Mayor also increases the maximum amount of key City loan program for M/WBEs and small businesses from $500,000 to $1 million per business
Mayor Bill de Blasio today announced that the City is two years ahead of schedule to meet his OneNYC goal, which aims to award $16 billion to minority- and women-owned business enterprises (M/WBEs) by the end of Fiscal Year (FY) 2025. The City has awarded approximately $7.8 billion to M/WBEs since the goal was established in 2015 – $1.8 billion more than initial projections. As a result, the Mayor will increase his OneNYC goal to award $20 billion to M/WBEs by the end of FY 2025.
Today the Mayor also announced an increase in the loan cap on the City’s Contract Financing Loan Fund, a program that allows M/WBEs and small businesses to access affordable loans. Currently, M/WBEs and small businesses have access to loans totaling $500,000. Beginning this summer, M/WBEs and small businesses will be able to access loans totaling up to $1 million per year at a low three-percent interest rate.
These two announcements come on the heels of the 2018 Disparity Study which analyzed the disparity between the availability of firms owned by minorities and women in the market area where the City does business and the utilization of those firms for procurements by City agencies.
“I have said this before, and I’ll say it again: this city works best when all New Yorkers – regardless of race, gender or ethnicity – have the resources they need to contribute in our economy,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “We are reaching historic highs when it comes to awarding contracts to M/WBEs, and with our new OneNYC goal, we are reminding all available M/WBEs interested in doing business with the City that we are in fact open for business.”
“When we invest in minority and women entrepreneurs across New York City, we reinvest directly in our communities,” said J. Phillip Thompson, Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives. “Bringing people of color and women into City contracting improves our work and empowers our communities.”
“M/WBEs are an essential part of the City’s economy, and I thank Mayor de Blasio and Deputy Mayor Thompson for their leadership in the making the M/WBE Program a priority,” said Jonnel Doris, Senior Advisor and Director of the Mayor’s Office of M/WBEs. “We are glad to report that we are ahead of schedule on our OneNYC goal by $1.8 billion, and we look forward to continuing this work in partnership with the M/WBEs, who have been champions for the Program, to create an economy that works for all.”
“Under Mayor Bill de Blasio’s leadership, we are committed to building a more inclusive local economy,” saidGregg Bishop, Commissioner of the Department of Small Business Services. “Our new goal for leveraging the City’s purchasing power will help even more M/WBEs succeed, which will go a long way toward promoting equity of opportunity here in New York City.”
Since the launch of the Contract Financing Loan Fund in March of 2017, the City has loaned more than $6 million to over 30 businesses, allowing these businesses to perform on over $37 million worth of work. Approximately 90-percent of these businesses are City-certified M/WBEs.
Increasing access to affordable loans for M/WBEs supports the Mayor’s $20 billion M/WBE OneNYC goal, which is part of the City’s broader OneNYC plan to become the most resilient, equitable, and sustainable city in the world. The increased loan limit will allow M/WBEs to perform on more City contracts, improving their ability to hire more workers and purchase materials as they ramp up to work on City projects.
These two announcements come on the heels of the 2018 Disparity Study which found a higher percentage of M/WBEs among businesses available to work with the City of New York compared to the 2012 Study. In 2012, when the previous Study was completed, the City found a 37-percent availability rate of M/WBEs within the City’s market area. The 2018 Study has found an M/WBE availability rate of approximately 50-percent in the City’s market area.
In a change from the previous Study, the 2018 Disparity Study supports the setting of participation goals for Asian-American businesses in Professional Services – one of the four industry classifications – and for Native-American businesses in all industry classifications, including professional services, construction services, standard services, and goods.
As of the end of quarter two of FY 2018, the City reached a 20-percent utilization of M/WBEs, meaning that M/WBEs were awarded 20-percent of the value of City contracts from July 1 2017-December 31, 2017. The City currently has a goal to award 30 percent of the value of City contracts to M/WBEs by end of FY2021, a goal the Disparity Study supports.
The City is continuing to certify available firms as per the Mayor’s goal of City-certifying 9,000 M/WBEs by end of FY 2019. Currently, the City boasts nearly 6,000 certified M/WBEs in its Program, a roughly 50-percent increase since the beginning of the Administration.
The Administration is reviewing all findings and recommendations of the Study as it relates to the current City-wide M/WBE program.
The full Study and Executive Summary can be found here.
