Despite resistance by the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, the Walter Kaitz Foundation
will be tucked inside the trade association, which will pick up its effort to
increase the employment of minorities in the cable industry.
The 20-year-old Kaitz Foundation is widely regarded but often criticized as much more effective at
raising money from its annual gala dinner ($1 million per event) than at actually
attracting minority employees or helping them rise through the ranks.
An expensive and ineffective internship program was scrapped in favor of
grants to other organizations like the National Association of Multi-Ethnicity in
Communications and Women in Cable & Telecommunications.
In January, the foundation will move from California and become a one-person
office at the NCTA. The office will continue to raise money and distribute it to
other groups, plus expand a program aiming to connect minority vendors with cable
purchasing agents.
NCTA president Robert Sachs had resisted the move, saying the group’s mission
is lobbying, not recruiting. But Sachs’ board voted to combine the organizations
Wednesday morning.
