I wasn't at all surprised when I read Jason Stein's article in the Wisconsin State Journal's Aug. 19 issue titled, "State, city failing on minority contracts." Stein wrote, "Wisconsin fell $37.8 million short of its goal to do business with minority-owned companies" and that even local efforts in the City of Madison and Dane County also "fall short" in this regard. Several reasons have been mentioned in the article, including status and "qualification" issues and barriers in terms of capability "to compete with larger and more experienced firms."
The article quoted Department of Administration Secretary Michael Morgan who admitted that the state has "to do better."
The City of Madison, Stein further wrote, attributing this statement to Affirmative Action Chief Norman Davis, "failed to meet two separate federal goals for spending with minority businesses on projects funded by the federal government" although the city "made a good faith effort to meet the goal." Dane County is in a similar quandary. Dane County's Office of Equal Opportunity Contract Compliance Officer Wesley Sparkman reportedly said that the county "needs to improve contracting with minority businesses."
It's apparent that there is truly a need to look deeper into why minority businesses do not get enough contracts with the state, Dane County, and the City of Madison. Federally-funded projects or not, minority businesses should be supported.
We don't have to go far. Let's just use Asian Wisconzine as an example. When I started Asian Wisconzine in 2005 and it became certified as a "Minority Business Enterprise" by the state of Wisconsin, I had high hopes that the state itself would help my small business through advertising contracts -- the lifeblood of any publishing enterprise. Almost three years later, I can count with my fingers the number of state ads ever printed on the pages of this magazine. The fact that AW is the first and only all-inclusive Asian American magazine in the state of Wisconsin and that the U.S. Small Business Administration awarded me its "2006 Journalist of the Year for the State of Wisconsin" seemed of little help to convince the state -- and for that matter, our local governments (or more specifically, the people who run our purchasing/procurement systems) -- to help Asian Wisconzine continue its work of providing cultural awareness and bringing Asian American issues to the attention of the larger Wisconsin population. True, local governments are constantly facing budget cuts; but if you take a look at the number and ethnicity of minority businesses our local governments contract with, there is almost a zero percent Asian American company in any of the available lists.
It's important for people to understand that Asian Americans are minorities too. |
