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Reverse discrimination movement considered in state, federal courts

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Reverse discrimination movement considered in state, federal courts

By PAUL OGDEN

This summer marked the 50th anniversary of the landmark civil rights legislation, the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Act law outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It also ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, at the workplace and by businesses that accommodate the public, such as stores and restaurants. No longer could those businesses discriminate on the basis of race.

While some think segregated facilities only existed in the south, Indiana and other northern states had them as well. For example, in 1927, the Indianapolis School Board built Crispus Attucks High School, the city’s first and only public high school for African-Americans.

While some elementary schools were segregated, up until 1927 blacks could attend any high school in the city. With the influence of the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana growing after the World War I, the push to segregate Indianapolis’ high schools increased until it succeeded with the establishment of segregated Crispus Attacks.

And Indiana’s racial segregation in Indiana wasn’t confined to larger metropolitan areas. In the book, All We Had Was Each Other, white author Don Wallis compiled stories of racial segregation in his hometown of Madison, Indiana located in southeastern Indiana.   Wallis interviewed African-Americans about the experience they had growing up in Madison.   Even as late as the 1950s and 1960s, black residents in Madison could not eat in some restaurants and had to sit in the balcony of the only movie theatre in town. As Wallis notes, black residents, who could only work as handymen, cooks and maids for white people, were confined to living in only one part of Madison.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was followed the next year by the Voting Rights Act. With newly-found political power, African-Americans and their allies pushed for further changes. These included measures to not only stop workplace discrimination but affirmative action initiatives that aimed at alleviating years of racial discrimination by giving minorities access to opportunities previously denied to them because of their skin pigmentation.

While affirmative action was intended to level the playing field, it also caused a backlash from some whites, who believe that laws and programs that gave an edge to minority applicants for education and employment opportunities meant they are now being denied opportunities because of skin color. Over the past couple decades, that white backlash has grown into the reverse discrimination movement, the goal of which is to repeal affirmative action programs.

Movement adherents argue, for example, that an African-American child of wealthy, college-educated parents should not, based solely on skin color, receive preference over a white child of impoverished parents who never graduated from high school.

The chief battleground for the reverse discrimination movement has been the courts. In 1976, the Supreme Court held in McDonald v. Santa Fe Trail Transportation Co. that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which title prohibits racial prohibits discrimination in employment matters, also applies to majority as well as minority employees. This called into question the legality of scores of affirmative action programs.   Whites argued that favoring minorities in such programs inevitably meant that whites were being disfavored by their skin color, a violation of Title VII.

The confusion about which affirmative action programs are permissible under Title VII, led to an explosion of reverse discrimination lawsuits, including challenges in Indiana. In 2007, the Justice Department filed a reverse discrimination case against the City of Indianapolis claiming its police department discriminated in favor of eight African-Americans and a white woman by promoting them over more qualified eight white male police officers. The next year, a Glen Scott v. City of Indianapolis was filed against the Indianapolis Fire Department alleging that 20 white firefighters were passed over for promotions to lieutenant and captain in favor of less-qualified black candidates.

Probably the most significant recent reverse discrimination case is Stephen Radentz v. Marion County.   In that case, filed in 2010, former Marion County Coroner Kenneth Ackles terminated his office’s contract with Forensic Pathology Associates, owned by white Radentz, replacing that company with Joyce Carter, an African-American pathologist. The lawsuit claimed the termination came as part of an overall policy of the Coroner’s Office to rid the workplace of whites in favor of African-Americans. While Ackles argued that the contract was instead due cancelled to other reasons – excessive costs and a desire to save the taxpayer’s money – the 7th Circuit said that such a reason in the face of conflicting evidence, did not support the district court’s summary dismissal of Radentz’s case. Rather than face continued litigation, the county decided to settle.

In light of the continuing confusion over what affirmative action programs are allowed under Article VII, the United States Supreme Court in 2009 took on the case Ricci v. DeStefano. In that case, New Haven, Connecticut held a promotional exam for firefighters with objective criteria for scoring. When just one Latino, and no African-Americans, qualified for promotion, the city of New Haven decided to not certify the results. As a result, 20 white firefighters who would have won promotions sued claiming reverse discrimination under Title VII.

Writing for a 5-4 majority, Justice Kennedy declared that New Haven had engaged in “express, race-based decision-making” and that throwing out the exam results could have only been justified if the tests themselves were biased to discriminate against minorities. Kennedy found that there was no “strong basis in evidence” of such an impermissible bias in the tests.

Where does that leave the reverse discrimination movement? Given that the Supreme Court decided Ricci on a 5-4 vote, the continued success of the movement, as well as the fate of many affirmative action programs, depends on whom is the next appointee to the United States Supreme Court. That will be determined mostly by who wins the White House in 2016.

