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Diverse Suppliers Are Good for Business and the Community

Sponsored by JPMorgan Chase & Co. Now more than ever, there’s a focus on prioritizing businesses that are actively addressing diversity, equity and inclusion, which creates opportunities for diverse suppliers. JPMorgan Chase is dedicated to the development and utilization of qualified diverse businesses – defined as companies that are at least 51 percent owned and […]
The post Diverse Suppliers Are Good for Business and the Community first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

Published

2 years ago

December 5, 2023

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Sponsored by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Now more than ever, there’s a focus on prioritizing businesses that are actively addressing diversity, equity and inclusion, which creates opportunities for diverse suppliers.

JPMorgan Chase is dedicated to the development and utilization of qualified diverse businesses – defined as companies that are at least 51 percent owned and operated by members of historically underrepresented groups, including minorities, women, military veterans, disabled veterans, service-disabled veterans, people with disabilities and members of the LGBT+ community.

Ted Archer, Global Head of Business Partner Diversity for JPMorgan Chase, recently spoke about why diverse suppliers are good for business and the community.

Tell us about how you came to lead supplier diversity at JPMorgan Chase and what inspired you to get involved in this work?

I’ve been at JPMorgan Chase for seven years, and previously served on the firm’s Global Philanthropy team as Head of Small Business. Most of my career has been dedicated to building business programs and partnerships that drive economic growth, and helping underrepresented businesses succeed. Supplier diversity is an exceptional discipline because its impact goes beyond the transactional and advances the fundamental opportunity for businesses to scale. Through its buying activity, the firm is able to make dreams possible for business owners, their employees and their communities.

In what ways does supplier diversity create value for companies?

Supplier diversity provides corporations with access to innovation. Diverse businesses often bring new perspectives and solutions to business problems. They also know how to operate efficiently with limited resources, and are agile enough to tailor their services to suit your business needs. Secondly, supplier diversity contributes to talent acquisition and employee retention. Prospective employees, particularly millennials and members of Gen Z, are very interested in corporate citizenship and will leave a company that isn’t aligned with their values. Third, supplier diversity generates wealth in diverse communities. Diverse suppliers tend to hire within their local areas, providing jobs and incomes, lifting the overall economy. A prosperous and thriving community is good for business.

How are you re-thinking the way to approach supplier diversity, and what about this approach do you think would make supplier diversity more sustainable?

The formal practice of supplier diversity began in the mid-20^th century within a manufacturing and government procurement context. Supplier relationships were driven by pricing and product or service delivery.

However, an important component of supplier diversity is supplier development. Small and underrepresented businesses often don’t have access to the same resources, financing and contacts that large majority-owned companies do. Taking the time to build deeper relationships with these businesses enables you to identify other ways to support their growth including creating connections to networks that lead to contract opportunities, capital and other resources. Additionally, you should work closely with them as they navigate your organization. Reducing the complexity of working with a large company goes a long way in enabling the supplier to deliver their services successfully.

By moving away from framing procurement in transactional terms, not only do we grow diverse businesses, but we also drive value for corporations by increasing the number of strong, agile and innovative companies in our supply chains.

It’s also time to consider diverse businesses in a wider range of purchasing categories including technology and professional services. An intentional focus on leveling the playing field in future-facing industries enables us to identify businesses that are positioned for rapid growth, and higher profit margins, which could help close economic disparities in underserved communities, including the racial wealth gap.

How are you amplifying the impact of supplier diversity across the wider business community?

We have mobilized over 100 of our top suppliers, known as “Gold Suppliers,” to mirror the firm’s commitment to supplier diversity by enhancing their own supplier diversity programs and their efforts to include more diverse businesses in their supply chains over a three-year period.

Understanding that different companies have different levels of diversity program maturity, we are meeting them where they are and providing them with mentoring, coaching and education so they are better equipped to run a successful supplier diversity program of their own.

While we’re measuring spend increases, the larger purpose is to have these companies develop sustainable programs that will generate opportunity and growth for decades to come.
Over the last two years, nearly 90% of our Gold Suppliers have committed to spend increases generating more than $6 billion in new spend with underrepresented businesses. Additionally, 85% of the Gold suppliers enrolled in the firm’s supplier diversity mentorship program launched new supplier diversity programs in 2022.

How would a diverse business get started to work with large companies like JPMorgan Chase?

For businesses interested in providing services to companies in the private sector, the best first step is to become certified by a diverse business certifying organization. While many business owners are familiar with government diversity certifications, there are also certifications that are well recognized by private-sector corporations, such as the National Minority Supplier Development Council, which certifies businesses that are at least 51% owned and operated by an ethnic minority (Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American). Another organization is the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) which certifies woman-owned companies. They each have affiliates across the United States that provide services locally. There are also organizations that certify veterans, such as the National Veterans Business Development Council (NVBDC); businesses owned by people with disabilities (Disability:IN) and members of the LGBTQ+ community (National LGBT Chamber of Commerce). These organizations do more than provide a certificate. They provide a network of corporate executives and other diverse business owners who can help foster business growth.

