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Are Buffalo Niagara employers embracing diversity?

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Buffalo News - Matt Glynn | Tuesday, Nov 1, 2022

BUFFALO, N.Y. (Buffalo News) — Local employers are making headway on diversity, equity and inclusion, but they've still got work to do.

Those are some of the themes from the latest assessment by the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, two years after the business group conducted an initial survey.

Dottie Gallagher, the Partnership's president and CEO, said the effort employers put into diversity can have a meaningful impact.

"Our future as a region and our economic prosperity depends heavily on building equity for everybody who’s in our community," she said.

In the latest assessment, 79% of companies said they had started their diversity, equity and inclusion work, up from 72% two years ago. Of the 21% that hadn't started, their reasons included a lack of commitment from leadership, and the small size of their companies. A total of 271 individuals in Erie and Niagara counties responded to the assessment.

There was a 120% increase in companies that had set measurable and concrete goals, Gallagher said. "There is still great room for improvement but the needle is moving in the right direction." Those goals include procurement; the percentage of employees who are Black, indigenous and people of color; marketing practices; and community outreach.

Read more here.

Help still wanted: hiring dominates employers’ concerns

By mcotter@thepartnership.org | October 14, 2022

BUFFALO, N.Y. (The Buffalo News) —Finding and keeping qualified talent is top of mind for employers in the Buffalo Niagara region. It once again the led the list of employers’ foremost concerns in a survey of Buffalo Niagara Partnership members.

With border restrictions eased, Canadians are returning to Western New York to shop

By communications@thepartnership.org | October 7, 2022

BUFFALO, N.Y. (The Buffalo News) —
“ArriveCan being eliminated is big but in my opinion the random testing and vaccination requirements were an extreme deterrent for quick trips across the border,” said Dottie Gallagher, president and CEO of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership

With Canada lifting most travel restrictions, border communities breathe sigh of relief

By communications@thepartnership.org | September 27, 2022

BUFFALO, N.Y. (The Buffalo News) —Dottie Gallagher, president of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, said fears of random testing and possible quarantines in Ontario all worked to discourage significant aspects of the region’s integrated economy. She called the move “quite frankly, long overdue,” especially for those travelers discouraged to even try navigating requirements like ArriveCan.

Assessment serves as tool to benchmark and inform WNY’s D&I work

By communications@thepartnership.org | July 15, 2022

(Buffalo, NY) The Buffalo Niagara Partnership (BNP) is inviting the region’s businesses to participate in an assessment to determine how far the Western New York (WNY) Community has progressed in their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices since the BNP’s first assessment conducted in 2020.