Every time Cincinnati's corporate leaders ask for patience, African-American business advocates lose a little more of theirs.

        Since the April 2001 riots, some of the Tristate's most powerful CEOs have spent months designing new programs to promote jobs for inner-city youth and new contracts for minority-owned firms — all in the name of “economic inclusion.”

        But as the anniversary of the riots approaches, only one of those programs — a jobs initiative that has expanded to run year-round — has substantial private dollars behind a specific work plan.

        Others amount to pledges for future funding and studies of best practices in other cities that could lead to better results here. That's not the kind of progress that means much to protesters complaining of “economic apartheid.”

        Both the corporate community and leaders of the economic boycott of downtown Cincinnati say they want long-term changes to the system. But boycott leaders don't trust corporations to make it happen.

        “We've heard, "Be patient,'” said Amanda Mayes, a proponent of the economic boycott. “And these things do take time. But if these initiatives are not meaningful, we cannot be satisfied with that.”

Fisher

        “I think it's solid progress,” said Michael Fisher, president of the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce.

        Cincinnati CAN, Mayor Charlie Luken's race-relations commission formed after the riots, will tout its own progress at a City Hall event this morning.

        Task forces on education, police-community relations and housing have also been working for the entire year. But business initiatives have taken on a special urgency in recent months.

        CAN leaders have supported several projects that were in the works even before last April as evidence of progress. Those include the Robert A. Taft Information Technology High School, heavily sponsored by Cincinnati Bell, and the city and county One-Stop Job Centers that reopened in March.

        Other business initiatives include:

        • Nurturing black executives. Janet Reid of Global Lead Management Consulting is part of a group studying what's being done elsewhere to create opportunities for African-Americans to get more salaried positions.

        • Adding construction jobs. Construction executives have announced a program to create 200 construction jobs.

        • Creating youth jobs. The Youth Employment Initiative has gotten more than $400,000 in pledges from local corporations.

        • Building bigger minority companies. P&G, Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Federated Department Stores and PNC Bank will fund a plan aimed at creating new business for mid-sized minority-owned vendors.

        Mr. Fisher said when taken as a group, the programs will help African-Americans of all ages and all salary levels to get better access to the local economy.

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