A major change in minority business certification is complete and “CertifySTL” will celebrate at 1 p.m. Tuesday Sept. 3 at the Northside Economic Empowerment Center, 4248 Cottage Ave. in St. Louis.
CertifySTL is now the St. Louis region’s Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) Certification Program, following its transfer to St. Louis Development Corporation (SLDC) from Business Diversity Development (BDD) at St. Louis Lambert International Airport.
It will begin taking new applications and no change affidavits on Tuesday and MWBE business owners interested in pursuing certification are encouraged to visit the Empowerment Center to start an application in the computer lab, which is located in the annex east of Sumner High School.
“Bringing the MWBE Certification Program in-house aligns with the Economic Empowerment objectives of [St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones’] Economic Justice Action Plan and SLDC’s numerous investments in creating a healthy ecosystem that provides opportunities for small and diverse businesses to launch, grow and sustain their operations,” said Neal Richardson, SLDC president and CEO.
“We are grateful to the Business Diversity Department at Lambert International Airport for their support in maintaining the integrity of the MWBE certification process over the years.”
The MWBE Program was established to encourage businesses owned by minority groups to participate in City contracting opportunities and on development projects incentivized by the City. SLDC oversees monitoring of MWBE utilization on such projects to ensure goals and objectives are achieved.
SLDC works to promote business opportunities and capabilities of MWBEs and to eliminate barriers to equal economic opportunity for all businesses in the marketplace.
In June, the SLDC authorized the award of $30,197,909 to 295 businesses eligible to receive funding through the North St. Louis Small Business and Non-Profit Grant Program.
These award allocations are in addition to the $615,000 of Capacity Building Grants already awarded to 144 businesses, bringing the number of businesses funded through the Program to 439 with awards totaling $30,812,909. The North St. Louis Small Business and Non-Profit Grant Program is funded by Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Relief Funds (SLFRF).
The awards included stabilization and operational expansion grants.
Stabilization funding was awarded to qualified firms in need of operational support to maintain the small business or non-profit’s standard operations, such as payroll or benefits costs, costs to retain employees, mortgage, rent or utilities costs, and other costs.
The expansion grants were awarded to award to business and non-profits seeking to maintain or expand capacity, including operational growth and scaling in response to market opportunities. Grant awards will cover additional payroll or benefits costs, costs to hire new employees, increased inventory and added mortgage, rent or utilities costs and other expansion costs.
The post CertifySTL takes over MBWE certification appeared first on St. Louis American.
