Affirmative Action As A Blender, Creating Equality For All...

America has the nickname of â€Å"The Melting Pot,† but melting implies no boundaries. In the U.S., many boundaries between different ethnicities, religions, and minorities still exist. The concept of affirmative action is to act as a blender, creating equality for all people. Affirmative action is encouraged in many different business sectors by the government. Some examples include the Department of Defense strives to award five percent of contracts to minority businesses and institutions, federal home loan banks work to preserve and expand minority-owned banks, the Department of State mandates at least ten percent of amount of funds be allocated to American minority contractors, NASA requires administrators to establish annual goal of at least eight percent of total value of prime contracts and subcontracts awarded to be made to small disadvantaged businesses and minority educational institutions, the FCC must ensure that minority- and women-owned businesses have opportunit y to participate in providing spectrum-based services, the Department of Energy works to achieve five percent of total funds used to carry out national security programs be allocated to minority businesses and institutions, the Department of Transportation requires that not less than ten percent of funds appropriated under the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 be expended on small and minority businesses, the Environmental Protection Agency must allocate no less than ten percent of