Minority-and-women-owned businesses are of great value to the City of Buffalo. As a city, we are committed to the growth and development of small businesses in this region and I thank our partners who are sponsoring events this week that help us with our ongoing efforts to grow small businesses locally and throughout our region. We will continue to work together so that every resident of this City has the opportunity to benefit from Buffalo’s growth, this is one of the best ways to ensure Buffalo’s continued economic growth and success.
Accomplishments of the City of Buffalo’s MBE/WBE program since 2006 include:
- Employing a “First Source” hiring policy for public works contracts requiring contractors and subcontractors to make demonstrable efforts to meet or exceed the 25% residency hiring goals included in the City’s charter.
- Spearheading the opening of the Beverly Gray Business Exchange Center, a comprehensive one-stop small business technical resource center developed to support Minority-Owned Business Enterprises (“MBE”), Women-Owned Business Enterprises (“WBE”), Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Businesses (“SDVOB”), and small businesses in the City of Buffalo and WNY region
- Strengthening economic inclusion on public/private partnerships. Since 2012, the City of Buffalo has experienced over $7.3 billion in economic development, which is expected to create over 12,000 new jobs, that has dramatically reshaped the city’s landscape.