Tuesday, March 2, 2021
Virtual Meeting via ZOOM
Minutes
Present: Ruthy Argumedo, Deborah Barmack, Carole Beswick, Greg Bradbard, Mike Burrows, Mark Cloud, Ken Coate, Michelle Decker, Kevin Dyerly, Otis Greer, Milford Harrison, Fran Inman, Mark Kaenel, Lowell King, Pam Langford, Mike Layne, Bill Lemann, P.T. McEwen, Darcy McNaboe, John Mirau, Bansree Parikh, Steve PonTell, Catherine Pritchett, Thomas Rice, Michael Rivera, Dan Roberts, Dan Schenkel, Kristine Scott, Paul Shimoff, Sol Teh, Eric Ustation, Ray Wolfe and Marisa Yeager.
Guests: Megan Barajas, Cheryl Brown, Hardy Brown, LaDonna DiCamillo, Debra Mustain, Jessica Rodriguez, Arnold San Miguel, Terrence Trudo, Todd Warden and Dominique Woods.
Announcements: 1) Executive Committee members were reminded that the Committee will meet on Friday, March 5, 2021 at 8:30 a.m. 2) The University of Redlands has partnered with the County to provide a testing site on campus. Testing began in November and they have now administered 70,000 tests. In order to expand and accelerate the number of vaccines administered in the region they recently partnered with Redlands Community Hospital (RCH) and Esri to serve as a vaccination clinic. Those who are eligible can sign up for the vaccine through both the University of Redlands and RCH websites. Persons interested in volunteering should contact Kevin Dyerly or see the U of R website.
Lowell King, Chair, presiding.
Motion by M. Burrows/ Second by K. Coate/Passed: Minutes from February 23, 2021.
National CORE has asked that Greg Bradbard serve as their Alternate representative replacing Sandra Espadas.
Motion by M. Cloud/Second by McEwen/Passed: Greg Bradbard will serve as the Alternate representative for National CORE.
John Mirau made the second announcement of prospective new member, Amazon Air. Amazon Air operates a regional air hub at the San Bernardino International Airport. Known as the East Gate Air Cargo Logistics Center they will serve as a sort center that receives international and domestic planeloads and then reroutes orders to different states. Matt McCardle and Miguel Mendoza would serve as representatives. To learn more about them please visit their web site: https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Prime-Air/b?ie=UTF8&node=8037720011
Bansree Parikh introduced Reggie Webb, Founder, Webb Family Enterprises.
In 1973, Reggie Webb joined the accelerated management development program of McDonald’s, and after spending time training in the restaurants, he was moved into the corporate division. He held many leadership positions and while he was the Director of National Operations Dept., he became involved with creating both an Affirmative Action Dept. and the Black Redevelopment Project to respond to the high turnover and employee dissatisfaction rates in African Americans. These programs were and continue to be successful at all levels. African Americans have and continue to make up 20% of the McDonald’s Corporate Officers.
After holding numerous positions with the company, he retired in 1985 from his role as Vice-President, responsible for Southern California. Deciding to become a franchisee, he and his wife Rene, purchased their first two McDonald’s franchises in Pomona, California. Reggie ran the operations, while René, an accountant, ran the back office.
As a former executive with the McDonald’s Corporation, Webb helped people from underrepresented communities become franchisees and served as the chairman and CEO of the National Black McDonald’s Operators Association. The organization negotiated a parity agreement with McDonald’s Corp. that the percentage of African American population should also be reflected in the percentage of African American franchisee operators. They initially set an attainment goal of five years and they continue to review and adjust to meet their goal. This principal applies to every sector and a model for all. The Webb’s have been successful in low income and troubled neighborhoods as they understand the burdens of systemic racism that their customers and employees face. Additionally, they know how to develop a change in the thought process regarding circumstances and possibilities, transforming into changed behavior and attitudes which is needed to be successful in our capitalistic society.
The Webb family now owns 16 restaurants across Southern California and operate Webb Investments, Webb Consulting, and the Cooperative Economic Empowerment Movement (CEEM). Apart from their business ventures, each of the Webb family members sit on multiple non-profit boards that promote education, health services, and entrepreneurial efforts.
In 2016, CEEM was officially born. Initially, Webb brought in his children who help run Webb Family Enterprises but then extended the offer to business and community leaders in their local area. Today, CEEM is a legally formed economic cooperative and brings community members together to keep more of the business revenue generated by African American consumers in the Inland Empire in the hands of the Black community. The CEEM is committed to closing the racial wealth gap through education, investments, and support for African American professionals and the African American entrepreneurial ecosystem. CEEM encourages its members to support African American owned businesses in its network increasing the turnover of dollars in our community, allowing CEEM members to rise together. To this end they provide support, counseling, and leadership development for entrepreneurs and network members.
The Webb family believes they have an obligation to help educate their teams, employees, franchisees, and suppliers about the benefits of diversity and why it is important to have a diverse workforce and the importance of valuing and respecting everyone. Reggie Webb stated that we must first change the input in order to change the output.
A Q & A period followed.
Meeting adjourned at 9:00 a.m.