About this forum: Please read first!

About this Forum Space
Our mission is to build and sustain a strong community. Among the essential components of fulfilling that mission is a commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion as a core value, and Supplier Diversity is an important element of this value that can be mobilized with your participation and collaboration.

This forum is intended as a place where you can ask and answer questions about Supplier Diversity, share research on the benefits of a diverse supply chain, and discover qualified suppliers in your area. Supplier information shared here will also be collected on a permanent page for easy access.

We encourage you all to participate in this information gathering initiative. If your workplace has made progress with its own Supplier Diversity program, we encourage you to share what you have learned. If not, we urge you to advocate for a program at your institution. Working together on this will benefit all.

To facilitate information gathering, we have provided a sample questionnaire for your suppliers in one of the forum's sticky posts. It will need a little fleshing out before use, but feel free to use it as a template or starting point. It is more of a demonstration of how simple the vendor questionnaire can be.

Please make sure your supplier is not in the compiled list mentioned above before sending them a questionnaire. When you receive completed questionnaires, please share those businesses that do not qualify as well as those that do. It is best if we track both so we do not send questionnaires to the same companies repeatedly. Alternatively, both qualified and unqualified vendor forms can be shared with PACCIN privately or anonymously by sending them to info@paccin.org, and please cc me, chris@paccin.org.

Below is some more information on the categories and qualifications we intend for sharing resources in this forum.

What is Supplier Diversity?
A Supplier Diversity Program is a proactive program which encourages the use of minority-owned, women owned, and LGBT-owned businesses, as well as other historically underutilized businesses.

What qualifies as a Diverse Supplier?
A Diverse Supplier is a business that is greater than (>) 50% owned and operated by an individual or group that is part of a traditionally underrepresented or underserved group. Common classifications are:

• Minority Business Enterprise (MBE)
• Woman Business Enterprise (WBE)
• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Business Enterprise (LGBTE)
• Service Disabled Veteran Owned Business (SDVOSB)
• Veteran-Owned Business (VOB)
• Small Business Enterprise (SBE)

What if I am a Diverse Supplier (or my employer is)?
The Supplier Diversity forum area is also a place where Diverse Suppliers registered with PACCIN may post their availability to the PACCIN community as an alternative Promotions forum area. Only qualified suppliers may use this area of the forum for a promotional purpose. For more information about registering your business with PACCIN, contact chris@paccin.org.