1859 Magazine

Partners in Diversity seeks to draw professionals of color to the Portland area—and keep them there You don’t have to live in Los Angeles or New York to know that American demographics are changing. According to Mari Watanabe, the executive director of Portland-based Partners in Diversity, it’s in everybody’s—and every company’s—best interest to keep up.  “As the demographics of the country shift, businesses have an opportunity to meet the demands of a more diverse customer base,” Watanabe said. “Likewise, as a company’s customer base becomes more diverse, so should its workforce.” Partners in Diversity is a nonprofit organization that helps companies recruit, support and retain professionals of color in both Oregon and Southwest Washington. For individuals of color, it’s also a lucrative lifeline to connect with others on both a personal and professional level. On the business side, Partners in Diversity offers a robust agenda of educational forums and events…

Across the region, theater companies are making masks, distillers are bottling hand sanitizer, restaurants are making exquisite meals and, of course, a San Juan Island tour company is streaming whales to soothe everyone in quarantine by Cathy Carroll ALTHOUGH COMPANIES THROUGHOUT the Pacific Northwest are feeling the economic pain of the pandemic, they haven’t let that get in their way of duty. Just as businesses had heeded President Franklin Roosevelt’s World War II mandate that “powerful enemies must be out-fought and out-produced,” companies are all in for the fight against the coronavirus. The “Rosie the Riveters” of our day, this group is retooling to manufacture weaponry to crush COVID-19. Theater costume makers are sewing masks. Distillers are mixing hand sanitizer. Global sportswear and aeronautics brands are making face shields, chefs are delivering food to healthcare workers and leading research institutions are searching for the medicine that will stop this scourge….