Category: Blog

Don’t Miss Toyota’s 2023 Opportunity Exchange: Powering Opportunity Together

Don’t Miss Toyota’s 2023 Opportunity Exchange: Powering Opportunity Together

Powering more than vehicles, please make plans to join Toyota on Thursday, November 2, at Suburban Collection Showplace for OE 2023! Toyota’s Opportunity Exchange (OE) is committed to being a champion for supplier diversity by helping generate new business for certified diverse suppliers and continuing to help supplier partners diversify their own supply base.

As it embraces the theme for this year’s OE, “Powering Opportunity Together,” it will explore how supplier partners and certified diverse suppliers working together is critical to success during times of rapid change and overcoming new challenges.

Apply for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Technology Transitions Lab MATCH Prize Competition

Apply for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Technology Transitions Lab MATCH Prize Competition

The DOE Office of Technology Transitions Lab MATCH (Laboratory Making Advanced Technology Commercialization Harmonized) Prize is a $620K, three-phase competition aimed to accelerate national laboratory intellectual property (IP) licensing and commercialization.

Lab MATCH, which is funded by the Technology Commercialization Fund, is part of the American-Made Challenges suite of prizes. It provides an opportunity for innovators and entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds to work directly with national labs and their researchers to accelerate technology commercialization.

Apply Now to Join The Workshop at Macy’s

Apply Now to Join The Workshop at Macy’s

Join The Workshop at Macy’s, its four-week intensive vendor accelerator program designed to drive promising diverse-, women-, LGBTQ-, persons with disabilities- and veteran-owned businesses to the next level.
Learn from its top executives and get the tools you need to help grow your brand. Apply today for a spot in The Workshop at Macy’s Class of 2024 at theworkshopatmacys.com.

New Limited TV Series More Than That with Gia Peppers Invests Directly into Black-Owned Media and Businesses

New Limited TV Series More Than That with Gia Peppers Invests Directly into Black-Owned Media and Businesses

Building on the success of three radio show seasons that resulted in $12M invested into Black-owned media, More Than That with Gia Peppers expands to video with a four-part limited broadcast series on REVOLT, the leading Black-owned multimedia company. The program elevates conversations impacting Black America, exploring a wide range of topics that inspire and engage diverse communities.

Dollar General Announces Inaugural Diverse Supplier of the Year Winner at Annual Strategic Partner Summit

Dollar General Announces Inaugural Diverse Supplier of the Year Winner at Annual Strategic Partner Summit

Through its supplier diversity initiative, Dollar General is committed to partnering with suppliers who support its efforts to provide relevant products to the diverse customers and communities it serves. This important initiative not only amplifies the impact of its partners but also ensures it provides more personal and meaningful experiences for the unique customers and communities it serves.

Each year, Dollar General hosts its annual Strategic Partner Summit in Nashville where its Supplier Partnership Excellence Awards (SPEA) are announced. This year, the supplier diversity team awarded its inaugural Diverse Supplier of the Year award to Milo’s Tea Company.

Milo’s Tea Company was founded in 1946 as a family-owned business and is now led by the granddaughter of the company’s founders, Tricia Wallwork the company’s chief executive officer, which makes it a certified women-owned Business.

Congratulations again to the inaugural Diverse Supplier of the Year award winner, Milo’s Tea Company. Look for their delicious tea and lemonade products the next time you visit a Dollar General store!

The Dollar General supplier diversity team will continue to work with its partners to build customer loyalty, offer relevant products, and positively contribute to its local communities.

For additional information on Dollar General’s supplier diversity initiative, please visit its website.

NWEA and New York State Education Department Issue Rescoring Audit RFP

NWEA and New York State Education Department Issue Rescoring Audit RFP

Request for Proposal Header Image

The NWEA and New York State Education Department (NYSED) have issued an RFP to select a preferred supplier to act as a subcontractor with NWEA and NYSED to provide selection and training of raters (scorers) and quality-control procedures in regards to scoring. More information on the RFP is below.

Introduction

NWEA Company Background

NWEA, a division of NMSDC corporate member, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, is a research-based, organization that supports students and educators worldwide by creating assessment solutions that precisely measure growth and proficiency and provide insights to help tailor instruction. For 40 years, NWEA has developed Pre-K-12 assessments and professional learning offerings to help advance all students along their optimal learning paths. Its tools are trusted by educators in more than 9,500 schools, districts, and education agencies in 145 countries.

Objectives and Scope

This RFP is to select a preferred supplier to act as a subcontractor with NWEA and the NYSED to provide selection and training of raters (scorers) and quality-control procedures in regard to scoring.

The current scope of this RFP includes the following:

Within three months of the receipt of student responses from NYSED’s 3-8 ELA and Mathematics and Elementary-level (Grade 5) and Intermediate-level (Grade 8) Science Test development contractor(s), the audit contractor is responsible for hiring and training raters and conducting the rescoring audit. Raters hired by the contractor should have at least a bachelor’s degree AND a minimum of 15 college credits in the subject area of the test being rescored or teacher certification from any state to teach the subject area of the test being rescored. For raters rescoring elementary-level tests (Grades 3-6), teacher certification in elementary education may be substituted for up to six of the required college credits in the subject area. The contractor’s work plan must describe how qualified raters will be recruited and selected for hiring, how the raters will be trained, and what quality-control procedures the contractor will take to ensure that the raters meet quality standards during training and scoring. NYSED will provide the contractor with the training materials and scoring rubrics that are provided to the scoring consortia on the first day of the test administration period. The contractor should use these same materials as part of their scorer training process.

Subcontractor Requirements: For each RFP, the subcontractor shall, in a timely manner to enable NWEA to meet the Customer’s timing requirements: (i) prepare a proposal to NWEA that includes a description of the scope of services and deliverables under the RFP that the subcontractor and NWEA agree shall be subcontractor’s responsibility (“Subcontractor Services”), the fees and costs Subcontractor proposes to charge NWEA for the Subcontractor Services, and any personnel, if applicable, who will perform the Subcontractor Services; (ii) provide a description of how the Subcontractor Services fulfill the requirements of the RFP as it pertains to the Subcontractor Services; and (iii) provide any other material or data reasonable requested by NWEA including any exceptions to the RFP, additional license terms, or other additional terms that should be considered and/or added to the RFP prior to submission for NWEA’s review and acceptance (collectively, the “Subcontractor Proposal“).

Instructions on How to Participate

Suppliers interested in participating in this contract opportunity should email interest to Tina Lindberg (Tina.lindberg@NWEA.org) no later than September 18, 2023, at 3 p.m. CST. In your response, please provide a brief overview of your qualifications/experience as well as the primary contact’s name and email address to receive an RFP.

Join WRMSDC in Supporting Maui Wildfire Relief Efforts

Join WRMSDC in Supporting Maui Wildfire Relief Efforts

NMSDC is deeply saddened by the devastation experienced by the residents of Maui caused by the recent wildfires. We encourage you to join the Western Regional Minority Supplier Development Council (WRMSDC) in their support of relief efforts for those impacted. WRMSDC is donating to and helping elevate the efforts of the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement’s (CNHA’s) Kākoʻo Maui Fund.