
I'm
glad
that
we
were
part
of
the
living
cities
cohort.
In
fact,
my
next
guest
is
joanne
massey
from
the
city
of
memphis.
She
also
received
the
living
city
grant
as
well,
and
some
of
the
things
that
we're
involved
with
now
actually
came
from
the
city
of
memphis
and
I'm
excited
about
that
conversation
moving
forward,
and
it's
good
that
we
have.
A
The
erc
has
partnered,
with
with
pitt
with
chatham
chatham's
resource
center.
With
far
as
the
women's
business
institute
that
they
do
the
entrepreneurship
phase
carlo
and
you
figure
we
could
access
that
and
kind
of
have
that
continuum
of
support
and
services
and
erc
being
a
resource
to
that
and
being
that
bridge.
So
to
speak
as
pittsburghers,
we
we
create
bridges
and
basically
we
we're
and
we're
good
collaborators,
which
is
good
with
collaboration,
and
we
we've
talked
about
being
collaborative
and
so
forth.
A
B
Yeah
so,
as
I
mentioned
briefly
earlier,
that
we
are
just
about
to
release
our
quarter,
one
20
21
buying
plan
and
that's
going
to
give
an
outlook
for
any
business
that
wants
to
do
business
with
the
city.
It's
targeted
to
help
small
businesses,
so
they
can
plan
ahead
to
know
when
these
procurements
are
coming,
so
that
they
can
prepare
themselves
better
team
up
with
prime
contractors
and
anything
of
the
like.
B
If
it's
not
this
quarter,
then
next
quarter,
we
are
also
going
to
be
adding
allegheny
county's
division
office
of
purchasing
and
supplies.
So
it
won't
be
everything
for
the
county
because
they
do
their.
Some
of
their
departments
are
very
segregated
and
they're,
not
as
they're
a
lot
larger,
so
they're
not
as
centralized,
but
it
will
give
everything
coming
out
of
their
main
purchasing
office
as
well.
So
we
do
intend
to
expand
and
grow
on
that
buying
plan
and
continue
to
add
other
agencies.
B
We're
talking
about
trying
to
add
things
like
pittsburgh
parks,
conservancy,
pittsburgh,
downtown
partnership,
we're
you
know
we're
trying
to
model
it
after
the
city
of
chicago.
We
started
small,
we
smart,
we
started
at
home,
and
now
we've
been
doing
this.
This
will
be
our
third
version.
So
now
we're
ready
to
take
it
a
little
further
and
expand
it,
but
the
buying
plan
gives,
like
I
said
it,
gives
every
agency
that
I
just
discussed
what
they're
going
to
be
buying
for
the
next
year
when
they're
going
to
be
buying
it.
B
A
A
A
Is
it
going
to
be
individuals
within
those
entities
that
they
have
to
track
their
participation
on
their
contracts
and
are
they
reporting
it
to
the
city
or
they
or
you
have
to
go
on
their
link,
decide
to
see
what
their
reports
are?
How
is
that
going
to
come
into
play
or
that
hasn't
been
fleshed
out.
B
Yeah
reporting
wise
each
agency
has
their
their
own
process.
For
that
you
know
the
city
and
the
housing
authority
and
that
report
to
the
eorc
the
ura
reports
themselves.
They
have
their
their
own
office,
you
know
so
each
agency.
Does
it
a
little
bit
differently
the
county?
Hopefully,
when
we
add
them,
they
also
have
their
own
mwdbe
office
of
diversity.
That's
similar
to
r-e-r-e-o-r-c,
and
you
know
the
county.
Then
they
would
report
up
to
their
own
internal
agencies.
A
A
You
know:
that's
kind
of
the
the
goal
of
this
whole
thing
is
to
give
opportunity
ahead
of
time,
and
I
think
you
know
a
couple
months
ago,
when
you're
on
the
show
you
mentioned
that
people
can
partner
together.
You
know
possibly
joint
ventures
and
teams
on
on
various
projects
coming
across
and
they
could
go
more
than
just
the
city.
They
could
go
to
the
other
authorities.
A
Potentially
it
seems
like
you're
looking
at
you
know,
quasi-government
entities
as
well
the
county,
I
mean,
that's,
that's
great
stuff,
I
guess
you
know
we
want
to
talk
about
some
other
things
that
you're
doing
there.
I
know
you
had
mentioned
about
a
equity
study
and
it
kind
of
intrigued
me
a
little
bit
because
we're
in
the
office
of
equity-
and
I
wanted
you
to
kind
of
explain
that
particular
project
and
the
the
multitude
of
opportunities
that
come
into
play
there,
because
this
is
a
city-wide
project.
B
It's
a
light
equity.
So,
as
the
city
is,
you
know,
as
part
of
the
mayor's
all
of
his
different
climate
initiatives,
one
of
the
things
that
we're
going
to
be
doing
is
we're
going
to
be
moving
to
led
street
lights,
so
we
are
going
to
be
doing
a
procurement
later
this
year,
probably
springer
or
summer,
and
as
part
of
that
project,
we're
going
to
be
having
a
light
equity
study
done
in
that
procurement.
