Diversity and Equity

The Tucson Metro Chamber believes diversity, equity, inclusion and access (IDEA) is a business imperative. Our national economy stands to gain $8 trillion by 2050 simply by closing the racial equity gap, while another study finds that the national GDP would add $25 billion if just 1% more disabled people were hired. Diverse and inclusive businesses have 19% higher innovation revenues, a 35% performance advantage over their homogenous counterparts, and are 36% more profitable. The Chamber is committed to building an equitable and accessible culture within our Tucson community through establishing outreach, education, options, best practices for businesses, and more.

Tucson has an amazing community! Yet, at the same time, 1 out of 5 live in poverty. As a Chamber, we are committed to leveling the playing field, ensuring that our members understand how food insecurity, unreliable transportation, inaccess to affordable housing and lack of childcare options affects a large section of our community, particularly from a workforce development standpoint.

The more we can do together to make sure we are growing and attracting the skills our community needs, the more our local businesses will prosper and our community will thrive.
Michael Guymon CEO and President | Tucson Metro Chamber

ECONOMIC EQUITY

Income inequality, geographic concentrations of the poor, city-suburb disparities and racial segregation are all associated with slower growth over the last three decades. Economists at the Cleveland Federal Reserve have found that high levels of racial inclusion and progress on income equality also correlate with strong economic growth. Regions with higher levels of income inequality and racial segregation are less resilient to economic downturns.

Demographic change is driven by natural growth, not immigration:
Migration to the U.S. is stabilizing, net migration from Mexico is negative, and economists and demographers are actually worried about the negative impact of immigration decline on the size of the workforce. With growth coming from the U.S.-born, marshaling the investments to ensure the next generation’s productivity is critical for us all.

Cities and regions that embrace diversity do better economically:
Income inequality, geographic concentrations of the poor, city-suburb disparities and racial segregation are all associated with slower growth over the last three decades. Economists at the Cleveland Federal Reserve have found that high levels of racial inclusion and progress on income equality also correlate with strong economic growth. Regions with higher levels of income inequality and racial segregation are less resilient to economic downturns.

Diversity is not just about bridging traditional divides.
It is not just race and income inclusion—as important as they are—that must be tackled. The presence of a large gay population has been found to be a better predictor of high-tech location than many other indicators of social and cultural diversity. Helping communities develop the new openness that is key to a creative economy is essential.

Diverse and dynamic epistemic communities are key to regions adapting to new economic and demographic realities:
Essentially, what you know, who you know it with, how diverse those partners are, and how well the partnership is able to weather change has a big impact on regional competitiveness and effective problem-solving. Business leaders have a critical and important role to play in creating such dynamic learning communities.