Commonwealth Compact Expands with New Signers and Board Members

Commonwealth Compact was born in 2007 of twin convictions: that Massachusetts history demonstrates the economic and social benefits of diversity and that our state’s current reputation as an unwelcoming place for people of color must be turned completely around if we want to achieve our potential.

To change both that negative reputation, and the reality that too often still contributes to it, civic leaders created Commonwealth Compact at the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies to encourage organizations to make significant progress by measuring themselves on a bi-annual basis on a detailed series of benchmarks. The compact works with existing programs, facilitates a lecture series, maintains a talent database, and oversees a business school collaborative to share applicant pools to hire faculty of color.

Promoting the goals of diversity and inclusion is at the heart of Commonwealth Compact. Today, there are more than 260 of the state’s leading corporations, nonprofit institutions, cultural initiatives, colleges, universities, and other organizations that have joined this effort pledging to build a more inclusive workforce. This number represents more than 285,000 members of the Massachusetts labor force.

Recently, ten more employers have made a commitment to diversity and inclusion. They include BenefitsMart; Boston Bar Association; Boston Medical Center Health Net; Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate; Handel & Haydn Society; Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates; Jane Doe, Inc.; New Lease for Homeless Families; O'Neill and Associates; and REACH Beyond Domestic Violence.

Commonwealth Compact is also expanding in other ways. In October, they welcomed seven new members to the advisory board, including Valerie Bennett, MBTA; Maria E. Gonzalez, Commonwealth of Massachusetts; Cara Heredia, PW Johnston and Associates; Tom Keane, a columnist at The Boston Globe; Velda McRea-Yates, UMass Lowell; Mary Jane Patrone, UMass Boston; and Karen Young, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.

Speaking about the compact’s recent expansion, Executive Director Georgianna Meléndez noted, “Progress is possible when we work across silos and across industries. I am pleased that these organizations and new advisory board members will help Commonwealth Compact be part of the solution.”