October 5, 2017
by Matthew S. Bajko | The Bay Area Reporter | [email protected]
California’s major utility, telecommunications, and water companies spent $41 million with LGBT-owned firms in 2016, according to an annual report that grades the diversity of each company’s supply chain. Yet the figure is a pittance of the total $32.24 billion the companies spent last year with diverse business enterprises, including those owned by minorities, women, and disabled veterans.
While LGBT business advocates said the amount was a good start, they would like to see the total amount spent with LGBT-owned firms triple by 2018.
“Forty-one million dollars is now being spent with LGBT-owned firms where it wasn’t before and that is a positive thing, a great thing. But at 0.13 percent of the total, that is not even 1 percent, so it shows we have a long way to go,” said Paul Pendergast, vice president for public policy at the Golden Gate Business Association. “This is a marathon and not a sprint.”
