Credit:One local effort to help small businesses win more public contracts looks like a slam dunk; another is trying to walk a fine line that may ultimately satisfy no one.
was developed by Nowak with support from the Aspen Institute Latinos and Society program, the San Antonio Area Foundation and Rep. Joaquin Castro. Roughly two-thirds of the money will be spent by UTSA, which currently hosts Supply SA meetings at its downtown campus, to create a one-stop procurement center and hire navigators to help businesses connect to opportunities. The rest will go to a consultant to develop a regional reporting system to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the effort.
“Tremendous disparities still exist,” said La Juana Chambers Lawson, a small business owner who co-leads the FCC. She pointed to just one example: of the $12 million worth of goods and services the city purchased from women-owned businesses, $10 million went to white women-owned businesses. The city spent zero dollars on African American women-owned, Asian women-owned and Native American women-owned businesses, she pointed out.