AACCWP Commited to Including People with Disabilities in Mission

Welcome to Disability Matters with your host Joyce Bender. All comments, views, and opinions expressed on the show are solely those of the host, guest, and callers. Now the host of Disability Matters, here's Joyce Bender.

Hey everyone, welcome to the show. Hope you are all having a great day. And to all of my listeners around the world. As I always tell you, it means so much to me to have you following this show. As I frequently say, China, you know, you have a great following, but so does Australia, and so do so many other countries. Even if it's one person in that country listening to the show today, that one person can make a difference. So here, hear me, to all of you, tell someone else about the show. That's how you spread the news about quality of life for people with disabilities, which reminds me to say a shout out to my friend Richard Roberts from the State Department. He is so awesome. I just love him. I first met him in South Korea, and then I went on it with my state trip a few years later to Japan, and he just became an incredible advocate for people with disabilities. I, I can't tell you how much he has done to spread the news about the show, I mean about this show and about quality of life for people with disabilities. He's just a great friend. And Gang Young in South Korea, is also with the State Department. A special hi to you, Gangyung, and to Vladimir Venyamin. And Venyamin, special shout out to you, and to Cheryl Harris from Tunisia. I just love you all. You're all helping me spread the news in your country, so thank you so much. Then a special shout out to Yoshiko Dart. Yoshiko, it won't be long and we'll be at the 31st anniversary of the signing of the ADA next month. And that's why I always bring up Justin, Justin Dart. Yoshiko's late husband was one of the greatest generals of the ADA. And how do I know, Yoshiko? I just know you're shouting right back to me as you listen to this show. We all love you. And then finally, to my sponsor, Highmark has been a sponsor of this show for several years, and I always say Highmark sets the high mark for other companies to follow. They have been behind me and an advocate of hiring people with disabilities. That's the thing about Highmark. They don't talk about it, they do it. For 26 years. Is that amazing? So I always think, hi Mark, and we'll be talking to our board member about— hi Mark— a little, little bit later. But it's my great pleasure to have as my guest today Doris Carson Williams, who's the president and CEO of the African American Chamber of Commerce of Western PA. But let me just tell you, This woman is a powerhouse. She's a powerhouse. She is a trailblazer. She is just so impressive, and I've known her for a long time. I count my blessings that we have her as a friend, my friend, and in the state of Pennsylvania. Welcome to the show, Doris.

Thank you so much, and for that beautiful introduction. I don't know about all that.

It's a fact. All of it's true. So, Joyce, let's talk about you because we have people throughout the world listening to the show, and I want them all to know about you. So why don't we start with your story, like where you grew up and then how your career evolved? Let's hear your story.

Well, I'm a Pittsburgh native, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania native, grew up in the East End of Pittsburgh, went to West Westinghouse High School, and in 1967 left here to go to school in Connecticut. And that's where I learned and took up the trade. At that time it was called data processing. So I was into business and data processing. And from there my career started to evolve. I enjoyed being a programmer and a systems analyst, but I found that as much as I enjoyed the methodical process of that, I liked the design, the creative part because I like being with people. So I evolved into not only being a technician of data processing, but I left there and went on in to learn marketing, how you market data processing services, and then how you manage data processing services with another company, and ended up in a bank where I was actually managing the conversion from Honeywell to IBM, and that's where I met you, Joyce.

Yes, I know.

Because you helped me to recruit the technicians I needed for that project. So my story is one of how it evolved, but I've always enjoyed business. I always enjoyed looking at the women on the billboards with briefcases and said, I want to be like one of them one day.

And you became one of those. Yes. And it's always for me. Oh, I just love it when I get to tell people, guess what? Did you know Joyce has an IT background?

And they'll say, yes, I did.

It's like a little, little surprise that we keep when we talk to people. Well, Joyce Bender, how did you end up getting to the African American Chamber of Commerce? And you know, what made you decide, hey, I'm going to be an advocate. I'm going to make a difference. You know, I'm going to be that person.

