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U.S. NEWS Monday 19 February 2018

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Cities pitching diversity in efforts to lure businesses

pared with 14.4 percent were black and fewer than ing to change your brand.”
employment of blacks in 2 percent were Hispanic. Pittsburgh is in Allegheny
the public sector overall, “All tech companies are County. About 202,000 of
according to 2014 data under this lens, presently, Pittsburgh’s 305,000 resi-
collected by the federal for their lack of diversity,” dents are white, and about
Equal Employment Oppor- Quint said. “CEOs are talk- 74,000 are black, accord-
tunity Commission. Hispan- ing about ‘we know we ing to census data. An ad-
ic high-tech employment need to change.’” Mean- ditional 16,000 are Asian.
was 8 percent compared while, he said, cities rec- In its pursuit of Amazon’s $5
to 13.9 percent in the pub- ognize the racial diversity billion second headquar-
lic sector overall. they offer is attractive and ters project, which could
The data also showed that they’re telling companies, result in possibly 50,000 jobs,
less than 1 percent of ex- “You are going to have Pittsburgh’s video entry is
ecutives at some leading this diverse population to titled “Future. Forged. For
Silicon Valley tech firms choose from as you’re look- all.” q
In this Jan. 26, 2018 photo, passengers wait on the QLINE tran-
sit train in Detroit. Some cities and regions are dangling racial
diversity along with positive business climates, competitive tax
rates and available land in pitches to lure tech companies and
high-paying jobs to town.
(AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

By COREY WILLIAMS zon sought proposals for
Some cities and regions are its second headquarters,
highlighting racial diversity more than 240 cities and
along with positive business regions submitted bids and
climates, competitive tax pitches about what they
rates and available land in could offer the retailer.
pitches to lure tech com- Many pitches came with
panies and high-paying sleek, professionally filmed
jobs to town. videos of bright and busy
Places such as Pittsburgh, downtowns, historic land-
Philadelphia and Detroit marks and recreational op-
are touting their popula- portunities.
tions of people of color to Some also featured snap-
chief executives and other shots of racial diversity in
corporate officials as part neighborhoods, shops and
of being open for business. classrooms. That's some-
"For Pittsburgh and south- thing sought by younger
western Pennsylvania, eth- workers who will come to
nic and racial diversity has dominate a more tech-
been an integral part of driven global economy,
our history and a rich part according to marketing ex-
of our narrative," said Ste- perts.
fani Pashman, CEO of the Companies generally are
Allegheny Conference on looking to employ a lot of
Community Development. millennials and those hires
Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are saying they "want to
are among 20 cities still un- be able to work and live
der consideration by online in a place where there
retail giant Amazon as lo- are these interesting and
cations for the company' diverse cultures," said Mat-
second headquarters. thew Quint, director of Co-
Pashman said to succeed lumbia Business School's
as a player in a global Center on Global Brand
economy, Pittsburgh "must Leadership.
be a place where there's But tech-based corpora-
a base of talent that looks tions are lacking in diversity,
and thinks like the world be- according to some data.
cause the world is the cus- High-tech employment of
tomer in today's economy." African-Americans in the
When Seattle-based Ama- U.S. was 7.4 percent com-