However, certification alone will not ensure success. Business owners have to begin developing relationships with prospective corporate clients. Two ways to get started are: 1) leverage the certifying organizations. Throughout the year, they host conferences, matchmakers, seminars and webinars – all designed to provide business owners with information and enable them to meet and network with corporate executives. 2) Register with each prospective corporate client. Companies with active supplier diversity programs often have online registration portals through which they invite business owners to share their company history and capabilities. JPMorgan Chase has a Supplier Diversity Network which is a searchable database for our supplier diversity and sourcing teams to find new diverse businesses when contract opportunities come up.

Business owners should be prepared for the time it will take to get from first contact and registration with a corporation to actually executing a new business contract. It may take months, and even a year or two. Corporate purchasing is driven by business need so entrepreneurs should be prepared to develop a long-term strategy and cultivate relationships with procurement teams and supplier diversity leaders who can provide insight into upcoming opportunities.

For more, visit JPMorgan Chase’s Supplier Diversity Network

This article originally appeared in The Birmingham Times.

The post Diverse Suppliers Are Good for Business and the Community first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

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Poll Shows Support for Policies That Help Families Afford Child Care

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

Published

1 day ago

March 2, 2026

Oakland Post

By First Five Years Fund

New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

The national survey was conducted by UpOne Insight on behalf of the First Five Years Fund from January 13–18, 2026.

Key findings include:

• Parents need help: 80% of voters say the ability of working parents to find and afford child care is either in a state of crisis or a major problem.

• This is an affordability issue: 82% believe federal child care funding will help lower costs for working families — including 69% of Republicans, 84% of Independents, and 94% of Democrats.

• And there continues to be strong support (62%) for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), a federal program that makes it possible for hundreds of thousands of families to afford safe, quality care for their children while parents work or go to school, including a majority of Republicans, 63% of Independents and 72% of Democrats.

• Support for funding child care programs remains strong: 75% believe child care funding should be increased or kept at current levels — including 75% of Republicans, 85% of Independents, and 97% of Democrats.

• 74% say funding for child care is an important and good use of tax dollars, including a majority of Republicans, three-quarters of Independents, and nine in ten Democrats.

FFYF Executive Director Sarah Rittling said, “Voters across the country are sending a clear message: federal child care and early learning programs work. These investments help parents stay in the workforce, strengthen families, and support healthy child development. They have also long had strong bipartisan support in Congress. At a time when affordability is top of mind for families, continued federal funding is essential to ensure child care remains accessible and within reach.”

First Five Years Fund works to protect, prioritize, and build bipartisan support for quality child care and early learning programs at the federal level. Reliable, affordable, and high-quality early learning and child care can be transformative, not only enhancing a child’s prospects for a brighter future but also bolstering working parents and fostering economic stability nationwide.

We work with Congress and the Administration to identify federal solutions that work for families with young children, as well as states and communities. We work with policymakers to identify ways to increase access to affordable, high-quality child care and early learning programs for children. And we collaborate with advocacy groups to help align best practices with the best possible policies. http://www.ffyf.org

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Trump’s MAGA Allies are Creating Executive Order Plan to Steal the 2026 Midterms

NNPA NEWSWIRE — The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

Published

4 days ago

February 27, 2026

Oakland Post

By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Correspondent

A group of MAGA pro-Trump activists, who say they are working in coordination with the White House, are circulating a 17-page draft executive order that would claim without evidence that China interfered with the 2020 presidential election. Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential to President Joe Biden by over 7 million votes. Since Trump lost to Biden in 2020, he has repeatedly claimed that the election was “stolen” without evidence. The report of a group of “Trump allies” preparing an executive order to give Trump power over elections was first reported by The Washington Post.

The lies around the right-wing campaign that pushed falsehoods that the 2020 election was stolen was trafficked through right-wing media, particularly Fox News. Fox News was then sued for defamation for the claims by Dominion Voting Systems. Fox lost the case and had to settle for the largest defamation amount on record of $787.5 million in April 2023.

The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

The story in The Washington Post arrives as Trump increasingly signals that he may take actions that would alter the result of the 2026 midterms. The Republicans are widely expected to lose as their approval ratings plummet as a result of a failing economy under Trump. Over 50 members of Congress have announced they will retire this year and not return in 2027.

The Trump Department of Justice, which now has a large image of Trump on the side of it, “sued five new states Thursday [Feb. 26, 2026] demanding access to their unredacted voter rolls — escalating a campaign that has been rejected by multiple federal courts and faces resistance from Republican-led states as well,” according to Democracy Docket, a group that works to protect voting rights.

Trump claimed back in late 2020, the last year of his first term, that he had the authority to issue an executive order related to mail-in voting for the 2020 elections — which he would then lose. But the Constitution states that control of elections lies with the states. As the GOP works to place hurdles in front of voting, Democrats worked to make voting easier.

