Strengthening DEI as a Core Value
May 2, 2022
| Trail Blazer in the Mountain State
Born in 1929, Herbert H. Henderson was an attorney and civil rights activist in West Virginia. He graduated from West Virginia State College in 1953, then became the first black student to graduate with a Juris Doctor from The George Washington University Law School in 1958. After completing law school, Henderson returned to his home state to start his own law practice in Huntingdon. He also went on to serve as president of the W.Va. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for 20 years. The Office of Minority Affairs in West Virginia – which bears Henderson’s name – is committed to serving and assisting all underserved citizens across the state and developing innovative ways to address issues affecting minority populations through conversation, education, leadership and collaboration. To learn more, visit www.minorityaffairs.wv.gov*. *By clicking this website’s link in this article, you are entering a website maintained by an outside party, which is entirely responsible for the site’s content. |
Last year, FirstEnergy announced a goal to increase the number of racially and ethnically diverse employees who work at the company by 30% over the next four years to accelerate our efforts to build a diverse, high-performing and innovative workforce that better reflects the diversity of the customers we serve.
One of the ways we are working to achieve this goal is by sharing FirstEnergy employment opportunities with the West Virginia Herbert Henderson Office of Minority Affairs (HHOMA), so the agency can communicate the information to minority job seekers in the state. Job openings will be updated weekly and will include positions in Meter Reading, Engineering, Transmission and in our Regulated Generation fleet.
“Becoming a more diverse and inclusive company is an important part of our strategic plan, and we appreciate the opportunity to work with HHOMA to increase awareness about job opportunities at FirstEnergy through this new initiative,” said Jim Myers, president, West Virginia Operations.
FirstEnergy also has committed to achieving 20% of its supply chain spend with diverse suppliers by 2025. HHOMA is assisting with this effort by identifying minority-owned businesses in West Virginia that might qualify for our Supplier Diversity Program, which is designed to strengthen economic development and viability for all businesses.
In support of this initiative, FirstEnergy is participating in HHOMA’s annual minority expo – taking place virtually on April 28 – to provide minority-owned businesses with information on how they can become a supplier for the company.
Promoting job opportunities to minority candidates and identifying minority-owned businesses for our supplier diversity program highlight the steps FirstEnergy is taking toward living our core value of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion – and our efforts are being noticed. In 2021, FirstEnergy was recognized by DiversityInc as one of the top utilities in the nation for its workforce diversity and inclusion initiatives for the third consecutive year. The company also was included on DiversityInc’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and Philanthropy lists.