 "In the past four years we have made great progress in creating more work for
minority- and women-owned businesses," Gov. Quinn said. "But as I mentioned in
my State of the State speech, we're going to do more. We're working to ensure a
level playing field for all contractors in Illinois, which will increase our
state's global competitiveness and put even more people to work."The kickoff
for the new initiative took place at the Winning with the State Business Forum
at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Representatives from IDOT, the Illinois
Tollway, other key state agencies and the U.S. Department of Transportation
conducted workshops to quickly provide crucial information for small businesses
and a step-by-step guide to the state's contracting process, including ways of
building capacity through alliances.
"We are expanding our efforts to reach out and provide detailed technical
assistance to disadvantaged business enterprise firms, and to other minority-
and woman-owned firms that could qualify for the DBE program, and help these
small businesses more readily qualify for and successfully bid on state
contracts," Schneider said. "The outreach and assistance is critical to firms
that have the skills and capabilities to do the work, but may be encountering
barriers within the contracting process itself.
"The kickoff event is the first of several diversity activities throughout
the year to engage the community, provide resources and contract and procurement
assistance. Having a solid disadvantaged business enterprise program makes good
business sense. IDOT's DBE program is designed to bring greater opportunity to
small minority-owned and women-owned companies. We want to empower these
job-generating small businesses to maximize contract participation
opportunities."
In 2012, IDOT, one of the state's largest agencies, awarded $344.2 million in
contracts to DBE firms. That figure represents 15.7 percent of the total $2.2
billion in contract awards that year. IDOT's DBE goal is 22.77 percent.
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Women-owned firms received the majority of the DBE contracts in
2012, totaling $139 million (40 percent), followed by Hispanic-owned
firms with $124 million in contracts (36 percent) and
African-American-owned firms, receiving nearly $50 million in
contracts (14 percent).
Minority participation goals include helping new, emerging or
underperforming DBE firms to acquire skills in marketing and
business management, Schneider said. IDOT also provides resources to
help DBE firms develop more effective bid proposals, take part in
training and build business relationships that can help them qualify
for contracts.
The DBE program is a federally mandated program that provides
opportunities for small minority-owned and women-owned businesses to
participate in contracts that are federally funded.
One recent DBE success story is Myka Trucking LLC, based in
Pembroke. Established in 2011 by Marla Lockett-Robinson, the
woman-owned firm earned more than $100,000 during its first year in
business. Lockett-Robinson started her career climbing telephone
poles and connecting cables for Comcast to help support her
daughter.
"I took advantage of IDOT supportive services and workshops,"
Lockett-Robinson said. "Doors opened. Meeting other DBEs, along with
my certifications, helped me to land projects to grow my business."
[Text from
Illinois Department of
Transportation file received from the
Illinois Office of
Communication and Information] |
