South Carolina's Media Engine for Economic Growth

Inclusion 2008

On one hand you have Jerry Knighton, assistant director to the Office of Access and Equity at Clemson University, a black man. On the other, you have Kinneil Coltman, director of diversity for the Greenville Hospital System, a blonde white woman. The two are, for all outward appearances, quite different. But they actually have plenty in common. In addition to both being young, attractive and articulate professionals, they are each pursuing career paths devoted to promoting diversity in their respective workplaces and the wider community.

Thanks to an industry of consultants, attorneys, activists and corporate practitioners, diversity has become synonymous with tolerance and sensitivity between people from different gender or ethnic backgrounds. To be fair, our country’s history of oppression and exclusion of women and people of color gave rise to this intense focus on tolerance and sensitivity. Furthermore, there is no denying the reality that racial, ethnic and gender discrimination continues and that there are ongoing struggles with differences related to age, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, mental and physical challenges, etc.

Diversity by design

From the water cooler to the boardroom, from the call center to the market, is diversity a part of your workplace? For employers, this can be an immeasurable question, as diversity takes on a myriad of forms. A company might carry out recruitment, retention and advancement initiatives that attract and support people who differ in terms of their racial, ethnic, gender, physical ability and generational backgrounds. Another organization may communicate with individuals across all these aspects through mentoring programs and by supporting new leaders making their way up the organizational ladder.

Doing business in a new melting pot

South Carolina is the 10th fastest growing state in the nation, with a projected growth rate of 42.9% through 2030, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates. Considering that in 1940, the state’s native-born population was nearly 92%, but by 2000 had dropped to 64%, our “smiling faces” definitely look a bit different than they have in the past.
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Planting seeds, transforming communities

Paul Stoney recalls idle summer evenings as a teenager, sitting with his friends on the front steps of his childhood home in Queens, N.Y. “Fortunately, I was able to stay clear of trouble,” he says, of a neighborhood where crime and run-ins with the police were not uncommon for young men like him. “But for a few twists of fate, I could very well have been on the other side of the law.” Today, as executive director of the Charleston YMCA, Stoney is as far from idle. He’s not only a community leader, but he is working with colleagues from the business, law enforcement, nonprofit and the faith community sectors on a new program aimed at helping a new generation of inner city youth in low-income communities around Charleston avoid the same perils he faced as a child.

CU-ICAR puts diversity into action

S.T. Peden is telling a familiar fable commonly used in diversity training. It is the one about the giraffe and the elephant in which the giraffe invites the elephant to his custom-made dwelling to work on a project together, then, is surprised and dismayed when the elephant can’t get around. The giraffe’s solution is to change the elephant. This story illustrates the tension between insiders (giraffes) and outsiders (elephants) but that tension need not be disaster. It can be part of the process to a creative solution.

Women in politics in South Carolina

As South Carolina works to compete in the new global economy of the 21st century, we increasingly depend on the experiences, creativity and expertise of all people in our state. All South Carolinians, no matter their race, gender or cultural associations and preferences are important in helping our businesses, educational institutions and policy makers create the robust “economic engine” South Carolina must have in the new circumstances of a globalized marketplace.

A tour through the Walgreens Anderson Distribution Center stops near a large sign with “THEM” in the center. The word is encircled with a slash through it — a universal symbol telling everyone the word “them” is not allowed.
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