---40TH Anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington---
Join the 40th Anniversary of the 1963 March On Washington, as thousands of concerned citizens from around the country once again convene on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 23, 2003. Groups will assemble at the Washington Monument at 11:00 AM and proceed to the Lincoln Memorial as one united voice for jobs, housing, justice, peace and freedom. On Friday, August 22 (4 pm) Coretta Scott King will unveil the inscription of Dr. Martin Luther King's speech on August 28, 1963. At 7:30 pm , there will be a prayer vigil featuring the Reverend Bernice King. At 9 pm , Yolanda King will bring some 'spoken word' to the audience. On Saturday, August 23 (on the grounds of the Lincoln Memorial) there will be an opening plenary at 10:00 am, with teach-ins happening from 10:30 am to Noon and 12:30 - 2 pm and the Closing Plenary/Mass Rally at 3:00 pm. For full "March" details and confirmed locations visit the following website at: www.connectdc.com/40thanniversarymarchdc. Also, contact Brenda Sayles by phone: (202) 635-9337.

---Women of Color make gains in employment and job status---
A new U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) study, "Women of Color: Their Employment in the Private Sector," reveals that women of color now comprise 14.5 percent of America's private sector workforce, a major increase from a decade earlier. The employment of each group of women examined - African American, Hispanic, Asian and Native American - grew during this period. Similarly, more women from all four groups obtained employment as officials and managers, though numbers vary widely by industry. "Women of color have made noteworthy gains, both in terms of workplace numbers and status," said Commission Chair Cari M. Dominguez. "Still, we see some stubborn patterns needing our attention. Too many women of color are concentrated in certain industries and appear to have plateaued in lower occupational categories. We are also mindful that women of color tend to file more charges of discrimination against a handful of industries."
African American women:
Of all women of color, African Americans continue to represent the highest rate of employment (7.6 percent of the total work force). However, during the past decade, they have made the smallest gains with regard to total employment and higher level positions - far below the growth rates of Hispanic and Asian women. Meanwhile, African American women exceed their work force representation as sales workers, clericals and service workers. The Nursing and Residential Care Facilities industry employs the largest percentage of African American women, as well as the largest percentage of women overall.
Hispanic women:
The most dramatic improvement in overall employment was among Hispanic women (now 4.7 percent of the total work force), whose rate of growth exceeded 100 percent over the 10-year period. Additionally, the number of female Hispanic officials and managers improved at an even higher rate, more than doubling over the decade. At the same time, Hispanic women exceed their total representation as sales workers, clericals, service workers and laborers. Although the crop production industry employs the largest percentage of all Hispanics in the private sector and is male-dominated, it also employs the largest percentage of Hispanic women.
Asian women:
Asian women (2.1 percent of the total work force) reflect the most progress in attaining higher-level positions during the period studied. The number of female Asian officials and managers more than doubled, with a rate of change of 135 percent. Asian women exceed their total representation in three different areas along the employment spectrum: as professionals, technicians and clericals. The largest numbers of Asian women are employed in the Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing industry, as well as in some retail industries.