I always enjoyed and always participated as a volunteer in community projects. So I worked with a number of nonprofit organizations in business while I was working in my career. It was during that time when I was working as director for Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh that I got a call and was asked to meet with someone who wanted to talk about some people, didn't realize it was me. And one of the things they were asking, they were in the process of doing a nationwide search to get someone to head up the African American Chamber of Commerce here in Western Pennsylvania, and he felt I was that person. Robert Agbedade said that. And I said, oh no, I don't do nonprofits, I don't do that kind of work. But Once I got home and talked to my husband about it, he said, that's really what you do. So as I was moving on with my educational background, I went into the CAT school, finished on a Friday, and in October 1998 moved into what was the former Alcoa headquarters that was a building, the Alcoa headquarters that Paul O'Neill had set up for nonprofits, and I set up the African American Chamber of Commerce of Western Pennsylvania. In doing so, it's important that everyone realize, yes, it's an African American Chamber of Commerce, but I accepted the position on one pretense. It couldn't be all African American. The small business owners all do the same thing. They all work for green money. They hire from their neighborhoods. They pay taxes, and it all helps to build the local economy. So that's how I set out with opening the African American Chamber of Commerce. What year was that? I'm sorry.

What year was that?

October 1998. Wow.

That's amazing. Okay, so go ahead, your mission.

So our mission, which we crafted, was to provide access and opportunity for African American small business owners and all small business owners throughout our region. How I was able to really work that mission was through the late— was through the work of the late Paul O'Neill, but Tom Usher, the former chairman of U.S. Steel, I met with he to talk about what could he do to help us. And told him about the mission of the Chamber, and he caught the vision, and he said, "I'll tell you what I'll do." He, along with his cohorts, would help to support the mission of the Chamber, and he wrote a letter to all of his peers asking them to put in money to help support the ongoing operations of the Chamber, but most importantly, to engage their procurement officers in working with our members. Now remember at the time when I opened the chamber, they actually only had 28 paid members. They had very little money. So my challenge was very focused. I had to build the organization from scratch and raise money for the organization. And thanks to Tom Mussher, I was able to do that. And that's how we got the engagement started. With the corporate community, but through advertisements and putting the word out to our friends and the New Pittsburgh Courier, we were able to start to get business owners interested in joining us.

That is— that's amazing. I have noticed even when you were telling this story that you have had great relationships with CEOs from corporate America in Pittsburgh, and I would have to say having that leadership from the top and support from the top makes a difference. Would you agree with that?

What, what makes the difference is the leadership from the top because they set the tone. It was Tom Usher and Dick Simmons, the chairman for Allegheny Teledyne, the two of them together set the tone for getting the engagement from not only the corporations but getting people involved. And if I can add this little story, when we started, you know, I'm starting from scratch. I went to Dick Simmons' office and he said, "Do you have a website?" And I said, "No." He said, "Well, you got to get a website." So one of the first things we did was engage Mark USA who helped us to build our website and we just built on things over continuously, building a website, who our corporate sponsors were, who our members were. And one of the first things I did as president of the chamber was I had to have some engagement that the chamber did to show corporations that we were looking for them to partner with us. So I became a sponsor for the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team. Because that's America's favorite pastime. And when people saw that, you know, we were supporting the Pirates, which I grew up going to their games at Forbes Field and finally at PNC Park, they understood that I recognized the importance of not only the Pirates but the corporate community.

Wow, that's a great story. And now today What is your role today? Like, what— I know you're the CEO, but what all does that involve? You know, are you constantly like bringing in people, members, or what are you doing?

As president and CEO, I am their advocate. I am the advocate for our membership, which I didn't mention, we've grown from 28 paid members to 600 members.

Wow.

