Boston launches program to support small minority-, women-owned businesses seeking city contracts

Boston Globe

3 days ago

The city has historically struggled to give
increased to 12 percent, following the implementation of new legislation aimed at supporting those businesses, Wu said.
'We are on track to continue that positive momentum,' she said. 'When businesses like these are working for Boston, it works for all of Boston.'
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Hansy Better Barraza, the co-founder of Latino-owned
'By allowing us access to city-owned contracts, we don't necessarily have to ride the highs and lows,' Barraza said.
SCALE provides an avenue for companies to build wealth in the future, Wu said. The city, she said, needs to ensure that local businesses can benefit from upcoming global events, such as the
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While developing the program, Andrea Caruth, the director of supplier diversity at Boston, said her department surveyed people and asked: 'What are the gaps? What are the barriers?' The department found that one of the biggest challenges facing minority- and women-owned businesses was capacity, she said.
Entrepreneurs from underrepresented backgrounds have to find time to squeeze in a phone call and spend hours on a laptop — while balancing familial commitments, officials and grantees said.
Recipient Shonté Davidson, CEO of
Davidson said SCALE will help her business increase its operational capacity. The company currently has a
Better Together Brain Trust ha
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received $50,000 of the grant money so far. After Davidson completes the six-month program — which requires weekly meetings and classes, she hopes to receive up to another $150,000.
'We're going to use [the money] to scale — pun intended,' Davidson said.
Irene Li, CEO of Prepshift, is working with six grantees in the food and dining industry as a consultant in developing their business plans. Restaurants deal with expenses, like tariffs, insurance, ingredients, and labor — all of that adds up, she said.
'Most mom-and-pop and independent restaurants are barely surviving,' Li said.
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After reviewing more than 180 applications, the city chose 27 grantees from a spectrum of industries to receive money through funds from American Rescue Plan Act, totaling up to $6.5 million.
Of those applicants, about a third were food and dining businesses, according to Li. 'We have a lot more to do. We've made a great start,' she added.
started the business, because as an infant, Bennuamen was diagnosed with acute malnutrition and severe allergies, meaning he couldn't eat eggs, milk, and dairy.
'It was a call to action,' Tonya Johnson said. 'I had to do something as a mother to save him.'
The business worked out of a shared kitchen and sold products at farmers markets, hospitals, and colleges — a 'grassroots kind of growth,' Johnson said.
Now, the Ancient Bakers is in the middle of a 'pivot,' trying to focus on e-commerce, offering multi-purpose bakery mixes and finished cookies to customers. The business is working on building its online presence, which the grant money will help go toward.
'[The grant] is the fuel that is going to help us come back to a marketplace strong,' Johnson said.
Jessica Ma can be reached at