Chicago City Council Committee on Workforce Development October 27, 2021
RESOLUTION CALLING FOR A HEARING ON DIVERSITY AMONG CORPORATE BOARDS
WHEREAS, The City of Chicago ("City") remains one of the world's most diverse economies, successfully weathering the COVID-19 pandemic, and employing more than four million people-approximately $600 billion in gross regional product annually; and
WHEREAS, The 2020 U.S. Census revealed, like its economy, the City's residents are diverse, composed of 31.4% White, 29.9% Latino, 28.7% Black, and 6.9% Asian; and
WHEREAS, While the City has resiliently fought economically against the pandemic, a severe disparate impact on women, black, and brown communities remained; and
WHEREAS, In 2019, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed House Bill 3394, requiring public corporations headquartered in Illinois to disclose the ethnicity, race and gender of their Boards of Directors; and
WHEREAS, In 2021, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign released the first report of the aforementioned law, revealing a serious failure by some of Illinois' largest publicly held companies, finding that only 35% of 74 publicly traded companies had two or more people of color on their boards, and only 67% of them had two or more female directors; and
WHEREAS, Additional findings reveal that while non-white residents constitute 40% of Illinois' population, board representation is a tragic 15%; and
WHEREAS, Like the State of Illinois, in 2019 the City introduced a Resolution calling for diversity among corporate and institutional boards; and
WHEREAS, While a Resolution was introduced, a hearing is necessary for the City to demonstrate accountability, share results and show its serious commitment to continually neglected populations; and, now, therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the Mayor and Members of the City Council of Chicago, assembled this twenty-seventh day of October, 2021, do hereby call for a hearing to determine what efforts have been i...
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