Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Milwaukee County Recognized For Outreach To Disadvantaged Business Enterprises

From the desk of County Board Chairman Lee Holloway:
Milwaukee County Board Chairman Lee Holloway is congratulating the Director of Milwaukee County’s Office of Community Business Development Partners (CDBP) for receiving the 2009 FAA Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Advocate and Partner Award. The award was presented at the 25th Annual Airport Business Diversity Conference in Baltimore last month. The CBDP Office reports directly to the County Board of Supervisors.

Freida Webb, Director of the CBDP Office, accepted the award on behalf of Milwaukee County and General Mitchell International Airport (GMIA). The award recognizes excellence in meeting the letter, spirit and intent of the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program in the past year. In particular, GMIA has consistently exceeded its DBE goal from 2001 to 2008. This outstanding history is largely attributed to careful attention to unbundling of large contracts to allow smaller DBE firms to bid as prime contractors. Milwaukee County has conducted extensive outreach to ensure inclusion of minority, women’s and contractor groups; professional consulting firms; and community organizations. Last year, GMIA achieved over 37% DBE participation, exceeding its goal by more than 12%.

“I commend Freida Webb and the entire team at the County Board’s Office of Community Business Development Partners,” Board Chairman Lee Holloway said. “This recognition is well-deserved. I appreciate all of Milwaukee County’s efforts to encourage disadvantaged businesses to participate in County contracting opportunities.”

A significant portion of this DBE achievement reflects race-neutral participation that was achieved beyond the DBE contract goals. In addition, GMIA’s race-neutral efforts have included proactive communication of opportunities to all eligible DBEs in Wisconsin who could perform the work elements required; active participation in networking events throughout Wisconsin and personal leadership within Milwaukee County to certify small, disadvantaged businesses.
That's got to be tough work, especially considering the way Scott Walker keeps chasing businesses away.

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