Unshackle Upstate Urges Improvements to State’s MWBE Program

June 12th, 2018

At the end of May, the Senate committees on Labor and on Commerce, Economic Development and Small Business held a public hearing on the state’s Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) program.

While we recognize the merits of the state having such a program — promote economic equality by eliminating barriers to state contracting opportunities — there are significant problems with the state’s MWBE program.

Unshackle Upstate testified about the significant bureaucratic and administrative red tape in getting certified as such to formally participate in New York State’s MWBE program. We also told Senators about the state’s MWBE targets leading to work being contracted out of region in order to meet those targets. We expressed our support for S.1126-A, sponsored by Senator Akshar, which will correlate MWBE participation targets with the available pool of contractors in a given economic development region.

We think that lawmakers should be working to improve the MWBE program so that it contributes to a growing Upstate economy.