I
Corporations.' ,
"While Rhode Island h under­
gon ignificant ch ng in term of
the diversity 0 th populati n from
1980 to 1990, th r continu to b a
major lack of diversity on the boards
of Rhode Island corporations be
they for-profit or qu i-publi pan­
els," aid Arthur Wright Ill, pr i­
dent of the tate' Urban Le ue
chapter.
The Urban League' monitori ng
committee studied th governing
board of 81 corporations in the tate
for the first tudy.
THAT U D that
of 1,480 board po itions held, only
43, or 2.9 percent were held by mi­
norities, and 60 percent of th boards
were all-white. •
"In essence, with few exceptions,
the corporate structure of Rhode I -
land continues to be whit male
dominated ... ," aid B. J e Clanton,
executive director of the Urban
League of Rhode I land
aT t'" 1
± ' true .'. s . r.
u co ns cio us 1 y , '1 nti �u pro--
te raci t exi t a'nd en tist tereo­
ty ing and poses a major hindrance
to hieving true equality and diver-
sity," she said. .
Clanton said 33 of the origi nal
corporations did not respond to the
follow-up questionnaire thi year.
The group said it uspee that tho e
non-responses signal that the corpo-
r tions had n
id.
A di trict council official aid that
th organizations w re also e -
peeted by HUD to p rfonn ervi
to m et community problems.
Rohlann Callender, director of th
University City "A" Citizen District
Council aid that th $1.8 million
city council authorized w I than
the $2 million district council re­
ceived 10 years ago, preventing
them from p rfonning all the erv­
ices they bould.
t in r
n on th ir
out of 7 p itions
(4.5perc nt)in1 t 4 outof712
(6.7 p f nt) in 1 2.
Femal bo rd participati n i n­
cr ed lightly from 17.6 perc nt to
19.4 p rc nt.
"Sometime they don t think
you'r going to come a k, that
you're going to forget about th i u
and that you'll go away," h aid.
10Th chan may be low, but
th point i that w re not g ing to 0
away and that we 'r going t n­
tinu to monitor thi and t ontinu
to rai the que tion and maybe
they'll finally get it." aid Clanton.
In four ov rning bard ap­
pointed by the ovemor there w a
decr c in min rity oard members
from 2 out 0 or 5.6 percent in
1 to lout of 39, r 2.6 p rccnt, in
1 2.
1'110 BOARD R " the
Rhode I land Publi Building
Authority the state Housing Mort­
gage Finance Corporation the Solid
Wa te Management Corporation
and th tate Employee Retirement
Sy tem.
The group al 0 rei d a Ii t of
100 members of minoriti it said •
wefJ- . &hl): ,ij " �. R. J y.. J • t�' '.
p" . j 'ffP-l\��iM
i ng the li t to the corporations that
participated in the original tudy.
She aid that if more minori ti
were n the board they might be
more r pensive to the n ds of th
communitie they erve.
The 1 Census h wed that 13
percent of the tatc' p pulation
were minoritie .
Library receives gift
Former Highland Park School Superintend nt Elden L. Martin pr nt check to
Viola Ndenga, Director of the City's cGregor Public Library. M rtln, who retlr d
Feb. 1, requested that proceeds from the March 5th retirement dinner in hi honor
be channeled to the library. Over $5,000 In computer equipment, n electric
encyclopedi and a check were delivered May 18th.
o of la
Mu'