Diversity/Inclusiveness Advocacy Opportunity Tomorrow June 10th
As a result of the Cleveland Construction Co. suit challenging the minority contracting process, any race language was removed from the Cincinnati Small Business Enterprise Program (SBE). The City of Cincinnati SBE is supposed to be the driver for inclusion within our region. In the last accounting, only .03 of city business contacts went to women and minority-owned business in Cincinnati. Obviously, there is a large discrepancy there. OPEN Cincinnati made specific recommendations for short-term changes to the City of Cincinnati’s SBE program aimed at accelerating substantive participation of minority owned firms. Given the scope of the process, the Open Cincinnati Team began an extensive policy review of the City’s SBE program mindful of the history of legal challenges that influenced inclusion policies nationwide.
The CincyPAC Board of Directors has approved of the proposed recommendations and encourages our members to attend tomorrow’s hearing to voice this opinion.
The following is a policy statement that summarizes the issue that Council will consider tomorrow.
“The health of our small businesses is more important now than ever before. Nationally, small businesses make up half of the country’s private sector workforce and represent over 90% of all employer firms. At a time in our economy when even multi-million dollar organizations are struggling, more than ever, our small businesses need to have opportunities to compete, perform and earn additional opportunities. Small businesses are critical to the viability and recovery of our economy.
It is imperative that our City administration focus on efforts that lead to a more stable economic environment for our entire region. With approximately 7,000 African American and 800 Hispanic owned businesses throughout greater Cincinnati, the strength of our economic environment is tied the health of these businesses.
The City of Cincinnati has a SBE (Small Business Enterprise) that is supposed to be the driver for inclusion within our region. Admittedly the city has a dismal track record of utilizing minority business in city spending. When these businesses are not included in economic activity, it hurts our economy. Yesterday OPEN Cincinnati, an action team appointed by Cincinnati Mayor Mallory and council, presented a tactical plan aimed to assist in bringing improvements to the City of Cincinnati’s Small Business Enterprise program that would achieve substantive participation of minority owned businesses.
Please note:
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This is not about a special minority program; it’s about jobs and business growth for a segment of our population that makes up 1 out of 2 Cincinnatians.
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The recommendation enables the SBE program to deliver what it was originally designed to do.
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A high percentage of the recommendations are budget neutral.
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The plan does not call for minority set asides. It about creating a competitive climate so the best value proposition can be selected.
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It moves our city administration for an overreaction to the threat of law suits toward recognizing the need to recognize qualified minority owned businesses.”