In March 2021, President Biden signed an executive order calling on federal agencies to expand voting access as part of the Biden Administration’s effort “to promote and defend the right to vote for all Americans who are legally entitled to participate in elections.”

Trump’s focus is clearly on altering the November 2026 midterm elections. Trump’s polling numbers and the elections and special elections that have taken place around the U.S. over the last year clearly indicate that Republicans are about to be hit by a blue wave of Democratic victories.

Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent investigative journalist and the founder of Black Virginia News. She is a political analyst who appears on #RolandMartinUnfiltered and hosts the show LAUREN LIVE on YouTube @LaurenVictoriaBurke. She can be contacted at LBurke007@gmail.com and on twitter at @LVBurke

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PRESS ROOM: NBA Hall of Fame Nominee Terry Cummings Joins 100 Black Men of DeKalb County to Launch Victory & Values Initiative

NNPA NEWSWIRE — NBA Hall of Fame nominee and Basketball Legend Terry Cummings was administered the official member’s oath and ceremonially pinned during a special induction ceremony held on Friday, February 20th.

Published

4 days ago

February 27, 2026

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Cummings becomes an honorary member, joining other role model sports stars

NBA Hall of Fame nominee and Basketball Legend Terry Cummings has officially become an honorary member of the 100 Black Men of DeKalb County, marking a powerful new chapter for the 100 Black Men and youth development across the region.

Cummings was administered the official member’s oath and ceremonially pinned during a special induction ceremony held on Friday, February 20th. The moment signified more than membership — it marked the launch of the organization’s transformative new platform, the Victory & Values Initiative.

The Victory & Values Initiative is a groundbreaking youth development program designed to empower elementary and middle school students through a dynamic blend of sports, mentorship, and STEM exposure. The initiative focuses on building health, discipline, character, leadership, and access to opportunity — creating pathways for long-term academic and personal success.

“This is about more than sports,” said Cummings during the ceremony. “It’s about using the platform of athletics to teach life lessons, create access, and build the next generation of leaders.”

The induction ceremony also featured notable guests including NASCAR’s newest Star Driver, Lavar Scott and NASCAR Director of Athletic Performance, Phil Horton, who joined Cummings for a powerful Victory & Values Town Hall discussion. The Town Hall was moderated by renowned Sports Emcee John Hollins and focused on leadership, resilience, discipline, and the importance of mentorship in shaping young lives.

A “Day at NASCAR” for 75+ Youth

Cummings wasted no time getting to work. On his first full day as an honorary member, he joined his new brothers of the 100 Black Men of DeKalb County to host a “Day at NASCAR,” escorting more than 75 youth to a once-in-a-lifetime experience at EchoPark Motor Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway).

The youth participants received behind-the-scenes access including: an exclusive tour of Pit Row, access to the Garage Area and exploration of the interactive Fan Zone.

The experience culminated with a surprise meet-and-greet and Q&A session with NASCAR Superstar Bubba Wallace, who shared insights on perseverance, preparation, and breaking barriers in professional sports.

The day served as a living example of the ‘Victory & Values’ Initiative in action — exposing youth to new industries, expanding their vision for the future, and connecting them directly with high- level mentors and role models.

Building Leaders Through Access and Mentorship

The 100 Black Men of DeKalb County – a chapter of the largest, national mentoring organization in the county – continues to expand its footprint with programs focused on academic excellence, economic empowerment, leadership development, and health & wellness.

The launch of ‘Victory & Values’ represents a strategic expansion of the organization’s impact

intentionally integrating athletics and STEM to engage youth at an early age while reinforcing core principles such as integrity, accountability, teamwork, and perseverance.

“Our mission has always been to mentor the next generation,” said Vaughn Irons, President-Elect of the 100 Black Men of DeKalb County. “With Terry Cummings joining the brotherhood, along with partners in NASCAR and professional sports, we are creating unprecedented access and exposure for our youth. Victory & Values is about turning inspiration into structured opportunity.”

By connecting elementary and middle school students to professional athletes, executives, STEM professionals, and community leaders, the initiative aims to:

Increase youth exposure to careers in sports business, engineering, and performance science
Strengthen mentorship pipelines
Promote physical wellness and mental resilience
Build character-driven leadership at an early age

Open Invitation to Youth and Families

All youth are invited to participate in the Victory & Values Initiative, along with the other countless, impactful programs offered by the 100 Black Men of DeKalb County.

Parents and guardians seeking mentorship, leadership development, academic enrichment, and transformative exposure opportunities for their children are encouraged to connect with the organization.

As NBA Legend Terry Cummings’ induction demonstrates, Victory & Values is more than a program — it is a movement designed to build champions in life, not just in sports.

For more information about the Victory & Values Initiative or to enroll a student, contact: 100 Black Men of DeKalb County at Phone at 404.241.1338, info@100bmod.org or Tee Foxx at 404.791.6525,