B
So
what
that
means
is
whatever
consultant
or
or
whatever
that
that
we
hire
you
know
to
not
only
count
all
of
our
street
lights
get
work
to
have
all
of
the
bulbs
replace
the
led
through
different
phases.
They
will
also
be
doing
a
light.
Equity
study
to
show
us
where,
in
the
city
are
areas
that
are
that
are
currently
poorly
lit,
that
we,
that
you
know
we
don't
have
don't
have
enough
straight
street
lights.
A
B
Yeah
at
some
point,
they're
they're,
probably
going
to
have
some
community
engagement
with
because
we're
work
it'll
be
working
with
the
sustainability
department,
which
is
part
of
this
city
planning.
So
they
have
a
community
engagement
tool
and
that
will
definitely
be
utilized
for
input
in
that
process
as
well.
I
would
assume
they're
going
to
publish
the
study
you
know
as
well
somewhere,
whether
it
be
through
that
platform
or
just
on
the
city's
website.
B
A
C
B
A
I
know
there
were
some
other
things
we
wanted
to
talk
about,
but
I
know
because
the
sake
of
time
we
had
to
kind
of
cut
it
short
a
little
bit,
but
I
think
that
the
buying
plan,
I
think
it's
an
exciting
thing-
that
a
lot
of
people
could
kind
of
rally
around.
They
could
see
it's
tangible.
They
could
be
involved
with.
They
could
see
the
collaboration
with
the
multiple
entities
that
are
participating
in
this.
A
D
Time
hi
I'm
freddie
greenwood,
and
I
am
the
help
desk
team
leader
for
the
city
of
pittsburgh's
department
of
innovation
and
performance.
I
have
worked
here
for
almost
two
decades
and
have
always
enjoyed
how
friendly
and
helpful
my
co-workers
are.
I
feel,
like
my
opinion,
matters
and
my
voice
is
heard,
and
I
am
using
my
customer
service
talents
to
help
my
community
in
the
process.
If
you
would
like
to
work
for
the
city
of
pittsburgh,
just
go
to
pghjobs.net
or
call.
A
A
Ms
massey
has
also
served
as
the
lead
business
consultant
for
governor
bill.
Haslam's
tennessee's
development,
the
department
of
economic
and
community
development
joanne
successfully
managed
to
secure
over
300
million
dollars
in
investment
for
west
tennessee
counties
through
new
business
expansion.
A
She,
as
well
as
yours,
truly
received
the
contract,
compliance
administrator
certification
from
morgan
state
university
as
part
of
the
american
contract
compliance
association,
national
training
institute.
She
has
been
a
guest
panel
panelist
for
several
prestigious
conferences,
such
as
city
summit
by
the
national
league
of
cities.
The
founders
network,
annie,
casey
foundation,
results
for
america
as
well
as
a
guest
speaker
for
the
john
f
kennedy
school
of
government
at
harvard
university.
A
A
E
Ricardo,
I'm
really
proud
of
the
response
that
the
city
of
memphis
and
our
actual
our
area,
our
county
and
other
local
governments
that
we
have
here,
other
municipalities
have
taken
in
response
to
covet.
We
created
a
regional
task
force
that
is
tackling
this,
not
only
from
the
health
emergency
but
economic
emergency
side.
E
In
that
task
force
we
meet
twice
a
week
to
speak
with
our
hospitals
and
schools
and
again
other
elected
officials
to
help
respond.
We
are
on
the
decline
right
now
in
our
numbers
and
I'm
very
proud
of
that.
It's
been
for
about
the
last
two
weeks,
or
so.
We've
been
on
the
decline,
and,
most
recently
our
mayor
announced
a
200
million
dollar
investment
into
capital
improvements
in
our
community.
E
That
we
hope
will
reap
a
lot
of
opportunities
for
small
minority
and
women
businesses
to
participate,
and
we
see
a
lot
of
momentum
coming
with
memphis
and
our
jobs
number
are
actually
at
pre
pandemic
ranges
right
now
we're
at
eight
8.16
yeah
8.6,
which
is
close
to
where
we
were
in
unemployment
pre
pandemic.
So
I'm
really
proud
of
where
we're
going,
but
there's
a
lot
of
work
to
do
and
we
we're
doing
it
together.
E
E
Memphis
is
what
we
like
to
call
a
big
southern
small
town.
So
if
there's
three
degrees
of
separation
from
everybody,
the
way
that
you
greet
a
memphian
is
by
saying
what
high
school
did
you
attend
and
if,
depending
on
the
high
school,
that
would
give
you
a
lot
of
qualities
and
characteristics
about
the
person
and
their
interests.
E
E
E
Historically,
though,
what
we
are
known
for,
besides
our
music,
besides
elvis
presley
and
besides,
our
beautiful
riverfront,
is
the
assassination
of
dr
martin
luther
king.
It
happened
here
and
more
than
52
years
ago,
when
dr
king
came
to
continue
his
fight,
not
just
for
social
justice
for
our
nation,
but
he
was
on
a
fight
for
economic
justice.
