COMMISSION ON MINORITY INCLUSION AND THE MINORITY BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP
Building a Foundation for Economic Equality

Commission on Minority Inclusion and the Minority Economic
Development Council

In 1999, The Dayton Foundation convened a 33-person Diversity Task Force to study and develop a plan to bring the issues of diversity and inclusion to the forefront of the Greater Dayton Region. Former Governing Board Chair John E. Moore, Sr., chaired this Foundation leadership initiative.

The Task Force’s key effort was to engage area businesses and minority leadership in meaningful conversation about the serious gaps that exist and the economic barriers that inhibit minority participation and success.

A critically important development to come out of the work of The Dayton Foundation’s Diversity Task Force in 2007 was the formation of the Commission on Minority Inclusion and the Minority Economic Development Council (MEDC), the Commission’s first operational entity. The Diversity Task Force was phased out, with its continuing projects reassigned to the Commission and the Council. Co-chairing the Commission are Brother Raymond Fitz, former president of the University of Dayton, and William Gillispie, retired deputy city manager for the City of Dayton.

The Commission and MEDC represented a groundbreaking partnership between The Dayton Foundation and the Dayton Business Committee and includes representatives from both minority and majority business owners and community leaders.

A three-year initiative of Foundation and the Business Committee, MEDC worked to foster stronger minority businesses for the overall economic growth and vitality of our region. To continue MEDC’s work in the community, the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce stepped forward in 2010 to lead this initiative by incorporating MEDC’s activities into the Chamber’s. MEDC’s new name is the Minority Business Partnership. The Commission continues to be a Dayton Foundation leadership initiative.

For more information about the merger of the Minority Economic Development Council and the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce click here to read the press release.