(NECN) - Many are familiar with the phrase "white men can't jump," but who has ever heard of a celebration of "White Men Who Can Jump"?
It's an event that celebrates leaders in workplace diversity, and it's being hosted at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center on Tuesday, March 25 from 6-8 p.m.
Colette Phillips of Colette Phillips Communications and Massachusetts Convention Center Authority Executive Director Jim Rooney dropped by Broadside to talk about the event.
Phillips says on issues of diversity, a study found white men feel excluded.
"They are vilified, beaten up on and they don't get credit for some of the good things they have done, and I think in Boston, when it comes to diversity and race, we always have such a kerfuffle, we look at glass as being half empty as opposed as half full, and this year, I thought, 'Wouldn't it be good to see who are the men, the white men who occupy seats and centers of influence and seats of power, and what are they doing to move the dial?'" she says.
Rooney, who will be among those honored at the event, says he thinks it's always good to be recognized for helping diversity in the workforce.
"We created a weekend of discovery program, in which we bring minority meeting planners and people who make those decisions to Boston to show them what's different than perhaps their perceptions of the 70s and so forth, and the results have been great. We've gotten about 15 events out of that," he says.