The
sanitation
workers
here
had
really
hit
a
brick
wall
and
dr
king
and
those
who
supported
him
were
determined
to
ensure
that
they
received
what
was
fairly
theirs
in
the
fair
treatment
and
he
lost
his
life.
E
Here
we
carry
that
burden
as
citizens
from
a
little
bitty
child.
My
mother,
whose
birthday
is
today
happy
birthday
mom.
Today
she
was
eight
years
old
when
dr
king
was
assassinated,
and
she
has
told
me
the
story
of
how
she
remembers
sitting
in
front
of
the
tv,
her
mother
wailing
out.
You
know
screaming
and
in
tears
that
they
shot
him.
She
remembers-
and
we
all
remember,
and
so
the
fight
that
mayor
strickland
and
this
administration
has
taken
up
in
2016
when
he
was
elected
to
fight
for
diversity.
A
A
E
Mr
davis
was
the
first
elected
city
council
person,
first
black
elected
city
council
person,
so
he
was
actually
on
the
city
council.
When
dr
king
came
to
memphis,
he
walked
with
him.
He
had
an
insurance
business
here
in
memphis
for
about
50
years,
and
mr
davis
would
always
say
to
the
mayor,
and
this
is
the
mayor's
story
when
he
was
councilman.
Mr
davis
would
always
say
to
him
that
only
one
percent
of
the
receipts
in
our
economy
here
in
memphis,
mind
you.
E
The
first
place
is
idaho
and
memphis
is
second
and
memphis
is
second
because
of
fedex
and
our
location
and
we're
the
only
place
in
the
world
that
can
get
a
package
out
after
12
midnight
and
get
it
anywhere
in
the
world
within
24
hours
or
by
the
next
day.
But
nevertheless,
with
all
of
those
assets,
only
less
than
one
percent
of
our
total
receipts
in
our
economy
goes
to
black
businesses
and
ricardo.
E
It's
been
like
that
for
20
years,
and
so
I
mentioned
mr
davis
because
he
was
a
city
council
person
and
he
would
always
say
to
the
mayor.
Just
in
passing.
We
need
to
change
that.
We
need
to
change
that,
and
so,
when
the
mayor
became
mayor,
he
set
out
on
making
sure
that
we
made
a
change,
that
we
impacted
that
and
so
with
the
directory.
E
E
E
You
know
agencies
to
provide
us
with
the
businesses,
so
we
set
about
changing
that,
and
today
we
have
over
600
plus
businesses
on
that
directory,
but,
more
importantly,
with
the
buy
901.net,
which
is
what
you're
referring
to
with
our
directory.
It
gives
access
and
visibility
to
those
businesses
who
are
ready
to
do
business
with
the
city.
It
not
only
with
the
city,
though,
but
with
our
private
sector,
and
it
gives
transparency
for
the
public
to
be
able
to
access
that
list.
So
that
was
why
that
was
very
important
for
us
to
do.
E
E
E
Yes,
yes,
so
the
directory,
and
thank
you
for
asking
that
clarifying
question.
The
directory
is
the
by
901.net:
it's
not
just
black
businesses,
it's
all
of
our
small
businesses
that
are
registered
with
our
office,
that
provides
certification
and
you
and
I
are
very
familiar
with
the
certification
process
and
I'm
sure
your
listeners,
some
of
them,
are
as
well,
but
we
have
that
by
901.net.
E
What
you're,
referring
to
in
addition
to
the
directory
is
what
we
call
our
at
a
glance.
It's
a
yearly
forecasting
of
opportunities,
not
just
with
the
city,
but
within
our
region.
It
includes
our
shelby
county
government.
So
I
mentioned
you
know
we
have
the
multiple
mayors,
municipal
mayors,
and
then
we
have
our
county
mayor.
It
also
includes
opportunities
with
our
utility
company,
with
our
transportation
company,
with
private
sector
construction,
general
contractors.
E
It
was
96
pages,
96
pages
of
projects
and
opportunities
where
it
includes
the
budget,
the
requirements,
the
projected
dates,
the
contact
information
of
whom
will
be
overseeing
the
project.
All
of
that
information
is
right.
There
for
small
businesses
is
truly
a
treasure
because
ricardo,
unlike
those
larger
general
contractors
or
companies
that
I
mentioned
they
don't
have
one
person
designated
to
look
out
for
projects
for
them
or
to
you
know,
do
business
development
of
sourcing.
The
business
owner
is
usually
the
accountant,
the
marketing
person.
E
You
know
the
person
that
opens
up
the
doors
every
morning,
so
we
felt
really
strongly
through
our.
We
mean
business
symposium
and
through
this
at
a
glance
which
is
when
it's
produced
every
year
during
the
symposium
that
it
was
important
to
get
these
opportunities
in
front
of
businesses,
and
I
think
it's
unique
especially
for
this
community.
E
Only
because,
like
a
lot
of
government
agencies,
we
worked
in
silos.
No
one
knew
what
they
were
doing.
