Nationally renowned speaker and author of “Our Black Year,” Maggie
Anderson spoke to an energized group of professionals gathered at the
Champions Club at Great American Ball Park on Thursday evening, Feb. 27.
“RISE2 Action: The Conscious Customer” was sponsored by
Cintas, Nielsen and the African American Chamber and closed out a month
of activities celebrating Black History.
“African Americans are the 17th largest economy in the world,
yet our income leaves our community in less than six hours,” said
Anderson. “I realized that if I wanted to improve the situation, I had
to be part of the change.”
Citing a Langston Hughes poem, Anderson encouraged audience members to
become conscious consumers and “let down your bucket” by supporting
African American businesses and diversifying their supply chains
whenever possible.
With its robust supplier diversity program, Cintas works to educate,
help develop and provide sourcing opportunities that enable its vendors
to be successful as its suppliers and in the business community. Craig
Jackson, Senior Global Account Manager at Cintas Corporation and
president of RISE2, the Cintas African American
Employee-Partner Business Resource Group, notes the power of supply
chain diversity.
“When Cincinnatians work to foster a more inclusive economic
environment, we help produce a more vibrant community,” said Jackson.
“It’s something that impacts everyone.”
“The unintended circumstances of not investing in our community creates
the largest disparities on record in employment, education, health and
the ultimately erodes the condition of our communities,” added Sean
Rugless, CEO of the African American Chamber. “One way that we can
transform our communities is to redirect our spending toward African
American owned businesses and encourage our corporations to increase
both the number of and the spending levels with these businesses.”
For more information on Maggie Anderson or to learn more about The
Empowerment Experiment, please visit www.ourblackyear.com.
For more information on Cintas and its supplier diversity efforts,
please visit http://www.cintas.com/company/supplier_relationships/diversity.aspx.
About Cintas Corporation:
Headquartered in Cincinnati, OH, Cintas Corporation provides highly
specialized services to businesses of all types primarily throughout
North America. Cintas designs, manufactures and implements corporate
identity uniform programs, and provides entrance mats, restroom cleaning
and supplies, tile and carpet cleaning, promotional products, first aid,
safety, fire protection products and services and document management
services for more than 1 million businesses. Cintas is a publicly held
company traded over the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol
CTAS and is a component of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.
About Nielsen:
Nielsen Holdings N.V. (NYSE: NLSN) is a global information and
measurement company with leading market positions in marketing and
consumer information, television and other media measurement, online
intelligence and mobile measurement. New York, USA, and Diemen, the
Netherlands. For more information, visit www.nielsen.com.
About the African American Chamber:
The African American Chamber’s mission is to establish, cultivate, and
strengthen consumer and business relationships; provide access to major
corporate markets for its members to help increase business
opportunities; and assist in developing strategic partnerships and
alliances for the purpose of strengthening and growing the business
community. To learn more visit, www.african-americanchamber.com
and engage in the conversation via the African American Chamber's social
media channels @AAChamber on Twitter and AfricanAmericanChamber on
Facebook.
Copyright Business Wire 2014