Good morning, and thank you for inviting me to join you today. I am pleased to see so many here to honor the recipients of the 2003 Minority and Women Business Awards, and to take part in the workshop.
I am proud to recognize the achievements of our two honorees -- ABC Minority Enterprises, Inc. and Commercial Interiors, Inc. I am especially proud that both of these companies have had significant success in contracting with Baltimore County.
Over the years we have had the opportunity to recognize many minority business success stories, but we still need to hear more. As County Executive, I am committed to the long-term economic health of the county, and I believe we cannot be successful without business owned and operated by minorities and women. Contracting with the county is a tremendous opportunity for any business, and one that must be open to women and minority businesses.
Together with my staff, I have reviewed our current practices and while we are making progress I believe we can do better.
Twenty years ago, Baltimore County established Minority and Women's Business Enterprise goals that were important. Important for what they symbolized and important for what they could accomplish. We met those goals, and eventually we exceeded those goals.
But in that twenty years, the face of Baltimore County has changed. In 1983, minorities accounted for only 10 percent of our population, today that number is 26 percent. The African-American population has risen from 8.2 percent to over 20 percent. Hispanic Americans now make up 1.8 percent, Asian-Americans 3.2 percent and Native Americans .3 percent.
The minority business goals of twenty years ago are not enough for the Baltimore County of today.
Here in this room we have entrepreneurs, educated and skilled workers who make an enormous contribution to our community. We cannot neglect that resource, and so we must raise the bar for engaging minority businesses. I know we can do it, because we've done it in other areas.
Over thirty four percent of the people I've appointed to boards and commissions in the past year are women or minorities. Baltimore County now has three minority and five female department heads. Qualified women and minorities are not hard to find, and we will continue to reach out to them. It is clear that we need to do more, but to ensure that the process is fair, we need to find out how much more we should do. Today I am happy to announce that I will ask the County Council to fund a formal disparity study, the first step in evaluating what are appropriate goals.
I don't have to wait for a formal study to know that we must work harder to engage women and minority businesses. Baltimore County is capable of better, and so we will do better.
Starting January first, Baltimore County will increase the scope of county spending subject to MBE/WBE goals. Instead of only applying to construction contracts, MBE/WBE goals will now apply to architectural and engineering contracts as well as contracts for goods and services through the Purchasing Office.
The addition of goods and services alone will add up to 100 million dollars to the amount covered by the Minority Business Enterprise program, nearly doubling the size of the program.
Effective January first, we will also reduce the minimum county construction contract amount subject to the Minority Business program from 100 thousand dollars to fifty thousand dollars.
I am committed to doing everything that is reasonable to involve minority and women's businesses in county business. We are reforming the Baltimore County Minority Business Enterprise Commission, it will be asked to monitor our progress, and help us recognize opportunities to involve women and minority businesses. And when the disparity study is completed, I will work to adjust our Women and Minority Business Enterprise program in a way consistent with the study.
There are many communities in Baltimore County, but there is only ONE Baltimore County. What happens on the east side matters on the west side, and what happens to our minority businesses affects all of our businesses.
Those of you here today are part of the reason Baltimore County is the successful community it is today, and with your help we can continue to move ahead.
Revised December 22, 2003
Courthouse 