The
Five Forward Initiative™ enlists the commitment of CEOs of mid-
to large-sized corporations in the Chicago metropolitan area to
establish or expand business relationships with five current and/or
new local minority firms. The initiative is designed to build a
stronger regional economy and the scale of minority business.
Empirical evidence
indicates that MBEs disproportionately tend to locate within and
hire from areas with higher percentages of minority residents. The
enhanced flow of money to the region improves the property tax base,
increases employment and earnings, ignites business activity and
creates the multiplier effects of local firms and residents spending
dollars with other local firms.
The following companies have committed to The Chicago United Five
Forward Initiative™:
1. Advocate Health Care
2. Aon Corporation
3. Ariel Investments, LLC
4. Baxter International
5. BP America Inc.
6. City Colleges of Chicago
7. ComEd, An Exelon Company
8. Ernst & Young
9. Harris Bank
10. Health Care Service Corporation (Blue Cross Blue Shield of
Illinois)
11. Jewel-Osco
12. Kraft Foods
13. Loop Capital
14. Macy’s Inc.
15. McDonald’s Corporation USA
16. Mesirow Financial
17. The Nielsen Company
18. Northern Trust
19. Rush University Medical Center
20. SDI (System Development.Integration, LLC)
21. The University of Chicago Medical Center
MBe-Source
Five Forward features MBe-Source,
a web-based resource that provides access to information on top
minority firms located in the counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake,
McHenry and Will. MBe-Source provides minority firms of scale the
opportunity to illustrate capacity, core competencies, industries
served and success stories that highlight where the firm’s value
has made a significant impact on client organizations.
Professional
Services Model
Supporting
Five Forward, Chicago United’s Professional Services Model (PSM):
A Business Management Tool for Large Corporations to Address the
Problem of Limited Utilization of Minority Professional Service
Firms is designed for companies who have minority supplier
development programs currently in place and expert staff that can
easily adapt our practices to their existing program to aid in expanding
their current initiatives to include minority professional service
firms.
Chicago
United’s Five Forward and Members Skogsbergh, DeSantiago and Wedgeworth
featured on Chicago Tonight on WTTW
WTTW’s Chicago Tonight show featured Chicago United,
The Five Forward Initiative™ and Chicago United members Mike DeSantiago
of Primera Engineers, Chicago United Chairman Jim Skogsbergh of
Advocate Health Care and Pam Wedgeworth of Wedgeworth Communications
on Wednesday, June 18, 2008.
WLS-TV
ABC 7 News Views Show
Broadcast Date: May 18, 2008
The momentum around The Chicago United Five Forward Initiative™
continues as M. Bridget Reidy, Chief Supply Officer of Exelon's
Business Services Company, and Al Grace, Jr., co-founder and President
of Loop Capital Markets, discuss Five Forward. Five Forward is a
strategic initiative that enlists the commitment of CEOs of mid-
to large-sized corporations in the Chicago metropolitan area to
establish or expand business relationships with five current and/or
new local minority firms. The initiative is designed to build a
stronger regional economy and minority businesses of scale.
