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We’re all at the table, so let’s talk

By Atlanta Fifty Forward

Martha Farnsworth Riche, former director of the U.S. Census Bureau, spoke to more than 150 participants at “The Changing Faces of the Future” Fifty Forward forum, held Sept. 10 at the Morehouse Leadership Center.

Following Riche’s address, two local experts, Jane Smith, executive director of the Spelman College Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement, and Tisha Tallman, President and CEO of the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, joined Riche onstage for a Q&A session with members of the audience.

Most of the discussion centered around situations where the benefits of embracing diversity had not yet been realized.

When answering one audience member’s question about maximizing the benefits of diversity in the workforce, Riche said:

 “Atlanta is incredibly positioned to embrace diversity as a positive force, perhaps the leading city in the country in this regard. Anybody in the world can come to Atlanta and be at home. That is a strength that few cities have.”

We’ll have more updates on the forum later, but for now …

 Do you agree with Riche? Is metro Atlanta as welcoming as many of us think it is?

This entry was posted on September 10, 2008 at 4:42 pm and is filed under Demographics, Governance, Land Use, Sustainability. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “We’re all at the table, so let’s talk”

  1. Circle T Says:
    September 17, 2008 at 8:40 pm

    Riche is totally correct about our potential – from our existing diverse population to the trends we can expect to our history. There is a big “BUT” however – we need to recognize that the diversity is, indeed, a strength. I hope we are there – not sure though.

  2. Jimmy R. Says:
    October 10, 2008 at 3:53 pm

    She might be right… but we certainly aren’t consistent about it. On the one hand, we spend a lot of time reaching out to other nations to do business in Georgia – see KIA and all the visits to China made by Gov. Perdue. On the other hand, we have passed some of the toughest anti-immigration laws in the nation, and we are just falling all over ourselves to find new, even more draconian ways to punish those who hire illegal immigrants as well as illegal immigrants themselves. The tanking of the economy will stem the overt efforts to pass ever tougher anti-immigration laws, but what messages are we sending. Are we saying, “hey world, come to Georgia to do business and create jobs for Georgians, but don’t bring any of those poor people with you who might also want jobs and services and an education.” What kind of a message is that?

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