To 45 corporate sponsors. So I'm the advocate. I go into corporate America and I encourage them not only to support the chamber but to set up workshops with me on how we can do business with them. And it was through that process that we learned, um, what the corporations needed and how we could engage with them by business industry category. So if they needed plumbers, if they needed painters, if they needed marketing consultants, we would have those for them.

Oh, so do you still do that? Do you meet with, uh, today you meet with corporations and CEOs and chairs and, and you find out how your membership can help them? Is that what you do?

Yes, as I go and meet with them, and I have a wonderful team in my office. I have an executive vice president and Shawn Hicks, my vice president for membership and program development, and Debbie Parker, who does our media and business consulting work. I will talk with the CEO, and if they agree, they then give me the contact for their procurement officer. The office then sets up the workshops, and these workshops we actually started actively in 2003 through what we call our Business Institute. In 2002, Merrill Lynch did a study of 2,000 black business owners nationally and found that the 4 areas they needed to become more proficient was in business, obviously, finance and accounting, information technology, legal, marketing communications. And so under the heading of the Business Institute, which are— that mission is to tap the expertise of corporations, provide counseling, provide coaching, provide the business acumen that members need to be able to compete in the global marketplace. It's under that umbrella that corporations now have their business workshops with us. And we do about 18 of these a year. So one month we might do it in— we're doing one with Alka-San, which is our water treatment company here. We've got one coming up Friday. But we're always having a workshop that focuses on one of those different facets and then getting the corporations involved. As a result of doing this, the improvement that we have seen over the past decade, we can track $1.5 billion in contracts that our members have received since we started this initiative.

Wow. Wow. Now, remember you were saying you were an advocate for companies that won't get involved or don't get involved. Then what? Do you keep talking to them or what do you do?

Well, I, as the advocate, you know, I could be very tenacious. And my job is when I go in and talk with them, I don't want them, I tell them, I don't want you to ever say you can't find somebody. And in the process of doing this, and I have to share this with your viewers, that included people with disabilities. That's everybody. We want everybody included in this. So by telling them, I don't ever want you to say you can't find people because at that time and still today, companies would say, well, I can't find anybody in this particular area. My job is to help them find them. By doing that, I also help to increase the number of members, small business owners, white, black, Hispanic, Latino, Indian, in working in these corporations. And thanks to you, Joyce Bender, an active corporate supporter of the Chamber, you have members that were having challenges getting work in corporations, and those are with disabilities. So I was like, oh no, we're not going to have that. So I had Joyce come on and do a presentation about her company, her initiative with getting positions for people with disabilities, and the wonderful stories and testimonies that she can give on how effective that has been.

Well, thank you, and I actually, I want to mention to all of our listeners that, you know, not everyone has done that. But Doris is the one that called me and said, "I want you to speak because we are also committed to people with disabilities." And as all of you know, listening to the show, there is this intersectionality. You can be Black, but still have a disability. You can be Asian and have a disability. It's across the board. It's across the board. But I so appreciated that Doris did that. So I'm telling you that, listeners, so you know about Doris Carson Williams, that she has been a supporter of people with disabilities. And any businesses that are listening, I hope you hear me when I say she is a great leader, but also that she provides an incredible service and if you are in Pittsburgh or Western Pennsylvania and you're not a member, shame on you. You know, we all say we want to see change, but if we want to see change, we've got to help.

I'm on a call. I'll call you back. You called me.

Okay. That, that includes revenues for people. That includes providing revenues. And that is what it's all about.

That's what it's all about. Absolutely.

That's what it's all about. And, and, Doris, I want to ask you, what improvement— have you seen a lot of improvement in the support of the African American community? First, of the African American Chamber of Commerce, have you seen significant improvement in support of your chamber?

