Hamilton Partnership to host "How are we doing? An open forum on equitable and inclusive business practices."

Hamilton Partnership to host “How are we doing? An open forum on equitable and inclusive business practices.”

The Hamilton Partnership will be hosting free seminars this month to help local small businesses as they struggle through the reopening process during the pandemic.

“Most small businesses do not have a budget set aside for sensitivity training or many other human resources training in good times, but layer in the pandemic and it is not anywhere near the top of the budget priority list,” said Jeannine Cimino, Chairman of the board of the local business association that was created to work with local as a liaison between government and local businesses in 1993.

The Partnership and has since created local Biz Groups which merged into “Shop Hamilton” in 2014.

“With the social unrest across the nation and in New Jersey this summer, we thought it important to be a resource to help local businesses to understand how equity, inclusion, and diversity works within their organizations. We are happy to partner with Dr. Pamela Pruitt to moderate the first part of this seminar series on DEI titled “How are we doing? An open forum on equitable and inclusive business practices”, said Rachel Holland, Executive Director of the Hamilton Partnership. “We are encouraging all business owners and workers to join in the first part of this free series to help identify how diversity, equity, and inclusion is defined in all the businesses in Hamilton.” said Holland.

This session will help identify themes that will then be addressed in Part 2 of the series later this year. Everyone, whether you work for a local small business or a large organization, is encouraged to register and log on. There are two opportunities to attend. Monday, August 25th, 7-9 pm or Tuesday, August 26th, 8-10 am.

Registration is available on the Hamilton-strong.com website for the ZOOM meetings. The program will consist of a presentation from Dr. Pruitt and then breakout sessions on ZOOM to discuss the topics defined in the presentation. These sessions are designed to be safe spaces, will not be recorded but will be reported on and discussed with the larger group at the end of the break out sessions. This is an interactive seminar and ideally would be held in person but because of the pandemic is going to be held virtually.

Any questions can be directed to the Hamilton Partnership at info@thehamiltonpartnership.com