Building vibrant communities: The role of business inclusion

Artika Tyner

I am sharing exciting news about the release of Tisidra Jones’ new book, “A Guide to Business Inclusion Programs in Government Contracting.” It provides practical strategies for strengthening our local economy and creating lasting change in our communities. Jones draws upon her expertise as a lawyer, entrepreneur, and researcher to create a blueprint for a brighter economic future.
Jones is the founder of Strong & Starlike Consulting, Inc., a consulting collaborative that works to create systems that increase individual and community access to information, knowledge, and financial opportunities that help them thrive economically.
Q. Why did you decide to write the book?
After years of working with business owners and public sector employees, I repeatedly heard people mention how it would be useful for them to have access to information on what is happening in business inclusion across the country in one place. I wanted to find a way to share as much information as I could to (1) help public sector employees learn from others doing the work and (2) to help business owners in navigating certification and business inclusion contracting programs.
Q. What is business inclusion? Why does it matter?
Business inclusion may be used interchangeably with terms like vendor inclusion or supplier diversity. Overall, what is meant by any of these terms in the context of the book are: laws, programs, policies, practices, and initiatives that seek to include in government contracting opportunities or increase access to government contracting opportunities for small and diverse businesses. Private sector entities also have business inclusion programs, however, the scope of the book focuses on public sector efforts.
Business inclusion matters because collectively local, state, and federal government agencies spend trillions of dollars on goods and services. Large businesses may have the resources and people to dedicate to understanding how to navigate these government contracting systems, but small businesses where the owners are wearing multiple hats may not. When entities create programs that allow for procurement methods, such as sheltered market programs, where small businesses are not competing against large businesses for contracting opportunities, but rather competing against other small businesses those are steps in the direction to include more small and diverse businesses when contracting opportunities exist.
Q. How does business inclusion impact the economic and community development?
Senator Paul Wellstone’s quote comes to mind, “We all do better when we all do better.” Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy reports that pull their data from the U.S. Census Bureau highlight the number of small businesses in our country. In the most recent Small Business Economic Profile for the U.S., it reported 33.3 million small businesses accounting for 99.9% of U.S. businesses. It further notes that small businesses employ 45.9% of U.S. employees. Working with local small and diverse businesses supports more than the business owners, but the employees they have as well as the suppliers and contractors they purchase from in the community. There is a rippling economic impact.
Q. What are the business inclusion program, policies, and practices in MN?
This is a big question, so I want to provide more context. In Minnesota, as with many states, you have a mix of public sector programs, policies, and practices as well as private sector (ex: by large corporations) programs, policies, and practices. In recent years I have also seen nonprofits and foundations exploring the creation or more robust programs. When considering the public sector business inclusion programs, you can explore local programs (ex: cities, counties, schools); state programs (ex: state agencies); and federal programs (ex: programs that apply when there are federal funds involved in a project/contracting opportunity). In addition to these, you have colleges and universities with programs as well as hospitals. As much as each entity’s business inclusion efforts may have similarities, there are nuances that matter when a business owner is seeking to navigate these programs, policies, and practices.
Some key components of a business inclusion program include:
1. Certification: A type of certification for businesses or a designation. In short, a process to confirm that a business stating they are small and/or diverse is actually small and/or diverse. The process may (a) be comprehensive with an application; submitting lots of documents; and onsite visits; (b) simply request the business upload a certification from another entity that the business has; or (c) an entity may allow businesses to self-certify.
2. A Searchable List or Database: To be able to find the group of small and diverse businesses that have been certified when contracting opportunities arise, entities have some sort of searchable list or database.
3. A Policy & Some Procedures: A policy, ordinance, or statute is often in place noting the requirements of the program; identifying when it applies and when it does not (often restricted by certain types of contracting opportunities and opportunities over or under a certain dollar threshold); and procedures explaining things like reporting requirements in greater detail.
4. Compliance: It is one thing to have a policy. It is another to enforce it. Some entities do the work to create programs then are understaffed and do not appropriately resource the compliance part of the work. This directly impacts how effective these programs are at including small and diverse businesses.
5. Outreach & Technical Assistance: Many programs hold outreach events to engage businesses; have mentor-protege programs; offer technical assistance; conduct meet and greets. These are just a few things some entities do.
In Minnesota there are three public sector business inclusion related certification programs. These include the following:
1. Central (CERT) Certification Program [collaborative partners include Hennepin County, Ramsey County, City of Minneapolis, and City of Saint Paul]
2. Targeted Group (TG), Economically Disadvantaged (ED) and Veteran-Owned (VO) [Minnesota Department of Administration leads this]
3. Minnesota Unified Certification Program (MNUCP) Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program [Certifying agencies include the Metropolitan Council; City of Minneapolis; Metropolitan Airports Commission; Minnesota Department of Transportation]
Through her organization, Planting People Growing Justice Leadership Institute, Dr. Artika Tyner seeks to plant seeds of social change through education, training, and community outreach.