Indianapolis-based writer Paul Ogden is an attorney, with decades of experience, including many years with the minority-owned firm of Roberts & Bishop.

 

 

Grocer wins business with fresh goods, friendly service

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Grocer wins business with fresh goods, friendly service

By Leslie L. Fuller

What does it take to fulfill the American Dream in a small town?

Personal attention. Focusing on a niche. Emphasizing the basics. That’s why Anna Rosa Marin, 21, says her aunt and uncle’s small grocery store is thriving in one small Indiana town despite the presence of big chain grocers Kroger and Walmart.

When her aunt and uncle, Arturo and Aracelia Marin, decided to transform the billard hall at 922 E. Lincoln Ave. in Goshen, Ind. into a grocery store, they decided to name it Eastgate Market, rather than christening it with a traditional Spanish name, Anna Rosa said.

“They chose the name Eastgate Market so that everyone would feel welcome,” she said. “Many of our customers are Hispanic, but many are English-speakers only.”

When customers step into the store, they are greeted by name, she said. “A lot of my customers are super friendly. We know their names. Maybe the prices are slightly higher than Kroger or Walmart, but we provide personal service.”

Customers will also find a wide range of Hispanic foods and cooking staples, in contrast to the more limited offerings of the majority chains, Anna Rosa said. “We try to stock the basics: vegetables, spices, beans, tortillas, candies. We also have sodas from Puerto Rico and other countries. When our customers tell us they want a certain item, we order it for them.”

Eastgate Market’s meat and deli area has fresh meats replenished at least twice a week, and the produce deliveries are also scheduled as frequently as possible.

Anna Rosa said her uncle Arturo has embraced his role as a leader in the area’s small Hispanic community. She recalls the time a local resident stopped by the store. “He had nothing, and he wanted to move back out of state,” she said. “My uncle told him where he could go for help, he helped him out, and provided him with bread and some food.”

The United States Census Bureau estimates that as of 2013, the Hispanic population of America is approximately 17.1 percent, yet in Indiana it is just 6.4 percent.

However, good service and focusing on the basics have added up to success for the Marin family, says Anna Rosa Marin.

“Most of our customers come here because we know them by name. My advice is definitely, try to remember your customers’ names,” said Anna Rosa “I think also my advice is to hire people who can speak both English and Spanish. And make sure you hire people with experience in the field. For us, we must know how to work the register, and how clean the store must be.”

Besides food items, Eastgate Market also stocks phone cards, and household necessities, including laundry detergents, cleaners, shampoos and toiletries.

The small town of Goshen is known for its train-related traffic delays, but the Marin family feels the store’s address east of the railroad tracks on Lincoln has translated into a business advantage.

Eastgate Market celebrated its one-year anniversary on Saturday, December 13. The owners thanked customers with free coffee, champurrado, and cake.

Strategically, the store posted its invitation on its Facebook page in both Spanish and English.

“Estaremos celebrando nuestro primer aniversario Este Sabado 13 de Diciembre. Ven a celebrar y acompananos. Tendremos cafe, champurrado, y pastel gratis!”

Followed by this post: “We are celebrating our one year anniversary tomorrow Saturday December 13. Come and join us we are having free coffee, champurrado, and cake!”

The store is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Stay connected to Eastgate Market via its Facebook page: facebook.com/pages/East-Gate-Market/.

 

 

The Affirmative Action debate continues

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The Affirmative Action debate continues

“Equality is where everyone has a pair of shoes, but equity is where everyone has a pair of shoes that fit them.” Nathanial Williams, IUPUI graduate and current doctorial candidate.

By Kim L. Hooper

With just a “C” average, Nathaniel Williams managed to squeeze in a spot with his incoming class at Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis. However, Williams’ admission came with a caveat: he had to meet and maintain higher academic targets for a year in order to stay in school.

Williams, who is African-American, doesn’t know if his conditional acceptance to IUPUI was the result of the university’s affirmative action admissions policies.

“It’s interesting, the year before I was accepted, IUPUI had open enrollment like Ivy Tech (State College), meaning you could get in with a Core 40 Diploma. The following year when I applied, the university had different admission requirements,” Williams said.

Sixty years after Brown versus Board of Education and 50 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, the debate over the use of race-based affirmative action policies in college and university admissions hasn’t abated, with more legal challenges expected to snake their way through the courts.

“Affirmative action is still hotly debated because the general public doesn’t have a full grasp of the depth of discrimination and oppression that has taken place and that still takes place in this country, especially in the areas of educational and economic opportunity for ethnic minorities and also because of the necessity and competition surrounding the need for a college degree in order to have a good quality of life in this country,” said Terri R. Jett, a political science professor at Butler University in Indianapolis.

