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Proposition 209 puts at risk the efforts California businesses have made to serve the needs of California's diverse population.
CCRI threatens the ability of corporations to recruit educated minorities and women because it guts equal opportunity scholarships and programs for women and people of color to attend public universities, K-12 educational programs, and other public education programs.
CCRI eliminates tutoring, outreach, recruitment, and counseling programs in California public education. As a result there will be a drastically less diverse applicant pool for large corporations, banks and community based businesses from which to draw qualified applicants.
Passage of CCRI will reduce the number of minority and women-owned contractors.
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California businesses have had a record of supporting a workforce as diverse as the state of California. They have also responded to the business needs of all Californians and have been dedicated to equal opportunity and diversity. Corporate employers who have affirmative action programs in place to diversify their workforce find that they have a substantial economic advantage in the global marketplace over those who do not. CCRI puts at risk the efforts California businesses have made to serve the needs of California's diverse population. Return
Les McCraw, Chairman and CEO of Fluor Corporation:
"Fluor Daniel is committed to achieving diversity in both employment and procurement. Affirmative action programs have helped our nation's businesses achieve this diversity, but the thrust behind our commitment is the simple fact that it adds value to our services."
"By providing opportunities to enterprises owned by women and minorities we accomplish several goals: we help increase the economic growth and development in the communities we serve, we provide jobs by expanding the capacity of small businesses, we enhance community relations, and we meet the objectives of our clients and that provides us with a competitive advantage. . . ."
Equal Opportunity efforts have wide support among the nation's top corporations, including AT&T, Reebok, Proctor & Gamble, US West, Xerox, Kaiser-Permanente, Texaco, Pillsbury, IBM, PG&E, GTE, Avon, Chevron, Eastman Kodak, Levi Strauss, World Savings, BankAmerica, PAC TEL, Dupont, Coca Cola, Hughes Electronics Corporation, Texas Instruments, Digital Equipment Corporation, Ortho Pharmaceutical, Mobil Oil, Southern Cal Edison, and Walt Disney Corporation.
Corporations are motivated to diversify their workforce because they know that minorities and women make up a large percentage of the consumer market.
In the U.S., African-Americans represent $257 billion consumer spending per year.
Hispanic Americans represent a $175 billion consumer market and Asian Americans represent a $94 billion consumer market. Return
CCRI threatens the ability of corporations to recruit educated minorities and women because it guts equal opportunity scholarships and programs for women and people of color to attend public universities, K-12 educational programs, and other public education programs. Return
CCRI eliminates tutoring, outreach, recruitment, and counseling programs in California public education. As a result there will be a drastically less diverse applicant pool for large corporations, banks and community based businesses from which to draw qualified applicants.
Two of the most significant minority populations in the state, African-Americans and Latinos, are already under-represented in the University of California system at 4.3% and 12.4%, respectively.(1) CCRI would reduce these figures even further, resulting in an even smaller pool of qualified applicants from which Business can hire.
CCRI threatens programs which help girls and minorities succeed in school and advance to college, especially in math and science. These programs include: Girls Science Network; Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA); College Readiness Program (CRP); and Early Academic Outreach Program (EAOP). Return
Passage of CCRI will reduce the number of minority and women-owned contractors. Under CCRI they will be denied the opportunity to compete equally with larger, more established firms for bids.
Business will be harmed by CCRI as in the following example:
Existing minority and women owned businesses will not be able to compete effectively, decreasing revenue and putting their existence in jeopardy. These businesses contribute to their local communities in California and increase competitiveness by providing other California businesses with many different companies with whom they can conduct their business.
For example, Lisa Campbell's asbestos removal company used to get 35 requests per week from companies wanting to use her for state-funded projects. Now, following Pete Wilson's executive order she gets not more than 4 requests in a week. She called a few of the contractors who normally call her and they told her that don't have to play that game any more.
CCRI will hinder the small advances minorities and women have made in business
The percentage of women and minority-owned businesses, while not large, continues to grow, making up a significant portion of contractors in California and nationally. In the U.S., the number of women-owned businesses increased by 43% between 1987 and 1992 to 5.8 million.(2) Women owned businesses employ more people than all Fortune 500 companies worldwide and generate nearly $1.4 billion in sales.(3) Latinos and Women are the fastest growing entrepreneurial segments. In California, there are over 132,000 Latino owned firms, with 56,700 in Los Angeles alone.(4) Minority businesses in California account for 10.1% of all state contracts and women owned businesses account for 6.7% of all state contracts.(5) In 1994, state contracts, with those of the city and county of Los Angeles, amounted to over $7 billion.(6) Women and minorities were awarded just under 20% of these contracting dollars even though women make up over half the population and minorities 44% of California's population. In fact, the Department of General Services, whose total contract dollars for FY93-94 was over $700 million, uses affirmative action programs to award 8.8% of its contracts to women and 14.6% to minorities.(7)
With the passage of CCRI these programs would end, cutting the $163 million dollars the Department of General Services directs to contracts for minority and women-owned businesses.(8) This loss would be critical to businesses who do all or a significant portion of their work with these types of small-businesses.
CCRI Will Cut Business Profits and Hurt Global Competitiveness. It Puts at Risk Programs Which Create the Workplace Diversity Essential to Help Businesses Compete in Today's Global Marketplace. Return
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(2)1995 Report of the Interagency Committee on Women's Business Enterprise, Expanding Business Opportunities for Women. Return
(3)San Francisco Chronicle, Strengthening Women's Businesses, Sandy Sohcot, 7/1/96. Return
(4)Hispanics an Upward Economic Trend by Manuel A. Escalante. Return
(5)General Services Reports, 1994 Data. Return
(6)Los Angeles Times, 12/23/95. Return
(7)Annual Report: Minority/Women Owned Business Enterprises 1993-94. Return
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Last updated on May 16, 2001