You
know
at
the
county
here
at
the
city
and
the
city
didn't
know
you
know
what
our
private
sector
was
doing.
No
one
was
communicating,
and
so
when
the
mayor
created
the
office
of
business
diversity
and
compliance,
he
not
only
set
out
a
call
to
the
community
for
us
to
collaborate,
but
he
put
it
in
legislation
and
that's
something
really
important
for
your
listeners
to
know.
E
You
can
say
you
want
to
do
things,
but
you
have
to
put
pen
to
paper.
We
have
a
councilman
here
that
says.
If
it
he
said
you,
you
count
what
matters.
So,
if
you're,
not
counting
it,
if
you're
not
tracking
it,
if
you're
not
legislating
and
putting
policy
to
it,
does
it
really
matter
to
you
and
the
mayor
has
proven
that
this
matters
to
him
greatly.
A
Joanne,
you
kind
of
said
everything
in
in
in
a
comprehensive
way,
and
I
want
to
kind
of
unpack
it
a
little
bit
talking
about
the
different
elements.
You
you
have
the
at
a
glance
you
have
the
we
mean
symposium,
you
have
the
the
opportunities
for
vendors
to
be
showcased
and
then
also
procurement
opportunities
as
well
who's
all
involved.
There's
a
has
to
be
a
capacity
building
portion
of
this.
I
mean
you
mentioned
the
numbers
of
how
low
it
is.
A
E
You
know
we
call
it
the
800
because
of
that
787
we
rounded
it
up
to
800,
but
it's
truly
rooted
in
the
original
plan
of
dr
king,
which
was
economic
justice
for
communities
of
color
for
black
communities,
and
so
we
found
that
entrepreneurship
is
a
way
out
of
poverty
for
our
community.
We
also
found
that
black
businesses
will
tend
to
locate
in
their
neighborhoods.
E
They
will
also
tend
to
hire
from
their
neighborhoods,
so
black
businesses
hire
black
people,
so
we
found
it
as
a
not
just
a
a
prescription
for
building
capacity
for
our
businesses,
but
also
for
helping
to
address
the
ills
of
our
community.
So
the
800
initiative
is
actually
a
partnership.
Again
remember,
I
said
you
know
the
mayor
said
about
giving
a
call
to
action
to
collaboration.
E
Well,
he
said
we've
got
to
sweep
our
own
porch
and
we've
got
to
you
know.
Actually,
you
know
not
just
talk
to
talk
but
walk
the
walk,
and
so
that
collaboration
is
between
an
organization
called
starco
which
has
been
a
organization
here.
That's
been
helping
startup
tech
companies
and
providing
lean
management,
training
and
things
like
that.
E
So
we
all
came
together
with
the
city
of
memphis
and
with
county
government
and
formed
this
advisory
council
to
help
execute
the
strategy
for
the
800
initiative,
which
is
meant
to
take
50
of
those
businesses
that
700
plus
increase
their
revenue
by
50
million
dollars
over
a
three-year
period
and
also
increase
their
employees,
and
so
it's
providing
everything
from
workshops
to
one-on-one
seminars
to
networking
opportunities,
because
people
do
business
with
people.
They
know
people
they
like.
E
I
play
golf
myself
now,
but
it
was
an
acquired
activity
for
me,
not
something
that
you
know
just
normally
and
culturally.
I
grew
up
with,
but
people
who
go
to
church
with
you
know
other
corporate
corporate
leaders
and
things
like
that.
Sometimes
those
things
don't
happen
so
that
networking
and
social
introduction
is
very
important.
Again.
I
mentioned
with
star
starco
in
the
lean
management,
a
customer
identification.
E
So
all
of
this
has
happened
in
the
last
three
years
with
the
creation
of
the
800
initiative
and
then
fedex
infused
two
million
dollars
to
help
build
what
we
call
the
family
and
friends
loan.
So
this
joke
used
to
be
funny
or
when
I
would
say
no
one
has
a
father
to
give
them
a
million
dollars.
You
know
a
small
million
dollar
loan,
but
nevertheless
no
one
has
the
uncle
to
give
them
that
either
and
so
with
the
family
and
friends
loan.
E
A
A
With
it
to
some
degree
in
a
third-party
entity,
I'm
assuming
for
the
capacity
building-
and
I
guess
the
question
that
I
want
to
share-
I
guess
want
to
ask
you
and
I'm
quite
sure
that
our
viewers
want
to
know
how
did
you
select
those
50
companies?
You
said
you
had
787
how
what
were
the
metrics
in
selecting
those
and
what
is
the
success
after
three
years,
you
should
have
some
outcomes
as
far
as
economic
growth
in
memphis.
E
E
So
we
serve
those
2
000
businesses
through
some
of
those
same
kinds
of
trainings
workshops.
You
know
one-on-one
consultations,
but
in
selecting
the
50.
What
we
did
was,
how
likely
are
these
businesses
to
be
able
to
increase
their
revenue?
How
open
are
they
in
participating
and
engaging
with
the
training?