Yes, and it has been, as you can well imagine, I mean, it's not automatic. Just because you go in and talk with someone doesn't mean that they will agree to do business with your membership. It's about building relationships because relationships matter. If you stop and think for a moment, Joyce, As far back as we go, we built a relationship. We didn't always hear from each other every month or every 6 months for that matter, but when we did, we had a foundation for being able to hold a discussion and reach out for support. My role in building these relationships is to encourage not only the membership to build relationships with the procurement offers, officers, but to strengthen my relationship with the CEOs so that they will work with us continuously. And without getting ahead of myself, I have to pay homage in this case to Highmark. Highmark may be your sponsor, but Highmark is a giant, not only in Western Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania, but moving into other areas. David Holmberg, their president, not only caught the vision for hiring people with disabilities, but for hiring people of color because let's face it, a lot of these companies did not hire people of color. They hired their friends. So, you know, I talked about relationships matter. If you had a procurement officer that had 4 different companies that they always worked worked with, whenever they needed a service, they would go to their friends. The point of purpose of the chamber is to say you can still go to your friends, but widen the pie. Cut out a slice for us to be able to compete on the same basis as those that are doing business. What ended up happening, we found that some of our members not not only could provide the goods and services, some were cheaper, some were more expensive, but the quality they got, they recognized it and decided they wanted to keep some of these companies on board with their firms. And so now we're seeing a continuum start to build. Companies get in, they get to do a good service. I will oftentimes check with the procurement officer or they will reach out to me and tell me about the services that were provided. In some cases, we have even moved forward to make sure that some of our members get to be protégés of the prime contractors that they have in place. To the credit of a number of our members, when Pittsburgh built the new PNC baseball park and Heinz Field, it was African American Chamber members that played a role in the building of both facilities. When the convention center was done, one of our members was actually a prime on that project. And so those kinds of things open up opportunities. Not that you We don't want them to only select people of color, but select small business owners. Give them a chance to walk in the door. Let them build the relationship and then start to work with the company. And we were successful in doing that. I mentioned Highmark's role because Highmark has a— they've actually put a national example together. Not only have they increased the number of minority firms working with them, but they've also added the protégé piece to what a number of their primes are doing, and they've actually brought on board a protégé that is part of an initiative they're doing that's over $1.5 million. That's significant for this firm who had done large projects but none of that size. And so their mentor is helping them and bridging the gap and making sure that they understand not only what they have to do but what is expected of them. David Holmberg looks for excellence. I, I, I can't say enough about how much pride I take in that. But he is truly an advocate for making sure that everyone gets included, not only in the healthcare pipeline, but in doing business with all of their facilities, projects, and programs. He is a leader, and when I say he's a leader, he states the case for why it should happen, has met with a number of his senior management team and instructed them, this is something I want you to do. Their diversity and inclusion internal council, they got the message and now go to that senior team and others in Highmark to make sure that they're doing business with small business owners. So it's working, but that, that's an example of a company that is doing it well and doing it correctly.

You got that right, Doris. They are spectacular. Yeah, they are spectacular. And they— David Hallberg is unbelievable. So is his executive team, from Deb Rice to Cindy Hundorfeen to Larry Klein.

Karen Hanlon.

Oh, Karen Hanlon. Yes, Karen Hanlon. And I will say that they did that Protégé with me. I was one of the first, but—

Oh, yes.

And it was such an honor. And I'll talk a little bit more about this right after our break. But it is time for our on-the-half-hour news break that we have every week. And our anchorperson, Perry Jude Radesic, CEO of Disability Rights Pennsylvania. Perry, are you with us?

Joyce, I am. Thanks for having me.

Certainly. So Perry, what's the news for this week?