“The implementation of these policies has not necessarily served its intent or truly benefitted targeted groups,” Jett continued. “And when you factor economic inequality, there are many poor whites who have also been unfairly prevented from achieving a college degree. The intersection of race, gender and class complicates the determination of who is seen as ‘deserving,’ to benefit from policies such as affirmative action,” Jett said.

On Nov. 17, 2014, federal lawsuits were filed against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill by a legal advocacy group claiming both universities heavily rely on race-based affirmative action policies that limit admissions of white and Asian-American students.

The Washington D.C.-based Project on Fair Representation, which filed the lawsuits, say they are the first in a series of legal challenges against colleges and universities across America aimed at ending racial preferences in the admissions process.

According to the legal advocacy group, “Racial preferences are a dangerous tool and may only be used as a last resort.” The lawsuit suggests that giving greater consideration for students with socio-economic needs, or so-called “race-neutral” polices, prove to be more effective in promoting diversity than race-based polices.

An outcome of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, affirmative action was first used as a term by President John F. Kennedy in a 1961 executive order that directed government contractors to take “affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin.” The Executive Order also established the President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity, now called the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or EEOC. While affirmative action policies initially focused on improving opportunities for African-Americans in employment and education, it also provides equal opportunities for other minorities, including women.

The 1954 landmark Brown decision that outlawed school segregation, and the 1964 passage of the Civil Rights Act improved life prospects for African-Americans. However, by 1965, just 5 percent of undergraduate college students, 1 percent of law students, and 2 percent of medical students were African-American. In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson, an advocate for affirmative action, signed an executive order that required government contractors to use affirmative action policies in their hiring to increase the number of minority employees.

Colleges and universities also began adopting similar recruitment and admission policies, and over time the enrollment rates for African-American and Latino students steadily increased. Still, gaps in college enrollment between minority and white students remain, despite the efforts that have been made to establish equal opportunity.

According to 2007 data from the National Center on Education Statistics 70 percent of white high school graduates immediately enrolled in college, compared to 56 percent of African- American and 61 percent of Hispanic graduates.  The number of African-American graduates who immediately enrolled in college went up in 2011 to 65 percent compared to 69 percent of white graduates and 63 percent of Hispanic graduates.

Most public and private universities across the country – including those in Indiana – use a variety of factors to determine a student’s admissibility. They include:

  • High school grade point average
  • The rigor of high school courses taken
  • Alumni relationships (parent, sibling, or grandparent)
  • Essay quality
  • Personal achievement
  • Leadership and service
  • Socioeconomically-disadvantaged students or education
  • Athletic ability
  • Under-represented racial or ethnic minority identity or education
  • Residency in an under-represented region.

Experts say colleges and universities have been forced to alter their affirmative action admissions policies due to court rulings and decisions, almost akin to erring on the side of caution.

“Universities are scaling back race-based admissions to be ‘careful’ and use race-neutral approaches if they don’t achieve their minority enrollment goals,” said Suzanne E. Eckes, an attorney and associate professor of Education Leadership and Policy Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington. “Using socioeconomics as a proxy for race is problematic in my opinion. Racial diversity and socioeconomic diversity are not the same thing…it is very complex. It gets me mad, too,” she said.

Eckes said the notion that enormous numbers of whites are being denied admission because of the preferential treatment of under-represented minorities is simply false.

“In fact, the numbers of minority applicants are extremely small compared to the numbers of white students who apply to universities across the country. It’s just not mathematically possible that the small numbers of minority students who apply and are admitted are displacing a significant number of white students,” she said.

Jett agreed.

“The intent of affirmative action in the educational arena was to make amends for the many decades of discriminatory practices where ethnic minority applicants weren’t considered for admission. These past discrimination practices in higher education largely explained the growth of historically Black colleges (HBCUs) and the fact that more African-Americans were educated in HCBUs than predominantly white institutions,” she said.

Others believe it’s time for the discussion to move beyond race if the focus is equality and education.

“Inequality isn’t just based on race or gender, but socioeconomic status, which includes poor white kids,” said Alice Jordan-Miles, a campus advisor and assistant director of the Behavioral Health and Family Studies Institute at Indiana University-Purdue University, Fort Wayne.

 

Nathaniel Williams earned bachelors and master’s degrees in art education and education psychology from IUPUI and is now a doctoral candidate in urban education studies. The 29-year-old is on track to graduate in May 2015. He credits his mandated participation in IUPUI’s Diversity Scholarship Research Program for much of his academic success. If his admission slot was the result of affirmative action policies, then he is a testament to investing in individuals at the highest levels.

 

“I didn’t have the highest GPA, yet, here I am, accepted to a PhD program and looking forward to a teaching at the university level and in research. We say we value diversity based on equity not equality, well, equality is where everyone has a pair of shoes, but equity is where everyone has a pair of shoes that fit them.”