E
So,
for
example,
with
the
university,
they
offered
internships
for
their
students
to
actually
embed
themselves
within
these
companies
for
a
year
to
basically
practice
their
skills,
offering
their
services
receiving
a
stipend
from
the
university,
and
then
the
company
didn't
have
to
pay
them,
so
they
had
an
employee
on
staff
to
help
them
with
their
business.
So
it's
everything
from
marketing
to
creating.
You
know
sop
standard
operating
procedures,
books,
business
development
and
in
fact
some
of
these
interns
were
later
hired.
E
But
all
of
these
things
led
us
to
with
these
50
businesses
and
getting
them
selected
and
inducted
into
the
800
initiative,
led
them
to
be
the
ones
that
are
starting
out
as
our
inaugural
class.
But
there's
two
thousand
more
or
you
know
one
one
thousand
nine
hundred
and
fifty
still
there
being
service
that
are
building
up,
so
we
haven't
basically
inducted
them
into
the
800,
but
they're
still
being
served.
A
E
Well,
no,
actually,
one
of
the
things
that
we
built
in
when
the
mayor
created
this,
and
he
was
you
know
he
he
kind
of
was
the
brain
child
for
it.
He
didn't
and
he
didn't
put
it
in
government
for
a
reason
because
he
didn't
want
it
to
die
or
to
be.
You
know,
expired
or
terminated
through
administrations.
E
He
didn't
you
know,
government,
a
new
public
official,
he's
term
limited
a
new
public
official
comes
in
and
he
decides.
I
don't
want
to
do
the
800.
I
want
to
do
the
500
and
I
want
to
change
this
well.
That's
why
christian
brothers
university,
who
has
an
entrepreneurship
innovation
center
on
their
campus,
which
they
started
in
conjunction
with
the
800?
E
E
A
And
that's
tremendous
because
that's
a
small
investment
to
to
have
that
type
of
impact.
That's
that's
tremendous
for
you
and
your
team
to
do
that.
It's
also
smart
and
I
do
want
to
emphasize
that
you
mentioned
that
it
was
a
university
that
actually
is
housing
the
program
that
the
city
of
memphis
actually
funds,
as
well
as
the
different
partners
with
that,
and
so
that's
an
ongoing
thing,
and
I
guess
you
have
to
go
through
your
channels
to
fund
that
as
far
as
city
government
is
concerned.
A
So
now
we
talked
about
outside
you
talked
about
the
outside
programming
and
and
how
you
could
do
that
externally.
Now
we're
going
to
roll
you
back
inside
and
say:
okay,
the
challenges
of
businesses
having
city
contracts,
the
payment.
You
know
a
lot
of
vendors
complain
about
hey
this.
The
city
is
so
slow
and
paying
their
bills
after
you
know,
we've
done
the
project,
we're
still
waiting
for
it
and
you
and
your
team
actually
dealt
with
that
issue
and
made
some
changes
legislatively
and
then
also
internally.
E
Bold
changes
in
government,
so
breaking
up
the
bureaucracy
of
how
government
interacts
with
businesses
was
definitely
one
of
the
strategies
we
put
on
the
table.
When
we
came
here
in
2016,
and
we
said
we
need
to
know,
what's
working,
what's
not
working
and,
more
importantly,
what's
holding
us
back,
what's
holding
us
back,
what's
holding
the
businesses
back
and
time
after
time,
ricardo,
just
like
you
said
my
goodness,
people
were
like.
I
cannot
front
the
money
that
it
requires
to
do
business
with
the
city.
I
can't
wait
six
months,
I
can't
wait
three
months.
E
I
can't
wait
60
days
to
be
paid.
I
need
to
be
paid
my
I
can't
make
payroll.
We
can't
do
it,
and
so
a
lot
of
small
businesses
will
shy
away
from
doing
business
with
the
city
in
order
to
keep
their
doors
open.
I
mean
they
literally
would
go
bankrupt
or
have
to
close
their
doors
and
trying
to
wait
on
the
city
to
pay
them
back,
and
so
what
we
said
was
how
can
we
fix
that?
E
The
way
that
we
did,
that
was
really
simple.
We
just
took
private
sector
processes
and
said:
okay,
we're
gonna
apply
this
stamp
to
every
invoice.
That's
sent
through
our
system,
we're
gonna.
Do
it
electronically?
Stop
the
hard
copy,
stop
stop
the
old
school!
You
know
send
it
in
our
office,
which
is
the
worst
thing
ever
created.
In
my
opinion,
you
know
you're
right
down
the
hallway,
just
take
it
there,
but
nevertheless
we
created
an
electronic
system
that
identified
our
small
businesses
through,
very
importantly,
that
directory
that
I
mentioned
earlier.
E
The
buy
901.net
any
business
that
is
identified
as
a
small
business
through
that
directory
is
flagged
by
to
our
accounts,
payable.
Who
then
promptly
knows
that
they
have
a
minimum
time
to
pay
that
invoice?
It
has
worked
tremendously
and
again.
