Philadelphia business leaders recently gathered at the “With Growth and Prosperity for All: A Roadmap for Growth Conference” at the Free Library of Philadelphia to share their insights on best practices in inclusive, community-based hiring.
The conference, hosted by the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia, drew attendees to learn about hiring, retaining and training nontraditional employees such as returning citizens, veterans and immigrants, a chamber release said. The conference featured two panel discussions focused on underserved residents: “Driving Impact from the Inside Out, Bottom Up” and “When Social Impact Meets Bottom-Line: Tests and Triumphs.”
“There’s no city with as much prosperity behind us and opportunity ahead of us,” panelist Nick Bayer, founder and CEO of Saxbys, said in the release, citing both the city of Philadelphia and his company’s mission-based approach as factors in Saxbys’ success.
“We want to employ people that come from low income neighborhoods, build companies where we can train people to be mechanics and carpenters and workers, and ultimately engage workers that will generate revenue for our companies,” Emily Bittenbender, managing partner of Bittenbender Construction, said in the release.
David Cohen, senior executive vice president and chief diversity officer at Comcast, and Pedro Ramos, president and CEO at the Philadelphia Foundation, served as co-host for the conference, and Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney added a message supportive of pro-active inclusiveness.
“I am a firm believer that all of our residents have the potential to achieve great things, no matter what ZIP code they were born in, what schools they attended, or what hardships they may have faced,” Kenney said in the release.
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