Op-Ed | Supporting small business and working-class people through M/WBEs

Since day one, our administration has had a clear mission: build a safer, more affordable city for working-class New Yorkers, and every day, we are delivering on that mission. Jobs are up, our streets are safer with crime down across the city every month this year, and we have a record 183,000 small businesses across the five boroughs — the highest ever in our city’s history. 

Day after day, we are working to make sure New Yorkers have the opportunities to grow their businesses and service their city. That is why we have made record investments towards our Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprise Program — also known as M/WBEs — putting money back into communities that have been denied a fair shot for too long; and this year has been another record-breaking year for M/WBEs.

This past year, we awarded the highest number of city contracts to M/WBEs ever and set a record for M/WBE awards within our city agencies, awarding a total of $1.59 billion dollars to M/WBEs across the five boroughs — that is a 15 percent increase since Fiscal Year 2022, the first fiscal year of our administration. But behind each of these numbers is also a human story — sisters and brothers of color finally able open to their small businesses, support their families, and get ahead; small business owners with big dreams that want a fair shot to turn that dream into a reality; and so many more.

For too long, communities of color have been locked out of building wealth and have found it difficult to get their businesses off the ground. We cannot accept a city where people of color miss out on the chance to build wealth for themselves, their children, and their grandchildren. That is why city government is leading the way with our M/WBE program and showing we can invest in communities of color, while simultaneously delivering a quality product for New Yorkers. We know that when we create the conditions for small businesses to succeed our entire city wins.

Our M/WBE program is supporting that young couple who is dreaming of building a small business, the mom-and-pop stores that mean so much to our neighborhoods and tapping into the talent we have in our communities that want to help build our economy and our city.

Three decades ago, Mayor David Dinkins made history by creating the city’s Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprise Program, and while we have achieved historic milestones within the program, we must set the bar even higher going forward. That is why, last week, we announced the creation of the M/WBE Advisory Council to help advance the administration’s historic progress on supporting minority- and women-owned businesses.

Under our administration, Black and Brown unemployment in New York City is at its lowest point in half a decade. We have narrowed this gap by delivering new opportunities to communities across the five boroughs that have been overlooked for far too long. Our administration understands that a job is what enables us to achieve the American Dream. That is why we have made historic investments in M/WBEs — working to connect New Yorkers to city contracts, career opportunities, and good-paying jobs. We are opening the doors of opportunity for communities across the five boroughs because working people deserve their fair share, and we are giving it to them.