 

 

 

A Native American journey for civil rights, equality and education

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A Native American journey for civil rights, equality and education

By Amy Foxworthy

“It is a tragic irony that the American Indian has for so long been denied a full share of freedom – full citizenship in the greatest free country in the world…nearly half our states and many hundreds of our cities and towns bear Indian names…and still the paradox exists.” – Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, addressing the National Congress of American Indians, 1963

When you ask Aleeah Yates Livengood, a Hoosier wife, mother, business entrepreneur and college mentor, to name the inspirational people that have changed her life, high on her list is the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. “People that come into our lives are not by mistake,” says Livengood, 53. “What Bobby Kennedy did for my family changed four generations of people’s lives.”

She explains her personal story is also intertwined with a national narrative of civil rights and citizenship. In the spring of 1968, Aleeah, then just 7-years-old, was overwhelmed with excitement. Word had spread that Sen. Robert “Bobby” F. Kennedy was scheduled to fly into rural Tippecanoe County, Indiana to Halsmer’s Airport, directly beside the Yates family home. These were tough times for the young Indiana girl and her family. Two years after a devastating car accident, her father remained in a wheelchair, his body encased in casts. Her family, which included her two sisters, and brother, often had little else to eat other than federal “commodities” of powered eggs and canned ham. After Aleeah’s mother spotted the presidential candidate’s spouse, Ethel Kennedy, she humbly asked if Kennedy would wave to her husband. Instead, Robert Kennedy borrowed a reporter’s car and drove to Aleeah’s home.

As Aleeah and her two younger sisters sat spellbound on the fence, their father pulled himself from his chair to greet the candidate. Today, Aleeah Yates Livengood, now a parent herself, vividly recalls what happened next. Senator Kennedy asked Aleeah’s father, “Son, what happened? How are you surviving, since you can’t work? How are you taking care of these children?” Livengood recalls. “He looked at all of us, and he looked at me and he winked and I just melted,” she says, still moved by the memory. Kennedy talked with each family member, ending with her, the oldest child. “He put my face in his hands and he said, ‘Someday your life will be different, I promise you,’” recalls Livengood, her eyes filling with tears. Then, it was time for Kennedy to go. The young girl wept.

“I remember marching in civil rights marches with my parents. When we went south, we had to drink out of the fountains labeled ‘colored.’ I knew what was happening, I knew I wanted to be part of it, and I knew I was too small. So I cried as the bus drove away and I promised myself someday, I will make things happen.” She recalls what happened next. On June 5, 1968, during a family trip to their farm in Kentucky, as she sat in the family car listening to music on the radio, the announcer broke into the broadcast with the shocking announcement. Kennedy had been assassinated on a campaign stop. Overwhelmed with sorrow for the man who had shown them compassion and inspiration, the family decided to travel to Washington, D.C. to pay their respects. The transmission went out in their old ’45 Chevy somewhere around West Virginia. After a few days to fix the car, the exhausted family continued on. Upon arriving in Washington, D.C., her father parked the car near the Jefferson Memorial and the family fell asleep. Livengood recalls, “A police officer awakened the family to ask what my dad was doing, and my father said, ‘Sir, we are here to pay our respects, but we do not have money to pay for a hotel.’”

The officer responded, “Go ahead. I’ll watch your family. Sleep.” The next day, the family said goodbye to Kennedy, at his grave at Arlington National Cemetery. Family quest for education Livengood explains the next chapter of her life was her family’s search for education. Her parents enrolled in college in what was then called Ricks College, now Brigham Young University of Idaho. Livengood relates that her family, who were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or Mormon Church, then went on a mission to a Navajo Reservation in Arizona, then on to Utah where her parents attended BYU, then to Arkansas where they lived atop a mountain in a two-room, unheated log cabin. Livengood says she loved the setting, but not the racism she encountered. We lived close to a little town called Prairie Grove, where I went to junior high. They didn’t care for mixed race people.

That bothered my father, and we ended up coming back home.” Textbook racism Back in Utah, Livengood was shocked to open a history textbook and find a passage describing Native Americans as drunken, heathen savages. Livengood, descends from the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois, as well the Eastern Band of Cherokee, felt the pain of the racist words as a stinging assault upon her family. “My great grandfather, the kind man that I knew, was a very spiritual man, and it hurt me to the core. I went to the teacher and I said ‘I’m not reading this.

These are lies! He’s not a drunk, he’s not a heathen and he’s not a savage!’” Despite ridicule from her classmates, 12-year-old Livengood successfully petitioned to get the academic curriculum changed. “The principal said he couldn’t change the history books, but what he could do for me, and for other Native students in the school, was to give us our own history class, where we could learn the history of our people. Most of the people in our class were Navajo and Crow. The kids loved it. We got to learn about things that were important to us.” Marriage and family She recalls her first date with Michael Livengood: “We made a date to meet on the ice at Lafayette Columbian Park… as we walked underneath Memorial Island Bridge, we began to hold hands.” Livengood eventually learned the courting spot was generations old: “Years later I found out that my great grandparents also met under that same bridge, when my great-grandfather jumped into my great-grandmother’s passing canoe, asking her for a date,” she says. When Michael Livengood proposed, Aleeah responded, ‘You better get a good job, because I want 12 kids.”

