Ford Motor Company Earns Corporation of the Year Award For Minority Community Efforts

CLEVELAND, June 19 -- Ford Motor Company will receive the Corporation of the Year award from FraserNet -- considered the nation's largest network of African American business leaders -- for outstanding efforts in economic empowerment of minority communities. Ford will receive the award at the FraserNet "PowerNetworking 2002" Conference in Cleveland, June 20-23, 2002 -- the first annual professional networking training conference for people of African descent. The award honors corporations who have demonstrated support of minority businesses.

"Henry Ford was actually among the first to establish a company with a workforce that truly represented the communities it served," said George Fraser, FraserNet CEO and PowerNetworking Conference founder. "He opened his plants, offices, trade schools and supervisory ranks to minorities decades before other manufacturers. Henry Ford's offer of $5 per day for anyone willing to do the work is credited with starting the major Black migration from the South to the North during the early part of the 20th century. By 1931, approximately 20% of Detroit's African American population was supported by Ford jobs."

Today, Ford's minority employee roster continues to expand. "Ford has one of the largest group of minority employees in corporate America, has steadily increased funding to African American communities and leads the automotive industry in developing minorities to become Ford suppliers and dealers.

"Minorities are now engaged in closing the income and wealth gap in America, and the gap will be closed by creating jobs for minorities," said Fraser. "One of the ways it will be done is through entrepreneurship. Ford Motor Company's Minority Dealer and Minority Supplier development programs have done more than any other company -- inside or outside the automotive industry -- to help build economically empowered minority communities, making the company the natural winner for FraserNet's first-ever Corporation of the Year award."

The accomplishments are the result of the importance Ford Motor Company places on diversity. "Diversity has become core to our company, whether it's among our employees, or our dealers and suppliers, or the minority communities we support through our corporate giving," said Tony Brown, vice president, Global Purchasing, Ford Motor Company. "It is particularly gratifying to be recognized as a corporation for our efforts in minority business development. As we help minorities to become entrepreneurs through our Minority Dealer and Minority Supplier programs, we are helping to empower not only individuals, but also the communities where they live and work. By creating thousands of jobs in minority communities, Ford Motor Company helps lay the foundation for minorities to use their skills and resources to give back to their family and community."

Ford Motor Company spends more with minority suppliers than any other U.S. automotive manufacturer. Ford bought about $3.1 billion of components, systems and services from its 408 U.S. minority suppliers in 2001. Ford Motor Company suppliers and dealers have created more than 39,000 jobs in minority communities.

"We believe that to simply purchase from minority business enterprises could be an injustice if there is no effort extended to actively participate in their meaningful development with a process that is both logical and substantive," said Dr. Ray Jensen, director, Minority Supplier Development. "The goal of Ford is to increase the standard of living for minority communities through economic empowerment."

Ford Motor Company has more than 360 minority dealerships, representing seven percent of the company's total dealer body in the U.S. Ford has a program where the company finances as much as 90% of the price of the dealership, to assist in the purchase.

"Ford has a long-standing commitment to fostering substantial minority participation in all aspects of the automotive industry, and we're especially proud of the many entrepreneurs who have benefited from our Minority Dealer Development Program," said George Frame, executive director, Dealer Development, Ford Motor Company.