Al Henry, then Associate Executive Director, United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast in Houston, Texas served as chair of the Minority Staff Task Force. Deborah Foster, then a senior human resource manager at United Way of America, staffed both the Women’s and Minority Development groups. Today, Deborah serves as Executive Vice President, Strategic Alliances and Inclusion, for UWA.  One of the most significant recommendations from the group was to convene an annual event with a focus on career and leadership development for minority professionals within the United Way system.

The first Roundtable was held in 1984, in the birthplace of the United Way movement, Denver, Colorado. Initially the event was limited to an invited group of minority professionals in leadership roles within the system, but in 1989 the Roundtable advanced the recommendation that future events be open to all professionals.  Also, in 1989, Hispanic professionals held a meeting in Orange County, California, which resulted in a recommendation that a full-time staff person be committed to developing human capital capacities of minority professionals within the United Way system.  As a result, United Way of America created the position of Director of Minority Affairs, which has evolved into a Director of Diversity position at United Way of America.

United Way of America has since conducted the Roundtable on an annual basis since 1984 with the support of United Way professionals and the CPO/CVO Minority Alliance.  The Roundtable serves as a key strategy for developing and sustaining minority leadership within the United Way system.  The Alliance also supported a recommendation that United Way of America promote strategies to integrate diversity into all areas of United Way’s work and that diversity be a part of all of its future programs and conferences.