The couple was married on March 10, 1979, and she set about fulfilling her dreams of life as a wife and mother. But in 1982, when she was 21, she received a blessing from a church leader who told her she needed to go to school. By the time she enrolled at Purdue University in West Lafayette, she had four children. In 1986, she was nearly complete with an undergraduate degree in speech pathology when she became pregnant with her fifth child. Livengood decided to take a short leave of absence, when she conceived her sixth child. “I did go back to Purdue with a year and a half left and ended up graduating in 2001, so, look how long it took me!”

She returned to Purdue in 2003 to earn a master’s degree and learned about a new Native American recruitment program called the Tecumseh Project. Livengood successfully lobbied for university approval and foundation funding for a cultural center to provide a home away from home for Native American students. “I’m glad they kept it up and it is still there today.” Next, Livengood received a research assistantship with the Louise Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) under Dr. Pamella P. Shaw. Shaw, who is African-American, and is the associate dean for the office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Purdue, reflects on that relationship. “We had a combination administrative/mentor/friendship over the course of several years,” said Shaw. “Her rich background and mature nature led to the development of several projects that assisted us in developing activities and outreach to Native American students and the community.” Later, another Purdue professor, Dr. Suzanne Zurn-Birkhimer, approached Shaw about a project in Red Lake, Minnesota to conduct Department of Natural Resource research on tribal lands.

Shaw couldn’t go, but suggested sending Livengood in her place. “This opportunity was so important to me,” says Livengood. To the Native Americans she encountered, she stressed that education was the only thing that would change their lives. To the non-Native academics, she explained the importance of respect for Indian culture. “I told them that they could not go in there and take something away without giving something back.” A decade later, Livengood says she is still in touch with many of the Native American students she mentored on the Red Lake project. “I shared with these people on the reservation my stories, my life; that I had experienced being homeless as a child, not having enough food to eat, being hungry,” says Livengood. “Some of the non-Native people may have felt uncomfortable, but I told them to be real. Not to act like they ‘knew it all’ or any facades.”

Governor calls Next, the Indiana Governor’s office called. In 2007, Gov. Mitch Daniels appointed her executive director for the Indiana Native Affairs Commission. When her term ended, Livengood returned to Purdue as a retention coordinator for the Cultural Center, but when the grant funding ran out, she was out of a job. She currently serves on the Serve Indiana Commission (formerly known as the Indiana Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives.) In 2008, when the state building industry slumped and her husband’s masonry business declined, she increased her time in the family business. “I realized that all of the knowledge I’d learned over these years, I could take and give back to my husband’s business, I could help my husband,” says Livengood. “My husband was a typical construction worker. They don’t always have experience with being professional, dealing with marketing, and branding. I felt we needed to be seen as professionals, and I decided I was going to help him by doing the management part of the business.” He was better in the field, so I told him that he should manage the field and I could manage the office.”

Livengood developed a marketing plan and created a corporate logo to promote the family brand. “It’s a triangle…it’s actually the Trinity. It has given him a new confidence, because although a lot of people can hang drywall and nail boards, not just anybody can lay brick, block, or lay stone,” said Livengood. Her family is famed for builders, and she is proud of that. “I told my boys, to have a respect for what you do. Not everyone can do it. Don’t let anybody try to push you down, try to make you lower your prices, you have to stand firm, because what you are giving them is a quality job.” The Livengood firm is respected throughout the greater Lafayette area and beyond, says Steve Rider, owner and president of S. Rider Construction. “Knowing a subcontractor like Livengood Masonry, integrity and honesty is what it’s all about. Guys like that are few and far between now.” “Aleeah is part of the business you don’t see, which is often the backbone of the business. And her husband Mike is the best masoner in this town,” says Rider. “He’s done jobs from a $6 million dollar house, a dollhouse. He’ll be there, and he’ll never let you down. Now the kids pretty much run the actual physical work, and they’re all good workers.”

Next, Mike Livengood decided to expand the business with masonry heaters. “We were diversifying, when you are in business, you have to diversify,” said Livengood. “The economy changes, needs change.” Despite the hard work, business planning and next product, the business was still buffeted by the economy, she says. “People were scared; banks were scared. I created relationships with companies who were doing commercial work, just to get our name out there. We did presentations on masonry heaters, and it kept us going until the work came back.” Life’s hard choices Then a friend and financial advisor recommended they sell their home.

