Senator James Sanders Jr. holds MWBE Advocacy Day
June 7, 2019
Senator James Sanders Jr. (D-Rochdale Village, Far Rockaway) joined by his Senate and Assembly colleagues held “MWBE Advocacy Day” in Albany on June 5, 2019 to urge legislators to extend Article 15-A and support the Mayor’s proposal to increase economic opportunities for MWBE’s.
The Mayor’s bill would allow the City to: (1) increase the discretionary purchase amount to $1 million, (2) authorize a mentorship program for NYC DDC, (3) create pre-qualified lists exclusively for MWBEs and small business, and (4) lift the burden of insurance by providing access to OCCIP and CCIP.
As the Chairman of the Senate’s Task Force on MWBEs, Senator Sanders along with his colleagues have been working diligently to extend and improve Article 15-A in order to better serve minority, women, and small business owners. The Task Force endorses the extension of the MWBE program to 2024 and the commission of a new study to be released in 2023.
Members of the MWBE community have tirelessly lobbied the legislative and executive branches of government for necessary improvements to the MWBE program. The Task Force endorses many of these improvements including increasing the discretionary spending threshold to $1 million for agencies and authorities and increased reporting requirements to provide greater transparency.
Many elected officials spoke at a press conference in Albany yesterday to show their support for the extension of Article-15A, personal net worth, and access to capital for MWBE’s.
“This is a new day and age where all of New York will be involved,” Sanders said. “We have a few more doors we have to knock on, and one or two more we will have to knock over.”
The Senate Task Force, Mayor, and Assembly are working towards increasing access to, and finding methods of measuring MWBE success that are better linked to an MWBE’s capacity to compete. These elected officials are committed to doing everything in their power to increase economic opportunities for people and communities who have been excluded from our state’s prosperity.
