Collaborating to Diversify the City's Broker-Dealer Pool: THE CITY OF GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN.

• Author: Ludwig, Katie

Historically, minority-, woman-, and/or veteran-owned business enterprises (MWVBEs) have not played a significant role in the City of Grand Rapids' investment portfolio, but as the result of an intentional effort to seek out these firms, approximately 30 percent of the city's investment portfolio is now sourced from broker-dealer firms owned by people of color, women, and/or veterans. The success of this initiative can be tied back to the values of collaboration, equity, and innovation, as stated in the city's strategic plan:

* Collaboration. Working together in partnership with others; teamwork.

* Equity. Using city influence to intentionally remove and prevent barriers created by systemic and institutional injustice.

* Innovation. Challenging the way things have been done before; fulfilling community needs by offering new ways to serve our customers and enhance operations; being nimble, self-aware, and open to feedback.

Stacy Stout is the director of the city's Office of Equity and Engagement, which was previously known as the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. In 2019, with the passing of the new city strategic plan, her position was elevated to a cabinet-level position and the office was tasked with helping embed equity throughout all departments.

"Every department is an equity office," Stout said. "We are subject matter experts and walk alongside to strategize and support, but the new model is more of a distributed model where every department leads with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and then we come alongside them to assist."

John Globensky, the city treasurer, said that he first started thinking about ways to diversify the city's pool of broker-dealers when then-City Commissioner Joe Jones (now president and chief executive officer of consulting firm The Hekima Group) brought the idea to him in 2017. "We had never really thought about going in and looking at our approved broker-dealers to understand who they are," he said. "We did all of our due diligence, but we never thought about intentionally being inclusive with MWVBE broker-dealers, so that was the start of the conversation."

"The reality is, unless we're intentional, we tend to go with who we know," Jones said. "If we have a workforce that is not ethnically diverse, we can expect that quite often our supplier base is going to be the same. Unless you have a circle that's diverse and expanding, you're going to have a supplier base that really lacks diversity as well...