Equality PA’s Ted Martin Tapped For State Business Diversity Commission

Equality PA’s Executive Director Ted Martin will be part of a new commission established by Governor Wolf to improve diverse small business participation in the state’s economy.

“The business community needs a constructive partner in government and this executive order sets us squarely in that position,” Wolf said. “This executive order is built on the reality that leveling the playing field will make Pennsylvania better for all of us. This idea of fairness is important because our economy doesn’t work optimally if some people are shut out of the market’s opportunities.”

Ted Martin

Martin will service on the newly minted Business Diversity Commission to “ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people will be included in…new opportunities,” according to a representative for Equality PA.

“There are more than 270,000 LGBT Pennsylvanians and many of them are small business owners who are participating in the state’s economy,” said Martin. “They deserve a voice in the policies that shape economic opportunity in their home state.”

The commission, formed under Wolf’s executive order, will look at ways that small businesses owned and operated by minority, female, LGBT, veteran, and disabled populations can have a greater impact on the state’s economy. A major focus of the commission will be “to ensure diversity and inclusion in all contracting opportunities.”

“This is an important step in the broader effort to make sure all Pennsylvanians feel they have a life filled with fair chances,” Governor Wolf said. “I’m trying to make our economy stronger in part by making it fairer…Fairness is at the heart of the values all healthy democracies hold dear.”