City commissioners in Los Angeles are serious about helping out businesses that are owned by women and minorities. To their credit, they have already invested significantly by awarding 800 city contracts for construction and other services over the past two years to women- and minority-owned businesses, but they want to do even more.
City wants to do more
Over the past two years, the city of Los Angeles has awarded contracts amounting to about $600 million to small, local businesses that are owned by women and minorities. Yet they continue to look for more ways to increase the number of contracts to this group. Why? The city knows how important these small businesses are to Los Angeles. As Commissioner Heather Repenning explained it, "it is imperative that we identify ways to further strengthen the impact of these dollars on the small, women-owned and minority-owned businesses that are the heart of our local economy."
Special committee formed
So the city is going to schedule four public hearings in order to get feedback from the community on ways in which they can improve upon the contracting practices of the city's Public Works Department.
The Department has the support of former and current city contractors and sub-contractors who are all committee members. City commissioners formed the committee specially to generate more ideas for increasing the number of small, local, minority- and women-owned businesses that are awarded city contracts.
For more details about the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) Center in Los Angeles, visit http://mbcla.lacity.org/
