May 23, 2008 Encouraging diversity with the Commonwealth Compact Play video

(Alison King, NECN: Boston, Mass.) - Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has launched a new program which aims to make sure Bay State employers are welcoming diversity.

Script:

Hundreds of Massachusetts business and civic leaders gathered at UMass-Boston to kickoff a new initiative called Commonwealth Compact. It's goal: to ensure that Boston and Massachusetts are welcoming diverse places to live and work for all people. Ironically, organizers say it's an effort to return to an earlier time when Massachusetts had a powerful brand as one of the most desirable places for African-Americans and as a community that represented tolerance and inclusion.

Steve Crosby: For 300 years, well into the 20th century, our economic and social prosperity in Massachusetts was inextricably linked with our openness to diversity and our reputation for tolerance and inclusion

But by the mid 1900's, Crosby says Massachusetts started to change -- the economic climate caused an evolution: white ethnic immigrants -- shied from reforms and became protectors in the status quo. It culminated in the 1970s with what his now simply known in Massachusetts as busing.

Crosby: "The legacy of busing stains our brand as a community which does not embrace people of color."

Massachusetts has come a long way in thirty years -- but organizers hope the Commonwealth Compact will help change the perception and further move the reality forward.

Governor Patrick: We put

forward efforts like Commonwealth Compact not because we're sentimental about diversity, but because we know that the best way to a prosperous community and future is through broad opportunity, equality and fair play.

So what exactly are employers being asked to do? They're being asked to provide demographic information on their workforce, executive team and applicant pool to a central database. And they're being asked to take steps toward improving diversity.