Minority and female-owned small businesses not given equal chance at funds

February 2, 2024 Pharaoh

As the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority publicly commits to diversity, equity and inclusion, public records show the agency paid one small business more than $750,000 over the last decade for leadership consulting work without ever giving minority and women-owned businesses an equal shot at the same job.

“It does make you raise your eyebrows,” government contracting expert LaPronda Spann said. “What is this agency going to do about this now that this has come to light?”

After WCNC Charlotte exposed a similar practice at the City of Charlotte last year, a viewer shared a tip about the CRVA’s longtime reliance on leadership coach Doug Bacon and his company Throwing Words.

The taxpayer-funded agency, which manages Spectrum Center, Bojangles Coliseum, the NASCAR Hall of Fame and Charlotte Convention Center, initially hired Throwing Words in 2013, noting Bacon “was one of the first independent coaches in the world to become a Gallup-Certified Strengths coach.”