What You Need to Know
- The Massachusetts Gaming Commission maintains a commitment to DIVERSITY in its core values.
- The AOC was charged by the Commission to monitor efforts of our gaming licensees to achieve diversity in the construction workforce and supplier base
- Casinos were required to regularly provide to the Commission detailed, statistical reports on the diversity of their construction workforce and vendor contracting.
- Upon the opening of both resort (category 1) casinos, the Commission’s Access and Opportunity Committee meetings came to a close.
- A report on how the AOC, the MGC and its partners successfully achieved diversity on the construction of the casinos can be found here.
Background
To achieve diversity during casino development MGC implemented a transparent monitoring of progress towards the diversity goals set by each resort-casino. A cornerstone of this strategy was the Access and Opportunity Committee (AOC), charged by the Commission to monitor efforts of our gaming licensees to achieve diversity in the construction workforce and supplier base and offer assistance as they proceeded with the construction of their resorts. The AOC was a key factor in our licensees achieving nearly all of their projects’ diversity goals.
Casino licensees and their development partners gave detailed statistical diversity reports by contractor and by union at each monthly AOC meeting. The AOC brought together multi-stakeholders, including state officials and community leaders, diversity advocates and our licensees (MGM Springfield and Encore Boston Harbor) to help ensure that diversity goals were achieved through open, inclusive dialogue.
A report was created to capture the best practices utilized to achieve diversity in the Construction Industry and to guide others interested in placing diversity goals on their projects (click here).
For more information about the AOC, read this blog post by Commissioner Bruce Stebbins.
To read the Committee’s Rules of Procedure click here.
Past Meeting Materials
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015