“My dream home!” says Livengood. Their five-acre property boasted a fireplace that her sons had constructed, with rocks lovingly gathered from family vacations. The decision was made. “That’s one of those things, when you’re in business, you have to know when to cut your losses,” Livengood explains. “You have to decide if it’s worth keeping and you find out the material things aren’t. What is (important) is family. In the end, reflecting on her personal odyssey from Indiana, Idaho, Arizona, Arkansas, on her life which has embraced motherhood and academic achievement, Livengood says her message is this: “The human race is my family.” And considering her life’s purpose, including the mentors, from family, to the late Sen. Kennedy, she also claims this mission: “When it comes to Native people, helping them understand their potential, is really important to me.”

IndyGo names new vice president of finance & chief financial Officer/Controller

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IndyGo names new vice president of finance & chief financial Officer/Controller

IndyGo has announced after a comprehensive search, Nancy Manley has accepted the position of vice president of finance & chief financial officer/controller.

“We’re very excited to welcome Nancy to our executive team,” says IndyGo CEO and president, Mike Terry. “Her extensive government and transportation experience at the state level will be instrumental for us to continue our track record of fiscally responsible management and creative operational efficiencies.”

Manley will oversee the company’s financial operations including accounting, treasury and procurement. Manley joins the IndyGo team after 20 years of working for the State of Indiana, where most recently she was the Budget Director and Controller for the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. Prior to working for DWD, Manley held various positions at the Indiana Department of Transportation and the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.

 

Indiana Wesleyan University awards Aldersgate Prize

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Indiana Wesleyan University awards Aldersgate Prize

Dr. Christina Bieber Lake, the Clyde S. Kilby Professor of English at Wheaton College, is the recipient of the 2014 Aldersgate Prize for her book, Prophets of the Posthuman: American Literature, Biotechnology, and the Ethics of Personhood.

Motivated by the ethos of its Christian liberal learning community, Indiana Wesleyan University’s John Wesley Honors College awards the Aldersgate Prize annually to celebrate the outstanding achievement of an author whose scholarly inquiry “challenges reductionistic trends in academia by yielding a broad, integrative analysis of life’s complexities and by shedding fresh light on ultimate questions that enliven historic Christian conceptions of human flourishing.”

After reviewing more than 70 nominations for this year’s prize, the selection committee was most impressed with Bieber Lake’s “wide-ranging and prophetic interrogation of the assumptions and aspirations that animate our biotechnological age.”

Bieber Lake will accept the Aldersgate Prize and its monetary award of $3,500 at the 2015 Celebration of Scholarship Luncheon, April 17 at Indiana Wesleyan University, where she will offer the keynote address.

Prophets of the Posthuman: American Literature, Biotechnology, and the Ethics of Personhood is published by University of Notre Dame Press.

 

Ball State University to conduct study in East Chicago

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Ball State University to conduct study in East Chicago

Ball State University is focusing a study on the northwestern Indiana city of East Chicago, concentrating on the Grand Calumet River and a portion of the Indiana Harbor Canal south of East Chicago Avenue. The team looked at the opportunities to leverage a recent cleanup and redevelopment projects as a catalyst for neighborhood redevelopment.

East Chicago is the corporate home to the following industries and businesses: ArcelorMittal’s Indiana Harbor Works, considered the largest steel mill in the USA. Indiana Harbor Works comprises East mill, originally Inland Steel, and West mill, owned over most of its existence by Youngstown Sheet and Tube.

However, the need is evident for area reinvestment. A transit-oriented development, also known as TOD, near the South Shore train station stop is said to have hopes of greatly enhancing the southern edge of the city.

Ball State’s landscape architecture and urban planning students examined ways to weave together this fragmented city, which is challenged by transportation and natural elements that divide neighborhoods and impact the quality of life for residents.
The team is set to develop design ideas based upon input from critical stakeholders, existing plans and research, and best practices related initiatives. The study also included a two-day visit and a workshop that provided direct contact with community leaders and residents.

9 ways to get employees to buy into your brand

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9 ways to get employees to buy into your brand

By: Ebony Chappel

Organizations, both large and small, are spending more money, time, and effort on marketing and developing unique branding strategies. Getting your employees to buy-in to these concepts, also known as brand assimilation, is particularly vital. Prophet, a brand strategy and marketing consultancy firm, breaks the process of brand assimilation down into three structured phases

• Strategic Development: your company’s internal audience is defined and an assimilation road-map is created

• Foundation Building: materials are developed to train key leaders in the organization on how to disseminate branding messages to other staff members

• Implementation: internal communications are used to maintain brand dialog

Prophet’s staff recommends a company-wide, brand-driven approach to help foster customer loyalty that will ultimately translate into increased profitability and competitive advantage.

Read on for nine ways to get your employees on board:

1) Make it Personal

Encourage employees to live out your company’s brand by helping them to understand how it relates to them personally.