I
attribute
a
lot,
especially
the
mayor's
leadership,
to
the
increase
in
that
number,
but
that
increase,
and
that
number
has
also
cost
more
businesses
to
be
willing
to
do
business
with
the
city.
A
And
that's
that's
intentionality,
I
mean
that's
the
word
being
able
to
kind
of
flag
those
businesses
and
saying
okay,
we're
going
to
pay
you
in
15
days.
You
know-
and
I
know
you
probably
had
to
deal
with
a
lot
with
that.
Hopefully
you
know
sometime
we'll
bring
you
back
on
the
show
to
talk
about
the
specifics
of
that
a
little
more
entail
a
little
more
detail
and
as
we
close
the
segment,
I
asked
all
my
my
guests
on
the
show.
E
Yeah,
thank
you.
Thank
you
for
this
opportunity,
ricardo
and
thank
you
for
having
us
here.
I
I
will
say
this
inclusion
means
to
me
an
opportunity
to
fairly
and
openly
participate
for
all
citizens
of
our
community.
Historically,
black
people
in
this
nation,
you
know
have
had
it
very
hard,
but
it's
not
just
black
people.
We
commemorated
the
holocaust
a
couple
of
days
ago.
E
I
believe
you
know
this
nation
has
a
history
of
trauma,
but
we
also
have
a
history
of
triumph,
and
so
I
truly
believe
that
inclusion
means
that
opportunity
to
openly
and
fairly
participate
for
our
nation,
and
I
think
you
know
folks,
like
us,
and
those
that
are
listening
here
in
this
broadcast-
we're
all
committed
to
doing
that.
So
your
title
of
inclusion
counts
could
be
a
better
title
for
why
I
believe
we're
all
here
and
what
our,
where
our
goals
are
to
ensure
inclusion.
A
C
A
Welcome
back
to
inclusion
counts.
Our
next
guest
is
rodney,
strong
rodney
strong
is
the
chairman
of
griffin,
strong
pc,
a
law
and
public
policy
consulting
firm
based
in
atlanta
georgia.
He
is
currently
the
project
principal
for
public
policy,
consulting
engagements
with
several
state
and
local
entities,
a
member
of
the
state
bar
of
georgia.
He
represents
a
range
of
public
entity
and
corporate
clients
specializing
in
public
contracting
community
development
and
real
estate
law.
He
also
serves
as
the
outside
general
counsel
for
the
fulton
county
city
of
atlanta
land
bank
authority.
A
He
is
currently
the
supplier
diversity
consultant
for
the
state
farm
arena
house
of
the
atlanta
hawks
being
renovated
in
atlanta.
He
is
widely
recognized
as
the
most
foremost
national
experts
in
the
area
of
procurement,
disparity
research
and
supplier
diversity,
program
development.
His
experience
in
these
areas
began
in
1985.
A
When
then
mayor,
andrew
young
appointed
him
director
of
contract
compliance
for
the
city
of
atlanta,
a
position
he
held
in
1992
until
1992.
he's
a
graduate
of
the
university
of
memphis,
cecil
c
humphrey
school
law.
Where
he's
had
where
he
was
a
hubert,
her
presidential
law
scholar
he
received
his
undergraduate
degree
in
political
science
from
morehouse
college
rodney
welcome
to
inclusion
counts.
A
A
F
In
fact,
memphis
was
so
segregated
that
when
I
asked
my
parents
in
response
to
a
television
ad,
I
saw
on
a
kids
show
to
take
me
to
mcdonald's.
They
had
to
tell
me
that
they
couldn't
take
me
to
mcdonald's
because
it
was
segregated
back
at
that
time.
The
drive-in
window
at
mcdonald's
was
called
the
colored
window
and
they
would
hand
you
your
hamburgers
out
of
the
side
window
and
my
parents
said
we're
not
gonna.
F
F
I
could,
though,
places
that
my
parents
would
have
to
explain
to
me.
You
know
why
we
were
segregated,
why
we
were
limited
to
not
being
able
to
walk
into
a
movie,
theater
and
and
sit
down,
and
we
had
to
go
to
the
colored
section,
which
was
upstairs
in
the
balcony
and
those
kinds
of
things
all
that
disappeared
in
memphis
relatively
quickly.
Now,
of
course,
as
a
student
of
history,
I
know
that
in
a
lot
of
the
smaller
cities
in
the
south,
those
customs
stayed
in
place
even
after
the
legal
restrictions
were
lifted.
F
But
in
a
city
like
memphis,
a
large
city
where
there
was
an
active
naacp
chapter
immediately,
the
african-american
community
began
to
push
the
boundaries
of
what
had
been
customary
segregation,
and
I
saw
immediately
the
impact
of
public
policy
on
your
life.
When
you
see
that
you
can
go
to
a
restaurant
and
eat
one
day,
but
you
couldn't
do
it
the
day
before,
because
the
president
signed
a
bill.
It
really
helps.
F
You
understand
the
importance
of
public
policy
and,
of
course
it
was
the
great
civil
rights
lawyers
in
memphis,
legendary
civil
rights
lawyers
in
memphis
that
paved
the
way
they
filed
lawsuits,
major
cases
that
opened
up
opportunity
for
african-americans,
and
so
I
decided
at
a
relatively
early
age
that
I
wanted
to
be
a
civil
rights
lawyer.
