Business Inclusion

March-April Inclusive Business Initiative E-Newsletter

The Inclusive Business Initiative has released its March-April 2010 E-newsletter. It was sent to over 1,400 subscribers earlier this week. Some of the highlights from the newsletter include:

• Webinar:  Best Practices in County Supplier Diversity Programs, 11 AM - 12:20 PM Pacific, May 6. This webinar will discuss practices and innovations among counties across the US in relation to supplier diversity, procurement with local small businesses, and minority and women business procurement programs. Register from this link.
• Report on County-based Local Small Business Programs and Supplier Diversity. The Insight Center, in partnership with the DelACCESS Consortium, released a new report (PDF) on best practices in strategic sourcing and supplier diversity among 11 U.S. counties. The research was conducted by the Insight Center's Inclusive Business Initiative, along with DelACCESS Consortium, which is based in Newark, Delaware.

• New Small Local Business Enterprise Program in San Diego

• State-by-state Data on Black Farmers and Historic Settlement by USDA with Black Farmers. The Obama administration announced a $1.25 billion settlement February 18 with thousands of black farmers who had claimed that they had been discriminated against by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) in its loan programs for decades.

• Anti-Affirmative Action Measure is Again Knocked Off the Missouri Ballot. The measure was withdrawn after the ACLU challenged the measure's language.

To subscribe to the Inclusive Business Initiative e-newsletter, fill out and submit this e-form.

February 2010 e-Newsletter of the Inclusive Business Initiative

The Inclusive Business Initiative of the Insight Center for Community Economic Development releases its February 2010 e-newsletter. The e-newsletter includes the following highlights:

• Data on the portion of federal Recovery Act (ARRA) contracts going to small businesses, minority businesses, and women owned small businesses. The minority business contracts are broken out for each racial or ethnic group.
• Data on state contracts and subcontracts funded by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBEs) for each of the 50 states, as well as District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, for fiscal year 2008.
• The 2009 Year in Review of the Inclusive Business Initiative, including our work with Delaware which led to the state's new supplier diversity policy.

If you would like to subscribe to the e-newsletter, send an email to tlohrentz@insightcced.org with the word 'ADD' in the subject and your contact info in the body of the email.