Monroe County and the City of Rochester have announced a new minority- and women-owned business (MWBE) certification program. The new program, run under the auspices of the County, enables Rochester as well as other participating municipalities to accept the County MWBE certifications for purposes of their own MWBE project goals, rather than having to establish their own certification program.
New reforms and better procedures in the County's certification program also mean that the County anticipates it will be able to provide a certification turnaround in a matter of days rather than months. The new program follows after recommendations made by the Commission on Racial and Structural Equity (RASE), and will be administered by the County's Department of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The County is currently planning on holding certification workshops in late April of 2022, with more details and registration options to come later.
In addition to announcing the new program, the County has set utilization goals for most of its own contracts at 12% for Minority Business Enterprises and 3% for Women-owned Business Enterprises.
"Government spending should benefit all of the people we serve, and a robust MWBE program is an essential component to meeting that goal," said Rochester Mayor Malik D. Evans in a statement.
Read the press release from Monroe County at https://www.monroecounty.gov/news-2022-01-27-mwbe. Find the County's page for the program at https://www.monroecounty.gov/dei-mwbe.
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