The New Tri-State Defender - December 8-14, 2022

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December 8 - 14, 2022

VOL. 71, No. 49

‘Part of the DNA will be DEI at BlueOval City’ Special to The New Tri-State Defender

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) are front and center of hiring at BlueOval City, Ford Motor Company’s new mega plant in Stanton, Tennessee, slated for 2025. “Around the BlueOval City project, our goal is to have the workforce be reflective of the community where we’re located,” said Alison Nelson, Ford’s Director of DEI Strategies and Program Planning. Following Ford’s historic 2021 announcement, West Tennessee job seekers can now pursue nearly 6,000 unfolding new jobs while entrepreneurs seek new business opportunities. Both urban and rural citizens will benefit from on-site training, manufacturing positions, leadership roles and new contracts, giving relief to the region’s struggling families.

“Around the BlueOval City project, our goal is to have the workforce be reflective of the community where we’re located.” — Alison Nelson BlueOval City will produce Ford F-150 Lightning electric trucks and EV batteries. Early leadership hiring and contracting to build the 3,600-acre, high-tech plant have begun – Ford will annouce a major kick-off event at BlueOval in early 2023. Among managerial roles, two West Tennessee-based human resource officers have been secured to lead hiring – one for BlueOval assembly plant’s 3,200 jobs and one for BlueOval SK battery plant’s 2,500 jobs. (SK On is Ford’s EV bat-

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No time for ‘silos’ with billions in play for economic development

Ford touts ‘clean slate’ for diversity, equity & inclusion

by Dena Owens

www.tsdmemphis.com

by Karanja A. Ajanaku kajanaku@tsdmemphis.com

Alison Nelson, Ford’s Director of DEI Strategies and Program Planning, moderated a panel discussion on the Ford automotive plant at the Jackson Fairgrounds in October. (Courtesy photo) tery production partner.) In October, Ursula Madden, former City of Memphis chief communications officer, was named BlueOval external affairs manager. Madden will launch communications projects and act as a liaison between the plant and stakeholders. Ford reported in August that at least half of BlueOval supplier contracts are held by MWBEs (Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises) and veteran-owned businesses. Nelson says Ford is committed to diverse business practices, as well as hiring from diverse backgrounds,

SEE FORD ON PAGE 2

Pivoting off recently announced new leadership at the Greater Memphis Chamber, conversations were called for with Black Business Association’s Ernest D. Strickland, Mid-South Minority Business Council Continuum’s Jozelle Booker and Stephanie Alexander with the Memphis Area Minority Contractors Association. The three entities – BBA, MMBC Continuum and MAMCA – have formed a collaborative to get the most for their members and the African-American community from BlueOval SK, downtown development and transportation act funding. Next Tuesday (Dec. 13), Ted Townsend becomes the chamber’s president/CEO, succeeding Beverly Robertson. The next day Gwen Fisher, Greater Memphis regional director for the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD), takes over as chief economic development officer at the chamber, the position being vacated

Ernest D. Strickland

Jozelle Booker

by Townsend. Framing the recently-formed collaborative and the chamber transition are billions of dollars in business opportunities. “Right before Stephanie our Economic Alexander Development Forum, the Downtown Memphis Commission announced $6 billion in Downtown capital investment, and then BlueOval is

SEE BUSINESS ON PAGE 2

“I believe, I’m convinced, I have no doubt that there is a better place. Don’t worry about Mother Patterson,” said COGIC Presiding Bishop J. Drew Sheard. “She has gone to that better place. She did her part here. She was a good soldier, and she made plans to go to a better place… Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.…”

Remembering Mother Patterson:

‘A good soldier’ who planned for ‘a better place’

by Dr. Sybil C. Mitchell

Special to The New Tri-State Defender

COGIC Presiding Bishop J. Drew Sheard delivered a brief and dramatic eulogy, extolling both his relationship with “Mother” Louise D. Patterson and a scriptural message. (Photo: Gary S. Whitlow/ GSW Enterprises/The New Tri-State Defender)

The distinction and pageantry of the national memorial service for COGIC Evangelist Louise Dowdy Patterson was reminiscent of that afforded her late husband, Presiding Bishop Gilbert Earl Patterson. With Downtown Memphis draping Temple of Deliverance Church of God and Christ on G.E. Patterson Ave., celebrants filed in respectful of the occasion and Mrs. Patterson’s life and legacy. Evangelist Patterson, 84, died on the evening of Nov. 20. Many of the 25,000 Church of God in Christ saints (as they are described) who at-

tended the 114th Holy Convocation in Memphis had just returned home when they received word. As the national memorial service (Dec. 2) unfolded, a procession of ecumenical bishops and corporate church leaders – called by name – walked to the open casket, each pausing for a personal farewell. The service was live-streamed to myriad parts of the world on multiple virtual platforms. So was the local service the previous day. COGIC Presiding Bishop J. Drew Sheard delivered a brief and dramatic eulogy, extolling both his relationship with “Mother” Patterson and a

SEE COGIC ON PAGE 9

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