The U.S. Department of Education has released a request for written comments related to the administration of school disciplines, discipline in schools serving pre-K through grades 12. Now, you know, it's important for advocates to get engaged with public comment periods because this is where our voice gets heard. So the notice— we have a copy on our website at disabilityrightsPA.org— the notice is really part of the Biden-Harris administration's commitment to equity. And if we remember, President Biden issued an executive order executive order on advancing racial equity for underserved communities throughout the federal government. So now we have the Department of Education looking at studies that show students of color with disabilities are disproportionately impacted by school discipline policies. And we know often the same students are pushed into a school-to-prison pipeline. Now again, if you go to our advocacy matters segment for today on our homepage at disabilityrightspa.org, you'll find a 2019 report on school discipline by the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. So it's important you take a look at that. So the Department of Education is seeking public comment. They don't want comment on how they handle complaints with the Office of Civil Rights, but instead they're looking for specific information related to research or suggestions on school discipline. They even have a list of questions to help guide our public comment. I'll just give a few examples. One is, "What are your views on the usefulness of current and previous guidance the Office of Civil rights has published on school discipline. Another one that many parents and students will know how to answer: What are the ongoing or emerging, emerging school discipline policies or practices relevant to our communities that we serve, including any that you believe raise concerns? So if you go to our, again, our Advocacy Matters segment today, you will get the whole list of questions that the U.S. Department of Education is asking asking us to consider when we give public comment. So we know advocacy matters, and public comment has to be received by the U.S. Department of Education by July 23rd. So we have just a little over a month to get our public comment in. They really want us to use the federal eRulemaking portal, but if you can't because you don't have internet access or you just can't use regulations.gov, you can mail in your comment. Again, we have all of this information on our website with our advocacy matters segment today at disabilityrightspa.org.

Oh, Perry, that is so informative.

Oh, that's wonderful.

Yeah, that is so important. Perry, on one of our next news breaks on one of the shows, Make sure you remind people about that date.

I will, I certainly will, Joyce Bender.

Okay, uh, again, Disability Rights PA, Perry Jude Radek, CEO, and Advocacy Matters every week on our show. Thanks, Perry, have a great day.

Yes, take care.

Okay, these things really are things that do matter, especially when you have the data behind it. You know what I mean, Doris?

Sure, absolutely. And most of it is people just don't know how. That is why you— you wouldn't— many years ago were a breath of fresh air to educate not only our members but our corporate sponsors that were in the audience of the importance of broadening their reach for hiring people, and look what happened. People realized that they could hire people with disabilities who could perform stellar work, and all of them have been successful. I will never forget you being in that— speaking at that power breakfast telling the African American members, if you have someone with disabilities and they have skills, send them to me, I'll hire them. That was so powerful because it opened their eyes and they had hope because most of them didn't feel there was any hope for getting jobs for someone with a disability. That's true. It's just blossom. It's just blossom.

Yes. And I want to get back just a moment to— hi, Mark. You know very well, you know Bill Lowery. You remember him, Doris. Oh, yeah. And when I went, when I went to Highmark in 1995, I was just starting the company. And I said, and today, of course, we're a national company. And my listeners know I speak around the world in different countries. It all started, though, with one man, one decision, because I said, Bill, would you agree to bring on 6 subcontractors, you know, from my company with disabilities and keep them on contract for 3 years. Now, may I tell you that even today, if I would go to a lot of companies that, you know, they wouldn't do this. It only took Bill Lowery one day, Bill and Keith Katmeyer, one day it took Bill Lowery to say yes. And the rest is history. And every CEO since that day has stood behind me all the way up through to now David Holmberg, who has taken it to an even higher level. And what Doris said is true. I mean, last year it was a really huge thing when David said, we're going to hire 30 people with disabilities from you to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the ADA. Now, keep in mind, as you all know, we were in a pandemic. And still, by the end of the year, they had hired those 30 people with disabilities. Now, you would think, oh, okay, that's it. No. Now, this year, they want to hire 31 people to celebrate the 31st anniversary of the ADA. And when Larry Kleinman called me, he said, This is going to happen this year. This is going to happen. And Karen Hanlon, oh my goodness, she's just awesome. Her and all of them, she really is. Karen and Deb are so awesome. Um, and, and Doris, you're on the board, are you? Over diversity, is that correct?

I chair their diversity and inclusion committee, yes.

So what all does that involve? You're giving them direction and you're like the advisor on diversity inclusion?

