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A new director recently took charge of the office responsible for encouraging minority and women-owned businesses to participate in bidding to provide services for the state. The office also works toward ensuring the state’s workforce is diverse. KSMU’s Missy Shelton spoke with Alan Green by phone about his priorities for the office and files this report.
Alan Green is the new Director of the Office of Supplier and Workforce Diversity for the state of Missouri. He says the state needs to do a better job of hiring women and minorities for jobs in state government.
“The numbers are low. The lay-offs didn’t help. There’s a lot of work to be done. My goal is to increase the diversity numbers.”
And Green says all areas of state government need to do a better job of hiring minorities and women.
“It’s across the board for all 16 departments. T here’s work to be done.”
Green says the idea is to create a diverse workforce that more closely reflects the actual demographics of the state’s population.Another function of the office Green oversees is to encourage women and minority-owned businesses to bid for state contracts.
“A lot of times, a minority or woman-owned business doesn’t have the resources to network or build those relationship with the key decision-makers. So they don’t have an opportunity to be at the table. This gives them a chance to be at the table.”
The Office of Supplier and Workforce Diversity provides regional workshops and orientation sessions for businesses and training programs for state agencies.
