A. Growing Influence of Civil Rights and Advocacy Groups:
Over the past 15 years, civil rights and business organizations have helped
African-Americans gain entrée into franchising through a number of agreements,
including the NAACP's Operation Fair Share and Operation PUSH Coalition's
"moral covenants," voluntary agreements with companies such as the Southland
Corp, KFC, Miller Brewing Company, Coca-Cola and Coors.

B. Participation
During 1986-92, the proportion of minority-owned franchises has grown 165
percent, from 3.2 percent to 8.5 percent of all units. Although many minority
franchisees operate such units as restaurants, automotive services, and food
retailing, minority franchisees exist in every major business category. The most
recent figures indicate that blacks account for 36 percent of minority-owned units.
These figures are in sharp contrast to the general population of minority
entrepreneurs, in which blacks are the least represented group.

C. Company Commitments
The Athlete's Foot: The company is growing in both inner-city markets and
internationally. The Athlete's Foot says it will open franchises in new and under-served markets. Many of its current U.S. stores located in predominantly African-American neighborhoods are African-American-owned, and the company has facilitated partnerships between community development corporations and franchisees.

Internationally, the Athlete's Foot is the world's largest athletic footwear franchisor, with franchise agreements in over 43 countries, including Agrentina, Belgium, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, France, Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines, Poland, and Taiwan (Large, Apparel/Shoes/Textiles, United States).

General Motors: There are 400 minority-owned dealerships, more than 5 percent of
GM's total in the U.S. "Long-term we're aiming for 15 percent," Romero notes (General Director of Minority Dealer Development at GM). Minority-owned dealerships sold over 237,000 new vehicles in 2003, totaling more than $12.2 billion in revenue, and employ about 17,000 people. GM's minority dealership owners are about 42 percent Hispanic, 32 percent African American, 14 percent Asian and 12 percent Native American, Romero says.

Burger King: From senior management -- "We want to make sure that Burger King's
customer base - 40 percent minority - is reflected in terms of franchises and
suppliers...We are growing the field with seed money, but our goal is to get African
American franchise owners to expand in terms of multiple units and locations" (Large, Food, United States).
Franchise Units: 10,144
Company-Owned Units: 1079
Total Units: 11,223
Units Owned by Minorities:
African-American: 227
Hispanic: 308
Asian-American: 174
Native American: 36
Other: 361