.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} Just to put things in perspective, Preston Daniels told the audience that Iowa has been ranked fifth- worst among the states when it comes to employment equality. “What does that say to people who want to come into our community?” he asked.

Daniels was the moderator at last week’s “Diversity in the Workplace” event, the third and final session in the 2007 Power Breakfast series presented by the Des Moines Business Record.

Serving as panelists were Lori Chesser, an immigration attorney at the Davis, Brown law firm; J. Barry Griswell, chairman and CEO of Principal Financial Group Inc.; Kerty Levy, a vice president at Kemin Industries Inc.; Vincent Lewis, principal at North High School; and Paul Rottenberg, president of Orchestrate Management.

Daniels, a former mayor of Des Moines, is the diversity program director at Employee and Family Resources. Before the question-and-answer segment began, he emphasized that unemployment varies widely among different ethnic groups in Central Iowa, skewing much higher among minorities than among the white majority.

He also told the crowd of about 150 that way back in the 1860s, the Iowa Legislature had 50,000 copies of a pamphlet printed and distributed throughout the United States and in Europe, inviting hard workers to come here. “It was printed in five languages,” Daniels noted. “I ask myself today, when our Legislature has to say to the world what our language is (referring to legislation declaring English the state’s official language), what does that say to the world about who we are? What does that mean to people who want to come and be part of our community?”

Here are some of the topics raised and points made after the opening remarks:

Who adjusts to whom?

In response to a question about assimilation – do the immigrants switch to American ways, or should our culture show some flexibility – Lewis chose the “salad bowl” over the “melting pot.”

“In the melting pot model, we are asking them to give up all the cultural characteristics that made them what they are,” he said. “That’s very, very wrong and very degrading.” In the salad bowl model, people from different cultures “maintain their identity and make a delightful dish,” he said. “Our challenge is to welcome all who come to us, but encourage them to maintain their own cultural characteristics.”

But America has never fit either of those models, Chesser contended. “What’s made America so great is that America has changed along with who has come here, to make us what we are today,” she said.

Unfulfilled promise

It’s often mentioned that Iowa welcomed refugees from Southeast Asia in the 1970s, but a questioner said one in seven Asian Iowans lives in poverty.

Griswell pointed out that 80 percent of Native Americans on reservations live in poverty and talked about the travails of African-Americans as well. “I don’t think this is an ethnic problem; I think it’s a socioeconomic problem,” he said. “We’ve got enormous pockets of problems that need to be solved. We have to get at providing the skill level and training for those individuals to be productive.

“The federal government unfortunately has got a lot of problems doing lots of things, and to think that they might be the group that could fix this problem seems to be a bit naïve. I think it has to be at the community level. We all have to pitch in and find ways to provide the training.”

Practical efforts

Rottenberg, a veteran of the hotel and food service industries, said, “I would encourage all businesses to support legislation that allows workers to come in and take jobs that are available, because I think as we give them roots here, they’ll become a successful part of the community.”

Lewis praised a recently announced program in which Principal guarantees employment to Des Moines Area Community College students who meet certain requirements. When he describes that opportunity to under-achieving students, “their eyes open,” he said. “They have never heard that kind of promise before; they have never heard that hope for the future before. Things begin to take an immediate turnaround.”

Griswell talked about another cooperative effort with DMACC: “We’re trying to think about creating a work development center to take people without the necessary skill set and find a way to create an environment where business, education and government can work collaboratively to create opportunities for those folks to get the skills,” he said. “We’re even thinking about having some jobs co-located there. … (The problems) are not going to be solved with rhetoric and promises; somebody’s got to put some real money up.”

Community obligations

In response to a question about corporations’ obligations to the community, Griswell rejected the common notion that companies should keep all profits for the shareholders.

“I would argue vehemently that, at the end of the day, if you’re doing what is right for the community, for your people, for humanity, there is a common good,” he said. “There is more profit if America is taking care of those in need.

“Most enlightened companies give a lot of their earnings away because it’s the right thing to do,” Griswell said, “and because it’s good business.”

Best practices

Asked about best practices, Levy noted that Kemin provides all domestic partners with full benefits, works with Debra Salowitz, owner of Strategic Relocation Solutions, to show new employees around town and hires Tero International Inc. for cultural awareness training.

Griswell said Principal has an organized group for each minority represented in the company, and also uses the best motivator of all: money. “We measure cultural awareness, and there’s an aggregate score on every senior executive’s bonus list,” he said.

Chesser suggested, “Find ways to challenge yourself and your staff to encounter other cultures. There are places you can go in Des Moines where you’re not the majority; my family shops at La Tapatia, and everybody stares at us.”

The Power Breakfast was sponsored by Nationwide Insurance, Des Moines Area Community College and Carrier Access Inc.