2) Keep it Fresh

If you’ve visited a Walgreen’s store lately, chances are you’ve heard an employee end your transaction at the cash register with the phrase “Be Well”. The two words are a simple yet refreshing way to drive home to consumers one of Walgreen’s cornerstone focal points, health and wellness.

3) Make it Clear

Take an informal poll of your employee’s knowledge of current marketing campaign slogans, or even your company’s mission/vision statement. You may be shocked to learn that a large majority of them may be unaware of what you have undoubtedly spent tons of dollars developing. Start simple by making sure these key messages are posted strategically around the office in high-traffic areas.

4) Involve Everyone

Every member of your staff will at some point, either directly or indirectly, interact with your clients and customers. It is important that even the building maintenance staff or IT department buy in and feel connected to the brand. 5) Measure Your Efforts Identify key measurable points surrounding branding such as employee awareness and customer satisfaction. The information you glean here can be helpful in determining whether or not a particular message is as effective as it should be.

6) Make it Cyclical

Although they have garnered their fair share of bad press, major U.S airline Southwest was considered one of the “Best in Class” for leading brand marketing agency Brandemix for their corporate culture of freedom and fun. Potential employees are asked to tell a joke in their interviews, and once hired, you enjoy a “Freedom to Dress” open dress code as well as a week-long celebration during Independence Day called Freedom Week.

7) Pep it Up

Who doesn’t love a good party? Have a fun company lunch or family event to launch new branding initiatives. This is a surefire way to ensure that employees not only know, but love, what you’re doing.

8) Follow up

After everyone has partied like rock stars, it’s important to build on that momentum with action. Consider a long-term plan that will further drive efforts to align everyone with the essence of your brand.

9) Incentivize Your Team

Create an award system centered on brand awareness and implementation that challenges employees to go that extra mile. Reward those diligent foot soldiers with cool perks and fun prizes.

Technology firm provides solutions for small businesses

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Technology firm provides solutions for small businesses

058By Ebony Chappel

Maintaining a sound technological element to your company is an integral part of any businesses success. Unfortunately, it is one need that many small to mid-sized businesses seem to neglect, primarily because of a to lack of industry knowledge and limited financial resources.

According to a survey released by multination electronics company Brother International, the technology tides are changing as 72 percent of owners who were surveyed shared that they anticipated receiving a greater return on investment from new technology than new employees. On the other hand, 63 percent of respondents admitted that they feel overwhelmed at the amount of technological solutions available to them.

Cody Rivers, COO and Lamont Hatcher, CIO of Indianapolis-based technology firm Apex Infinite Solutions (AIS) share their company’s success story as well as offer insight into technology problems many small to mid-size companies encounter.

IMBM: How did Apex (AIS) come about? How long have you all been in business?

Hatcher: We got started in June of 2012. I come from a pretty extensive consulting background and after a while you know; you just decide it’s time to go out on your own. At the time I was working with Cody at E Source. I pulled him on in and then we (began) Apex.

What were you all doing at E Source?

Rivers: We were specializing in enterprise consulting at the IT standpoint. We saw a niche for bringing those enterprise IT solutions down to the small to mid-sized business space at a cost that was more suitable for this market.

How has AIS grown since you originally started the company?

Hatcher: AIS has been blessed to grow exponentially since inception. We’ve grown from one office in Indy to an office in Florida, as well as, DC.  Our company projections state that we’ll double in growth by the end of 2015.

That’s considerable growth in a couple short years. What does your clientele list look like these days?

Hatcher: We have clients in Massachusetts, Kentucky, DC, Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and of course, Indiana. These clients range in size from 5-250 in size.  The majority of our clients are in the construction, as well as, the not for profit industry.

Why Information Technology? Why is that something that the both of you are so passionate about?

Rivers: It’s an art for me and I like to see the things that we do help businesses become more efficient and profitable, as a lot of our focus is on the revenue generating benefits. IT just came naturally to me at a young age. Lamont is actually the one who got me started when I was 10 so he has built me up. I guess you could say I graduated from the Lamont Hatcher University of Information Technology. I’ve always gotten satisfaction from making businesses more efficient and allowing them to focus on what they’re good at so they are not worried about things that are outside of their expertise. For instance, I know my strength is not legal or accounting so that’s the approach we take with AIS. We want people to focus on running their business and not the IT stuff.

How did you all meet?

Rivers: Lamont worked with my father at his IT company in the early 1990s and I was a little rambunctious 10 year old that would come in the office with dad and wanted to learn IT. Lamont wasn’t too much older than me so he took me under his wing and showed me the ropes. He’s been there as a mentor to help guide me and show me which route to go and to this day I’m always learning something new from him.

What was it like mentoring Cody?

Hatcher: It’s easy to mentor people who want to learn. He did the work; I just gave him the opportunity.

What does it feel like everyday to come into the office and do what it is you love?

