L.A. Minority Business Panel Wins Funding Through 2002

The city of Los Angeles’ Minority Business Opportunity Committee has won federal funding to take it through 2002, a sign of confidence in a program that has become a model to other cities.

Created in 1994 after the Northridge earthquake, the committee--known as MBOC--serves as a matchmaking service, pairing minority-owned businesses with both government and private contracts through its database, Web site (https://www.mboc.cityofla.org) and lobbying efforts, said Director Diane Castano-Sallee.

It has so far helped broker $4.2 billion in contracts, creating about 44,000 new jobs, she said. In addition to government agencies, more than 250 private contractors--including big players such as Bechtel, Walt Disney and Parsons--use the database to locate minority-owned businesses and meet contracting goals.

MBOC also has contacts with 17 financial institutions where entrepreneurs can be referred for loans, and runs a separate program to encourage minority business hiring for the Alameda Corridor project.

Of the seven federally funded programs of its kind, only MBOC engages the private sector at this level--an approach pushed by Mayor Richard Riordan and the City Council, Castano-Sallee said. She and Deputy Mayor Rocky Delgadillo have traveled to Oakland, San Francisco and four other cities to help them set up or improve their programs.

The three-year, $1.5-million grant from the Commerce Department’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) marks the first time the program has received funding for more than one year at a time.

“L.A.’s [program] is the model for all MBOCs,” said MBDA Director Courtland Cox, “because the idea is to get the business community, the political structure, the nonprofit structure--all the people who are decision makers--into an arena where they can help inform minority businesses.”