SANDY — Salt Lake Community College is opening Utah's first Minority Business Center after being awarded a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce.One of the college's board of trustees members resigned over it. Some in the minority business community are questioning how the college will serve minority communities and why it received the grant over other applicants.
"We've had long-standing relationships with various organizations throughout the valley. The grant is not meant to replace or compete with existing business entities. We've all coexisted here in Utah for a very long time," she said. "We want to continue supporting the efforts of the ethnic minority chambers and ethnic minority business organizations as we've done throughout our history.
Luna Banuri, executive director of the Utah Muslim Civic League, said the league was introduced to the Mill Entrepreneurship Center through the Salt Lake Center of Opportunity Partnership and that the organizations have not interacted outside of it. Ghulam Hasnain, founder of Salt Lake American Refugee Services that SLCC listed as a strategic partner, said although the Mill offers a class for refugees, it doesn't suit the Somali refugee community he serves since the classes are in English and many of the female Somali entrepreneurs are not able to get over to the Mill's campus.
Provost Clifton Sanders, however, made the argument that the Suazo Center did not have the bandwidth to fulfill the grant requirements. In contrast, the Suazo Center had several unique letters of support, including from the Utah Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity; Salt Lake Chamber; U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall; Wasatch Front Regional Council; Ogden Mayor Mike Caldwell; Reps. Burgess Owens, Chris Stewart and Blake Moore; and Sen. Mitt Romney.
Edward Bennett, director of business development for Suazo Center, added that the center has referred clients to the Mill's programs in the past but believes those clients were treated as "others."