MVWBE Participation

CEO Statement

The year 2020 launched a new decade of cultural growth and a commitment to diversity and inclusion at Atrium Health. Despite the emergence of a global pandemic and its devastating effects on people, families, and businesses, the year still provided a viable opportunity to redefine and rebuild the foundation for hope in the Charlotte community.   

Impact Professional Group (IPG) started the year by addressing the results of a 2019 market assessment of minority business enterprises (MBEs) in the Charlotte market. IPG focused not only on the number of MBEs but their ability to meet the demand for highly skilled and experienced companies that can perform in complex construction systems. 

Though Charlotte has more than six hundred MBE and construction-related companies, we discovered many operate as small businesses, completing less complex projects for schools, churches, and small commercial and residential properties. Most notably out of all the companies we interviewed only 2% had some healthcare experience and less than 1% had acute hospital experience. Of those, we found four viable local companies with the ability to bond Tier 1 projects at or above $10M and annually sustain an adequate workforce required to meet project demands. 

These results were alarming and clear indicators the market would struggle with Tier 1 participation while Tiers 2 and 3 would require additional training, resources, and focus to address the lack of experience due to limited opportunities and access to capital.  

IPG also recognized that traditional outreach, social, and marketing programs would be insufficient for the Charlotte market. Therefore, we implemented a focused approach to work directly with MBE Trade Partners, offering them one-on-one coaching in responding to bids and RFPs, participating in interviews as well as other procurement processes that would increase their ability to be awarded contracts. In addition, we worked closely with our majority Prime Partners to guide acceptable Tier 1, 2, and 3 minority participation. 

As your partner, IPG is unwavering in our commitment to empowering every company to succeed and create business opportunities that foster economic growth in every community we serve. We make the greatest impact in strengthening minority businesses by removing historical barriers, increasing their industry value, and providing access to major capital improvement projects.  

I’m proud of how our partnership has helped Minority, Veteran, and Women Business Enterprises (MVWBEs) increase their performance capacity to participate in capital improvement projects. As of December 31, 2020, we delivered 31% participation with 78 contracts awarded to first-time recipients of Atrium contracts on more than 52 projects, surpassing our expectation of 15% in the inaugural year of our Diversity/Community Impact Program in the Charlotte market. These results are a prime example of how such initiatives can be achieved through focused and intentional collaboration.  

Partnering with nationally ranked healthcare systems provides IPG the unique opportunity and challenge to demonstrate our support of small businesses and expertise in building strong supplier diversity networks. We built a strong foundation in 2020. If more healthcare systems commit to being servant leaders that are patient-focused and diversity-driven, there is no limit to what we can achieve together.

Don Lee