Charlotte Chamber Awards Firm for Diversity Efforts
Moore & Van Allen was presented with the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce’s 2013 Belk Innovation in Diversity Award at the Chamber’s 134th Annual Meeting on December 3. Litigation and Diversity Committee Member Valecia McDowell accepted the award on the Firm’s behalf.
“On behalf of our committee and our entire firm – all of the good people at Moore & Van Allen – we sincerely want to thank Belk and the Chamber for this award,” McDowell said. “We want to make sure that we are always at the leading edge of this issue. We want to prompt others, whether that is through our supplier diversity initiatives, or whether it’s through leading by example with our fellow law firms in this community and beyond...”
The Firm was recognized at the Annual Meeting as a diversity champion, and McDowell was featured in a video discussing MVA’s commitment to diversity and inclusion efforts. The Charlotte Chamber presents the Belk Innovation in Diversity Award annually to one for-profit business and one non-profit business, to showcase their outstanding leadership and practice by driving business and community results through innovative diversity and inclusion in the workplace, economy and beyond. UNC Charlotte was named this year’s non-profit winner. Winners were initially announced at the Chamber’s Diversity Officer Roundtable Reception on November 20.
MVA’s diversity initiatives are led by the Diversity Committee, which was founded to support networking, mentoring, educational and client development opportunities to enrich the careers of the Firm’s attorneys and staff, and benefit the communities in which the Firm practices. The Diversity Committee developed a Diversity Strategic Plan that outlines six overarching diversity and inclusion goals. MVA also enacted a Supplier Diversity Statement, which reinforces the Firm’s commitment to an intentional approach to expanding opportunities for conducting business with minority- and women- owned businesses.
“It’s meant a lot to the people who work at our firm and I think it’s meant a lot to the people that we have encountered through our community initiatives in this space as well,” McDowell said.
Both The Charlotte Observer and Charlotte Business Journal named Moore & Van Allen in their coverage of the event.