New York City has awarded over $10 billion in business to minority- and women-owned business enterprises since 2015, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Wednesday. In 2018 alone, the city has awarded more than $3.7 billion to MWBEs through mayoral and non-mayoral agencies.
“To truly become the fairest big city in America, we need to take steps that allow everyone — regardless of race, gender or ethnicity — to participate in our economy,” de Blasio said. “This year, we’ve reached a milestone: $10 billion have been awarded to MWBEs since the beginning of my Administration. While this is a clear sign of progress, we still have a lot of work to do to continue creating a fairer and more inclusive city.”
In 2015, de Blasio outlined his OneNYC plan in which the mayor established his original goal to award $16 billion to MWBEs through mayoral agencies by 2025.
The city is on track toward that goal, having awarded more than $10 billion to MWBEs since 2015 through both mayoral and non-mayoral agencies, the latter of which include the Economic Development Corp. and the Department of Education.
“Today’s historic milestone of awarding $10 billion to MWBEs delivers upon the mayor’s unprecedented commitment to make New York City the fairest big city in America,” said
The top five performing agencies and the awards to MWBEs since 2015 include: the Department of Design and Construction, which awarded more than $1 billion; the Department of Parks and Recreation, which awarded more than $455 million; the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, which awarded more than $449 million; the Department of Environmental Protection, which awarded more than $434 million; and the Department of Transportation, which awarded more than $275 million.
“In a city as diverse as New York, making a commitment to contracting with MWBE firms is critical to creating an equitable economy,” said City Council Member Robert E. Cornegy Jr., Chair of the Task Force on MWBEs. “I commend Mayor Bill de Blasio for not only making that commitment, but for keeping us on track to meet it. While there is plenty of work left to be done to ensure MWBE firms are benefiting equally from city contracts — and I look forward to remaining a steadfast partner in that work — it is great to see these efforts making an impact.”
In 2016, when de Blasio announced the creation of the Office of MWBEs, he set a goal to award 30% of all mayoral and certain non-mayoral contracts to MWBEs by 2021. In 2018, these agencies have awarded more than $1 billion to MWBEs, or 19% of the value of city contracts. That’s up from 11.4% in 2017.
“As chair of the Committee on Women, supporting our minority and women-owned businesses is one of the most important parts of my job — they are critical to the economic empowerment of our communities,” said City Council Member Helen Rosenthal, Chair of the Committee on Women. “This Administration has shown a real commitment to creating innovative and effective new tools for us to do exactly that. I want to congratulate the city on the achievement of $10 billion in contracts awarded to MWBEs in just three years.”
