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Study Shows Minority and Women Owned Businesses Under-Utilized

60 views · Published 13 March 2014 · 2:21 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: NBC 15 · 2014 · News & Politics

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MOBILE, Ala. (WPMI) Mobile's administration and council members said Tuesday they aren't surprised with the results of a disparity study, which revealed that minority and women owned businesses in Mobile are under-utilized by the city when it comes to awarding contracts.The study looked at city practices from 2010 to 2012.It's a reality. You do business with the people that you know. You do business with the people you're comfortable with. So in this city, One Mobile, you have a number of different people who don't normally get access. So it matters more importantly because the tax dollars come from the entire community, so if you're going to get tax dollars than you need to spend it proportionately, said city attorney Ricardo Woods.Here's just one example: According to the study, only about 4 percent of the Engineering Department's contract money was awarded to minority or women owned businesses. That's below the 15 percent required by a city ordinance.The company, Speeches, prepared the study and it recommends the city follow several steps to fix disparity issue, like hire a compliance officer to monitor and ensure diversity and educate employees and business owners.On May 12, the Chamber is going to hold a minority capacity training session and that needs to continue. It doesn't need to be a onetime thing, said Woods.Councilman Fred Richardson also recommended creating an ad hoc committee to review the study and come up with a list of goals.To review the study yourself, click here.

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