SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine — How to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion in Maine's workforce is the goal of the Inclusion Maine Conference that kicked off in South Portland on Tuesday.
The three-day event is being held at Portland Sheraton at Sable Oaks.
"Maine needs people," Inclusion Maine CEO Muhammad Humza Khan told NEWS CENTER Maine. "We need to attract people to our state and we have a huge challenge around our workforce demographics."
Those are all reasons that led Humza Khan to organize the conference. One big question he hopes to help attendees answer: How can we attract people from diverse backgrounds to the state?
"That is incredibly important because of what is happening with our workforce demographics, which is significantly aging and the only demographic that’s really growing is racially-diverse communities," he added.
In fact, 96 percent of all population growth in Maine is from racially-diverse people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
During the conference, attendees are expected to discuss these topics during breakout groups and activities, according to the event's agenda.