Rivers: It’s amazing. Everyday is something new. This is probably one of the fastest changing industries and if you don’t stay up on your game then you fall behind very quickly. It’s a constant seesaw so we’re always trying things out ourselves first to see what works and doesn’t work before we present anything to our clients.

What sets AIS apart from other IT companies?

Hatcher: What sets AIS apart from other IT companies is our customer service, process and progressive use of technology.  We were recently ranked one of the top 5 MSPs (Managed Service Providers) in the U.S. based on customer service. We understand that our clients are the reason we exist and we treat them accordingly.

Tell me about the services that you offer small businesses?

Rivers: What we try to do is act as the IT department for a smaller company. We are the support desk, the consultants, the solutions. (We are) an IT on demand executive without the salary that such an employee would demand. We give companies the strength of a department at a price level that is attainable for them and their needs so that they can continue to grow their business in a scalable way.

So, let’s say I’m a small business owner and I give AIS a call looking for some assistance. What is one of the first things you would do for me?

Rivers: We look for pain points. Similar to what would happen at a doctor’s visit. We assess the damage, look at the areas that need fixing, and determine what needs to be resolved immediately. From there, we would put you on a fitness plan so to speak to keep everything running and maintain the current state. We’re big data heads and we love data and reporting so we use the info from all the computers and servers to assess, optimize, manage, and report on the network.

Is there a particular system problem that you generally find your small business clients have when they initially secure your services?

Hatcher: Most small businesses take a ‘reactive’ approach to dealing with their IT company.  Our service offering philosophy takes a ‘proactive’ approach to dealing with issues.  Our model and processes allow us to deal with most of the daily issues before we receive the call.  It allows the client to focus on growing their business and not worrying about whether the network is running correctly.

What are some of the biggest IT issues that you see companies experience?

Rivers: Using too much money on the wrong solutions. We eat, sleep, and breathe IT so we know what’s out there. For someone who doesn’t have that background, they see 1,000 solutions available. We come in with our knowledge of what works and help them put the right dollar amount towards to right solution instead of wasting resources on the wrong solution – we try to guide them through their IT journey to help eliminate some of those falls.

Why do you feel some businesses neglect to spend the money needed to address their IT needs?

Rivers: I compare it to the human body sometimes, as far as health care is concerned. Unless you’re actually aching, you’re not going to look for issues. The same concept works for IT – by not thinking ahead, you set yourself up for those situations of unplanned downtime. Something may crash at a critical moment. The last thing you want is to be in the middle of a big project and something go wrong and you not know about it. Now at that point, you’re losing money and that becomes an even bigger issue. So we try to be proactive and reactive to catch those areas. We watch your back.

What are some of the ways that a company can benefit by upgrading their current system with AIS?

Rivers: Off the top, you’re going to have a fixed price as far as IT services are concerned. Its almost like insurance, if something goes wrong your price is not going to change. Customer satisfaction and employee morale are also other benefits of an upgrade that can eventually result in an increase in income. Then there’s always that guy that gets stuck doing all the IT related tasks around the office, not because he’s qualified necessarily, but because he knows a little bit more than anyone else. In turn, he ends up spending his time doing a task that he was not originally hired to do thus neglecting his primary responsibilities. By hiring a company like ours, you’re helping people to be more productive and efficient in the workplace.

What are your plans for the future?

Rivers: We want to establish our name in the community and continue to grow our brand. We’ve never lost a client so we want to continue that. Customer satisfaction is number one for us. We love to see our solutions grow our clients’ business. The more successful they are, the more successful we are.

Starting a company is a bold step. What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs?

Hatcher: We read a lot of books, blogs, forums, etc. and stay involved in a lot of business circles.  One thing we always say to each other is to stay hungry and don’t get comfortable.  That hunger will drive growth and force you to evolve while improving your product.  “Do what you love to do and you’ll never work a day in your life”.  While it’s a totally cliché, it’s very true.

For more on Apex Infinite Solutions, visit aisllp.com.

 

Obama visits Hoosier State, talks economy

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Obama visits Hoosier State, talks economy

President Barack Obama’s recent visit to southwestern Indiana included a stop at a minority-owned steel processing company to discuss steps his administration has taken to help restore the economy.

Obama visited Millennium Steel Service LLC near Princeton to mark Manufacturing Day. Millennium’s steel is used in the fabrication of various vehicles, including those produced at the nearby Toyota plant.

Millennium Steel was founded in 2001 as a joint venture between Henry Jackson and Toyota to supply processed steel for Toyota Motor Manufacturing. The company’s website says revenue grew from $37 million in 2001 to $250 million in 2011. Black Enterprise Magazine rates the company one of the 100 Top Black-owned Businesses.

The company began with 10 employees, and according to Gibson County officials, has grown significantly and currently consists of 58 employees.

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