And
so
that's
really.
What
got
me
in
this
business.
A
Wow,
I
mean
you've,
probably
seen
the
whole
spectrum
of
it.
You
know
experiencing
that
growing
up
and
then
now
actually
influencing
and
changing
policy,
not
just
where
you
were
when
you
were
growing
up,
but
also
across
the
country,
and
that
kind
of
leads
me
to
disparity
studies
and
in
your
bio
you're,
one
of
the
national
experts.
In
regards
to
disparity
studies,
I
think
you
know
during
our
prep
call
we
were
talking
about
the
city
of
pittsburgh,
is
considering
looking
at
disparity
stages.
A
F
A
F
F
It
seemed
a
little
bit
absurd
to
me
that
there
were
court
decisions
that
basically
said
that
african
americans
had
to
prove
that
there
have
been
discrimination
but
being
an
attorney.
I
understood
the
logic
and
the
reasoning
of
the
supreme
court
and
I
worked
with
franklin
lee
and
anthony
robinson
at
the
minority
business
legal
defense
fund.
F
F
F
It
has
become
standard
that
if
a
government
wishes
to
address
historic
inequity
that
they
have
to
first
develop
a
factual
predicate
and
the
way
you
do,
that
is
to
conduct
a
disparity
study.
And
so
we
do
that
work
all
over
the
country
right
now,
we're
working
in
16
different
jurisdictions
in
some
cases
we're
doing
disparity
studies.
A
F
There's
a
constitutional
test
called
strict
scrutiny,
and
it
requires
that
in
order
to
have
a
program
that
implicates
race
you
have
to
under
the
14th
amendment,
do
two
things.
You
have
to
show
that
there
is
a
compelling
governmental
interest,
which
means
that
you
have
to
analyze.
Statistically
whether
or
not
there
is
a
disparity
between
the
availability
and
the
utilization
of
minority
businesses
in
that
marketplace,
and
you
do
that
by
conducting
an
availability
analysis,
a
utilization
analysis
and
a
disparity
analysis.
Statistically,
it's
also
necessary
to
look
at
the
policies
and
procedures
of
the
government.
F
F
And
so
the
government
buys
a
lot
of
different
things.
But
there
are
always
situations
where
firms
can
get
in
and
sort
of
be
the
incumbent
and
stay
in
that
position,
and
one
of
the
things
you
seek
to
do
is
to
analyze
whether
that
locks
out
firms
that
are
owned
by
minorities
and
women
from
even
having
an
opportunity
to
compete,
and
so
all
of
that
goes
into
a
disparity
study,
because
you're
doing
two
things:
you're
trying
to
show
that
there's
a
compelling
governmental
interest
that
is
is.
F
Is
there
discrimination
both
through
these
historic
processes
or
are
there
present
effects
of
past
discrimination
in
the
marketplace?
And
then
you
want
to
tie
that
to
the
actual
practices
that
are
going
on
in
that
marketplace,
so
that
you
can
make
recommendations
in
terms
of
what
kind
of
program
development
you'll
have
now?
There
are
certain
standard
kinds
of
things
that
we
see
very
frequently.
F
For
instance,
we
see
situations
where
firms
try
to
exclude
minority
firms
by
using
unfair
criteria
in
terms
of
judging
those
firms.
You
know
one
of
the
first
major
discrimination
cases
that
came
out
is
the
duke
power
case,
and
in
that
case
the
supreme
court
ruled
that
you
cannot
set
a
particular
job
qualification
that
has
a
negative
impact
on
minorities
if
it's
not
related
to
what
you
need
for
the
job.
F
In
other
words,
you
can't
say
that
you
have
to
have
a
college
degree
to
be
a
janitor,
because
a
college
degree
is
not
necessary
to
be
a
jammer.
But
if
you
set
that
as
a
job
requirement-
and
you
know
that
african
americans,
for
instance,
tend
to
have
finished
college
at
a
lower
rate
than
white
people,
then
you
are
in
fact
being
discriminatory
in
the
way
you
set
the
criteria.
Well,
that
same
principle
applies
when
it
comes
to
government
contract.
What
are
the
criteria?
F
Why
are
you
setting
certain
bonding
requirements
that
are
much
higher
than
necessary
for
a
particular
job
or
certain
insurance
requirements
that
are
higher
than
necessary,
or
why
are
you
locking
in
certain
particular
specifications
that
only
incumbent
firms
that
are
already
distributors
or
have
some
kind
of
relationship
with
the
product
supplier
can
get
the
best
pricing
for
so
that
minority
firms
can't
even
compete?
So
there's
a
whole
range
of
things
that
you
look
at
and
oftentimes?
F
That
would
allow
them
to
be
the
incumbent-
and
I
could
go
on
and
on
about
that,
but
that's
generally
what
you
see
and
that's
why
you
have
to
have
a
very
targeted,
specific
analysis
that
looks
in
a
granular
way
at
the
business
opportunities
that
exist
in
a
particular
jurisdiction.
