MGC Director of Diversity and Legislative Affairs Jill Griffin Presents at Black History Month Round Table for Small Businesses

As the MGC celebrates Black History Month, Director of Diversity and Legislative Affairs Jill Griffin (formerly known as Director of Workforce, Supplier and Diversity Development) recently participated in a virtual Black History Month Round Table for Small Businesses, hosted by the Small Business Administration (SBA)’s Massachusetts District Office.

The forum was led by Senator Ed Markey and Bob Nelson, the District Director of the SBA’s Massachusetts District Office, and allowed stakeholders to “join community leaders and the SBA in recognizing the importance of supporting black-owned businesses and learn about resources and assistance available for recovery.”

Griffin presented to a group of small business owners, SBA lenders, small business support organizations and other community leaders, and discussed the MGC’s efforts, both externally and internally, related to racial equity in the Commonwealth’s gaming industry.

“I have the pleasure of leading the Massachusetts Gaming Commission’s diversity strategy with our casino licensees: Plainridge Park Casino, MGM Springfield and Encore Boston Harbor,” Griffin said. “Recently, I have been asked to focus internally, as well. The Gaming Commission last year, amidst the biggest civil rights movement in our history, created an equity and inclusion statement of purpose, and the Gaming Commission’s first Equity and Inclusion Working Group. We are a culturally diverse group of colleagues at all levels of leadership, and we’re working to ensure that our organization is always part of the solution to injustice and white supremacism.”

The Equity and Inclusion Working Group, convened by Chair Cathy Judd-Stein in June of 2020, was established “with the goal of ensuring that MGC systems, policies, and practices do not result in disproportionate negative impacts on people or communities of color.”

“The MGC is committed to racial equity and justice, diversity and inclusion, and expects the same of its employees, licensees, and other stakeholders,” the Equity and Inclusion Working Group’s Statement of Purpose reads. “We recognize that, in addressing systemic issues, everyone who is part of any system has an opportunity and responsibility to examine how those systems work and to dismantle barriers obstructing racial equity.”

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