BERKELEY , CA – Verizon has surpassed the 2006 & 2007 leader, AT&T, with an impressive 19.3% of its total contracting to minority owned businesses, according to the recently released Greenlining Institute's 2008 Supplier Diversity Report Card. In contrast, Southern California Edison once again finished last, as a result of its continued decrease in contracts awarded to minority owned businesses.

The Greenlining Institute identified, in the report, three significant factors which may have led to this decline:

•  The challenges faced by small businesses, which represent well over 99% of this state's 1.5 million minority owned businesses, to become certified to do business with utilities and broadband companies. With rare exceptions, small minority owned businesses have not received adequate technical assistance and the much needed resources to increase their capacity and opportunities.

•  A failure to meet targets and good-faith goals for minority women owned businesses. In fact, no company awarded even 4% of contracts to minority women owned businesses and none have developed focused programs to prioritize significant changes.

•  A failure to aggressively and effectively increase contracting with disabled veteran and Native American owned businesses.

To address these challenges, the Greenlining Institute has recommended the Commission and regulated companies place a targeted and strategic focus on assisting California 's 1.5 million small minority owned businesses. It is critical that all companies improve their contracting with small minority owned businesses, as Faith Bautista, President of the Mabuhay Alliance of San Diego, emphasized in her testimony on April 28, 2008 at a Commission public hearing in Long Beach, California, “ Supplier diversity, small business - this is a backbone of the economy .”