Rodney Strong: How Can Cities Boost Minority-Owned Businesses? By Buying from Minority-Owned Businesses

When Maynard H. Jackson Jr. took over Atlanta city hall in 1974, one of his primary goals was to broaden the opportunities for minorities to do business with the city. The upstart mayor envisioned improved socio-economic conditions for people of color in an environment that was fair, equitable and welcoming for all. By the time he left office in 1982, Atlanta’s first black mayor had made remarkable strides in accomplishing his lofty aims, despite the social underpinnings of the times.

Atlanta had adopted the moniker “The City Too Busy to Hate” during the Civil Rights movement. But Maynard really moved Atlanta toward the realization of that slogan, by creating a legacy of inclusiveness in municipal procurement and providing opportunity for advancement both inside city hall and throughout the metropolitan region. The network of minority- and women-owned businesses, which received their first opportunities with the city of Atlanta, has continued to grow, with many of those local businesses continuing to work with Atlanta as well as other jurisdictions across the country.

Maynard was my mentor and friend, and I had the opportunity to work with him as he was guiding the city to a standard of business diversity that has set national benchmarks. I’m proud our firm was selected to expand upon the example he set by leading the latest iteration of City Accelerator, a joint initiative of the Citi Foundation and Living Cities to foster municipal innovation, which will be focused on increasing the diversity of municipal vendors and contractors to direct more dollars to local minority-owned businesses...READ MORE