I would like to tell you we give them direction, but they are so sufficient and understanding of this process. We advise them. We make recommendations to the executive staff on strategy, implementation ideas, how they can reach recruit to get more small business owners in the network, and then we work with them through their existing systems because they have a wonderful tracking system, thanks to Bob James, where they actually track who's doing work, what areas are doing work, and David has insisted that when he talks with his executive team, he wants a report on what their individual individual divisions or departments have done. So it's a continuum process, but once again, Joyce Bender, it's leadership that starts at the top. It's the leadership that sets the tone for what can happen. I apologize for taking that call while I was on the call. I said I'll call you back. That was a CEO trying to get in touch with me, so I had someone fax them the number so they could call in and hear this show. But it's all about spreading the word. It's all about spreading the word.

Yeah, it is. It's all about spreading the word. Now, here's a— you've worked for years with all these corporations, uh, throughout time, Doris. It is unusual that one company, that one company could be like this for 26 years. I mean, do you think that's because they always just attracted, uh, the right people at the top? I mean, it is unbelievable.

Remember, um, it's called Highmark now, but remember it was Blue Cross, Blue Cross of Western Pennsylvania. And Blue Cross of Western Pennsylvania was where everyone went to get their healthcare insurance. So many people were familiar with Blue Cross, elevated themselves when it became Highmark, and they stayed engaged and watched the process that the company has gone through. A number of their providers— their subscribers, excuse me— have disabilities. So it's not like they didn't know. But they were just sensitive to we have to respond to who services us, who supports us. It's the mom-and-pop grocery store. It's the entrepreneur. It's the retired family. It's your neighbors. It's everyone that needs health insurance, and then, you know, now we've got the Affordable Care Act that expanded. Highmark's reach, people tend to have a reliance on those companies and they stay with them, I might add. Highmark is very strong. So a number of people use not only the goods and services, but they are actually subscribers of Highmark.

Yeah, we are, as we are. And I want to tell you something. Wow, has that company come a long way. I still remember— Remember when they were that little building in downtown?

Oh yeah, down on Smithfield.

Yeah, yeah, that little building. Yeah, I can still see it in my mind. I could still see what— and they went from that to where they are now, Fifth Avenue Place, from that to owning, owning all of these, uh, hospitals and, you know, other, uh, there are 18 hospitals in the Allegheny General Health Network that all fall under the umbrella of Highmark.

Highmark has expanded their reach not only in Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Pennsylvania, New York State, they're in other states around the country, and more and more you will start to see the Highmark brand, which I like to say is a brand of excellence for the goods and services that can be provided.

It is a brand of excellence. When I started the Bender Leadership Academy 2 years ago, I, you know, I'd done this work 22 years to work trying to help high school students with disabilities gain work, not fall through the cracks, not, you know, deal with bullying, you know, some of the things that Perry talked about. I finally said, okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna take this national. I'm good. I want to help more and more of these young people. Who was it that first stood behind me to start this? Hi, Mark. I mean, I am just telling you, remember you talked about that Protégé program? Bob James called me. I can still remember. And he said, Joyce, we're so proud of you. We want to include you in this Protégé program. And that's— listeners, I hope you're hearing that, because in supplier diversity, how many places include disability, disability-owned businesses? Yes. And they did. They did. They included me, uh, and, you know, with the— with another person where they were the protégé. And we went to the Capitol in Harrisburg and had this meeting. And that's what I mean, you know, I— and Doris, I know you add so much to that board, and I know how much David and all of them look up to you. You referred me a young man a couple years ago, and, and he was on contract, and you were connected, and everyone knew you had referred him, and they're making it a point to bring him on, not because he was just a Doris referral, but because he was a great Doris referral.