---MWV Pinnacle Capital Fund will invest in high-growth minority companies---
A newly formed investment group is looking throughout Ohio for minority businesses with high potential and a strong desire to grow. MWV Pinnacle Capital Fund recently began operations after 24 corporations and individuals pledged a total of $21 million to provide debt, mezzanine and equity portfolio investments in promising businesses that are owned, controlled or managed by minorities. Additional investors are expected to be added later this year to enable the fund to reach its goal of $25 million. "Our primary objective is to help established minority businesses grow to a size and scale where they can not only be competitive and have a positive impact on their communities but also nurture additional minority businesses," said Eric Von Hendrix, fund manager. "We will also selectively consider leveraged buyout transactions that will provide opportunities for minority management." Each investment by the fund is likely to be between $750,000 and $3 million, said Von Hendrix, who added that he is currently reviewing several potential opportunities. The champion of the fund has been A. Malachi Mixon III, chairman and chief executive officer of Invacare Corporation, who was the first committed investor. "There is no shortage of minority businesses in Ohio with the desire and ability to grow," said former U.S. Rep. Louis Stokes, co-chair of the Commission, a program of the Greater Cleveland Roundtable in partnership with Cleveland Tomorrow, Greater Cleveland Growth Association, Urban League of Greater Cleveland and Cleveland Initiative for Education. "What they have faced, however, has been a shortage of equity capital sources. This new fund offers tremendous promise for the future." Earlier this year, Black Enterprise magazine listed only seven Ohio-based firms on its Industrial/Service 100, which includes the nation's leading African-American-owned businesses. The largest of those is Anderson-Dubose Co. of Solon, which had sales of $197 million last year. Four Ohio companies are on the current Hispanic Business 500, led by CSA Group of Cincinnati with $47 million in sales. For more information, call 216-292-0100.

--EEOC settles color harassment lawsuit with Applebee's ---
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently announced the settlement of a rare color harassment and retaliation lawsuit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 against Applebee's Neighborhood Bar & Grill, an international restaurant chain headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas. The settlement provides $40,000 to Dwight Burch, an African American former employee who was discriminated against based on his dark skin color by a light skinned African American manager, and terminated when he complained to corporate headquarters. Prior to the lawsuit, Applebee's did not have a written policy in effect at any of its nationwide restaurants prohibiting discrimination based on color. Mr. Burch filed a charge of discrimination with the EEOC alleging that the store manager, a light skinned African American, had consistently made derogatory remarks to him about his dark skin color, and had discharged him when he threatened to report the store manager's harassing remarks to Applebee's headquarters office. The Commission has observed an increasing number of color discrimination charge filings at agency field offices across the country. Color bias filings have increased by over 200% since the mid-1990s from 413 in Fiscal Year 1994 to 1,382 in FY 2002. The majority of charge filing last fiscal year were in the Northeast (44%), followed by the West (21%), South (15%), Midwest (12.5%), and Southwest (7.5%).

---Introducing FindAGreek.com: Empowering Sororities and Fraternities---
FindAGreek.com is a sophisticated website designed to empower its members with the tools necessary to enrich their lives and their organization. Using this website, members will be able to communicate, network, and support each other. The website also provides the capability to run advertisements and promotions for your organization or personal business. Members will have access to a wide array of searches that will enable them to find and contact members of any Greek organization. Using these features, members will have greater resources at their fingertip for enhancing their quality of life. Sign-up is free and easy. This website adheres to the motto of every Greek organization, which is to "support our communities and fellow Greeks." For more information, contact Kevin Reese at (309) 648-6885 or send email to customerservice@findagreek.com.

---Public opinion polls often poorly represent Asian American views---
The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA), the nation's largest organization of Asian Pacific American journalists, recently released the results of a research project that examined whether Asian American representation in public opinion poll results is proportional with their representation in U.S. society. The report, "Surveying Asian-Americans: Challenges, Current Practice, Solutions," was commissioned by AAJA and conducted by Jennifer Greer, Ph.D., the Director of Graduate Studies at the Reynolds School of Journalism. "Dr. Greer's report clearly shows that it's important to break out Asian Americans as a separate group in polls, and also that it is critical to poll in other languages to best represent the opinions of the broadest spectrum of Americans," said Mae Cheng, AAJA national president. "The study provides systematic evidence that the problem of polling is more extreme with Asian Americans than with other minorities," said Greer, "because you have the compounded problems of a minority group that is relatively small in numbers and one with language issues. "In terms of political polling, the problem of underreporting Asian Americans is two-fold: one, there's the challenge of sampling Asian Americans in national polls; and two, pollsters often don't seek to report Asian American opinions in political polling because they feel that Asian Americans haven't proven themselves in the political arena as they have in, for example, the consumer markets," said Greer.

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