What
are
you
actually
purchasing
in
what
geographic
market
are
you
purchasing
it?
F
A
Glad
you
gave
that
very
simple
overview.
I
think
a
lot
of
people
would
understand
that,
and
I
and
it
sounds
like
the
onus
is
on
governments
and
specifically
procurement
and
purchasing
departments,
and
how
they're
writing
those
specs
to
make
it
equitable
for
vendors
to
participate
and
be
involved
with.
F
A
F
F
Give
a
preference
to
businesses
that
are
owned
by
african-americans.
Let's
say
then
that
implicates
the
equal
equal
protection
clause
of
the
14th
amendment
to
the
constitution,
that
really
doesn't
apply
to
private
actors,
and
so
a
private
actor
can
say.
These
are
the
criteria
that
we
have
now.
If
it's
particularly
discriminatory,
they
could
be
sued
and
you
could
make
an
argument,
but
so
far
no
one
has
really
challenged
the
supplier,
diversity
efforts
of
private
corporations.
A
F
Well,
you
know
the
reality
of
it
is.
Is
that
if
government
is
being
an
advocate
to
grow
the
minority
and
women
business
community
within
its
jurisdictions,
then
many
times
you
will
find
governments
that
decide
that
they're
going
to
use
their
taxing
power
to
influence
the
private
marketplace,
and
so
we've
done
a
lot
of
private
sector
work.
F
When
I
first
started
the
business
we
were
about
to
have
the
olympics
in
atlanta,
that
was
a
private
sector
endeavor,
but
obviously
it
was
a
public
private
partnership,
and
so
the
atlanta
city
government
made
it
clear
that
they
wanted
minority
participation
in
the
olympics
and
we
got
a
substantial
amount
of
minority
participation
in
the
atlanta
olympics.
Never
before
or
since
have
african-american
firms
benefited
like
they
did
from
the
atlanta
olympics
and
then
subsequently,
our
next
major
private
sector
engagement
in
atlanta
was
with
the
world
of
coca-cola.
F
They
had
gotten
a
tax
credit
through
invest
atlanta
for
building
that
particular
facility,
150
million
dollar
facility,
and
so
one
of
the
things
that
the
city
said
was,
if
you're
going
to
get
our
tax
dollars
as
a
tax
incentive
for
building
this
facility.
We
want
you
to
include
minority
and
women-owned
businesses
and
they
hired
our
firm
to
serve
as
the
supplier
diversity
coordinator
and
we
had
to
go
inside.
We
worked
inside
the
coca-cola
company
inside
their
corporate
headquarters.
We
learned
how
their
procurement
process
worked.
We
worked
with
their
global
head
of
supply
diversity.
F
F
At
one
point,
there
were
some
people
who
pushed
back
and
said
well,
it's
illegal
for
us
to
make
these
decisions,
and
we
had
to
go
and
deal
with
the
law
department
inside
coca-cola
to
get
everybody
to
recognize
that
they
certainly
did
have
the
ability
to
do
what
we
were
asking
them
to
do,
and
ultimately
we
were
on
we.
We
were
successful
in
getting
over
35
participation
on
the
project
and
in
addition
to
that,
our
firm
won
the
partner
in
the
promise
award,
which
is
the
highest
supply
diversity
award
that
the
coca-cola
company
gives.
F
Nevertheless,
we
were
successful
in
that
environment
and
we've
been
successful
in
other
environments.
Almost
every
time
we've
had
a
private
sector
supply
diversity
opportunity
to
work
on
a
project
it's
been
because
there
were
public
dollars
involved:
the
mercedes-benz
stadium
in
atlanta,
the
1.5
billion
dollar
project
that
was
built
by
the
atlanta
falcons,
arthur
m
blank
enterprises
amb
corporation.
F
A
F
Well,
you
know
it's
funny:
we've
we've
done,
we've
done
projects
in
a
number
of
different
places,
we're
and
it's
different
in
every
jurisdiction,
but
what
you
do
need
is
a
certain
amount
of
of
a
you
need,
a
private
sector
actors
that
are
putting
pressure
on
the
government
to
respond
in
this
area.
Okay,
that's
been
my
experience,
and
so
a
lot
of
times
when
governments
do
disparity.
Studies
is
because
you
have
a
local
hispanic
chamber
of
commerce,
african-american
chamber
of
commerce
business
league
chapter.
F
F
A
A
Well,
hopefully,
we'll
be
able
to
do
that.
You
know
to
put
the
bed
to
discrimination.
You
know,
hopefully
in
my
children's
lifetimes
and
my
children
are
six
and
ten
again
thank
you
rodney
for
being
on
the
show.
Hopefully
you
won't
be
a
stranger
to
inclusion,
counts
and
and
as
well
as
me,
and
thank
you
for
supplying
your
wisdom
and
knowledge
about
these
different
types
of
programs
and
getting
the
word
out
and
be
willing
to
share
this
across
the
country.