Well, and Joyce, thank you, but let me just say this. You, as every one of your viewers know, you can refer people, and sometimes they've kind of embellished, you know, their skill set, but it's about delivering., and when you refer someone, they have an opportunity to show what skills and produce the results the companies need, and we've just been fortunate to have that happen. One of the companies— well, it's not a company, a university that I'm proud to say I recently received my honorary doctorate from, Carlow University here in Pittsburgh. Jesuit University. Congratulations. Yeah, and, and they too caught the vision. They too participated in starting to secure more small business owners. Remember, and you see it on television now where they talk about shop small. It is small business that is driving our economy. It's about us getting all of those Retail workers back in the workplace. It's about opening the restaurants. It's about getting those small business owners back into operation. And that's what will make the difference, that small engine that is driving our economy.

Yeah. And I always tell people, that's where the jobs are. You know, I mean, I'm hiring like, you know, 50 to 60 people a year. Where? A small business, you know, people that I end up placing at companies, but that often work for me first, and, or that we place directly. But what I'm saying is, because we do all of that, I at Bender Consulting have to hire more people at my own company, and, and, and that is where the jobs are. So I agree with you 100%. No, a couple company listening right now, a business person, first of all, if you're a leader, I don't care who you are or what level you are, you've got to keep spreading the news about the African American Chamber of Commerce. Even if you're currently on board, you can find two other people and get them on board. You know, it's— that's what it's all about. It's not just, okay, I've done my thing, I'm I'm a member. It's yes, but how about bringing in 2 other members? So, Doris, how does a company, whether they're small or large, get involved with the chamber?

Well, this— they could do it through several means. We have a fantastic website, www.a— as in apple, a as in apple. C as in Charlie, C as in car, WP.com. What that stands for is African American Chamber of Commerce Western Pennsylvania, www.aaccwp.com. That is our website. There's about 60 dropdowns and it tells a wonderful story not only about the chamber and the programs that we offer. But if you need a widget maker, you can go on the section that has the membership, type in widget maker. It'll bring up every company that is a widget maker, and you can actually connect to their website to learn more about them in the process. You can also call our office, 412-392- Someone, if they're on the phone, they will get right back to you, answer any questions. We can send out information. And we do a number of things, if you don't mind, Joyce, that actually support all industries. We just did a 2-year study on dementia and Alzheimer's disease. It was a series of 5 workshops that we held every quarter, and one was to create awareness about it, another to create what caregivers do, to talk to people that are actually doing the research in the area, to talk to people that are actually— handle the legal aspect of when you have someone with that kind of a disease. We did this through the support of the Highmark Foundation, the Pittsburgh Foundation, and the University of Pittsburgh Center for Disease Control. So we just highlighted out of the request of our members, because we survey our members on a regular basis. That's how we started the Dementia Alzheimer's Workshop Series. That was to help our members who are taking care of people to know where to go and who to turn to when you have questions. We do that with every major industry. So I just wanted to point that out as when you call us, you can get all kinds of information from us. We'll send you information, and we're putting together a summary right now of the entire workshop series. If you go on our— if you call us, or you can email us. Us at information.aaccwp.com. We'll send you the booklet that gives you a summary.

Yeah, and in addition to that, so companies could make a donation, they could make a donation, and then they join by just getting in touch with Shawn or just through the website.

Or through our You can join through our website. Okay, because that's how, that's how easy it is. And if you get stuck, there's always someone there to help you.

Now, you're listening to the show, okay? I, I hate it when people go around saying, boy, these issues are so important, they're so important, we really need to do something about this. Well, here you go.

You can get involved.

Get involved. You can get involved. And by the way, those meetings that Doris has are so impressive throughout the year. Really very prestigious speakers that she comes to come and speak. So you really need to, you really need to just join. That's what you need to do. You need to join, right?

And you can even get the programs online if you wish. Remember, there's 2 sides to our chamber. We have a 501, thanks to Tom Usher and Dick Simmons, that allows corporations not only to join us but to get a tax advantage for their support that they give to the organization. And then our 501, which is our nonprofit side, that's where our chamber membership resides. And so it's the foundation side that helps to support the ongoing operations of the chamber organization, and the two work well together because, as you can imagine, it takes a few dollars to pay the light, the rent, and all the support activities that it takes to run a Chamber of Commerce.

That's for sure.

We've got a big program for our listeners, and they can do it in their area. We're having a golf clinic in July, and that's where we bring in a golf pro from Florida, Anthony Stephanie, and he comes in and teaches our members for 4 hours about the protocol of golf, what to wear, what the rules are, how to swing, and then they go out and practice, and we do it all through social distancing, and it's a wonderful opportunity for people that don't know how to golf as well as those who say they're a good golfer and then we find out that they're not. And we all get to work together and build relationships in the process because we're all there together.

That is awesome. Well, Doris, you are just such a wonderful person. So someone had to have this influence on you. Who is your role model, Doris?

Well, you know, I can't tell you if There's one living that I want to focus on, and that's Cecile Springer. Cecile Springer was an engineer at Westinghouse Electric and went on to head their foundation. She's an incredible woman. I used to admire watching her and how she was always so busy doing things and moving around, but getting the job done, increasing the output for people to actually get engaged and do things. I admire strong women like Joyce Bender. Joyce has tenacity. Tenacity that says, I'm not going to quit. You say no today, that's okay, I'll be back. I'll keep working with you because eventually I'll get you to come around and say yes. There are so many women that I admire throughout Western Pennsylvania and our state that have played a role not only in helping to support our chamber, but helping to support me as an individual so that I can support our membership.

Well, wow, Cecile, that was a great— thank you for the compliment, Doris. I feel the same way.

I mean, I've watched you. I mean, Joyce Like I said early on, if I needed systems analysts and programmers, I'd go to Bender. Joyce Bender would find them for me. People of all different colors. And I never had anyone that we had to let go because they were always quality candidates that we got.

Well, I think everyone listening, you can tell this woman, she is brilliant. She's professional. And trust me, she's got the fire. She's got the fire. So, Doris, what message do you want to leave with our listeners today?

To those that are listening with disabilities, join the army of Joyce Bender. To corporations that aren't sure what to do, join the army of Joyce Bender and hire people with disabilities. You will be amazed at the results you receive. To small business owners, don't give up hope. Hope is on the way. You make the difference. To everyone, it is you that makes the difference for what happens. And once people see you and you stand up for your convictions, have the courage and work through the process, you too will be successful. Success, incidentally, happens in different small increments. It's a milestone to go an inch. It's also a milestone to go a mile. But you have to count every step of the way. Make it beneficial for you, and I guarantee you, it will benefit others. Thank you, Joyce.

Oh, thank you, Doris. It has been such a pleasure. And you all know now, if you've heard this show and think, "Oh, I want someone else to hear it," all you have to do is go to Apple or Spotify and subscribe to Disability Matters with Joyce Bender, and you will be able to hear this show, which of course I'll be putting out on our social media. But once again, go Apple, Spotify, or go right to voiceamerica.com, or go to benderconsult.com you can hear this show, get the podcast, send it to other people. And Doris, you'll have to get this on the African American Chamber of Commerce so people can hear you. That history you told is just fabulous. So once again, make sure you spread the news, join the chamber, and one— before we go, actually, Doris, give me the website and the information to join the chamber for our listeners one more time.

Sure. They can call us on the phone, 412-322-0699, or they can go on our website, www.aaccwp.com, send us an email at information@aacwp.com, at aaccwp.com. We will respond to you and we look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you so much. And we end every show with a quote, and today that quote is, "There is no vaccine for racism," says Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris. Thank you all. I look forward to talking to you all next week. You're welcome. We'll be on next week with the Chief Human Capital Officer from InnovAge. Talk to you then.

Voice America would like to thank you for tuning in. Please join us next Tuesday at 11 AM Pacific time and 2 PM Eastern Join us next time for another installment of Disability Matters, right here on the Voice America Variety Channel. We are the leader in live internet talk radio. VoiceAmerica.com.