Louisville Asks Whether Procurement Certification Can Open New Opportunities for Small and Minority-Owned Businesses

The City of Louisville, KY, is a finalist in the fourth round of the City Accelerator, which is focused on using public procurement to help create inclusive economic opportunity. Your feedback on its story map will inform final selection of the cities.

What is Louisville proposing?

The City of Louisville actively recruits local businesses owned by people of color, women, and disabled individuals to participate in the city’s contracting opportunities by creating an effective, coordinated, certification process. Participation in the City Accelerator will allow Louisville to reassess purchasing policies, integrate its purchasing and vendor utilization technologies, and provide mini-grants to support small businesses through the certification process. Lessons from the community could lead to a multifaceted and coordinated approach to improve procurement data collection and analysis systems, enhance engagement with the local business community, and inspire uniformity of practice for city agencies.

VIEW OTHER CITY PITCHES 

• Charlotte, NC
• Chicago, IL
• Los Angeles, CA
• Milwaukee, WI
• Memphis, TN
• Newark, NJ
• Philadelphia, PA

For a detailed description of the mission and purpose of the City Accelerator’s cohort on Procurement for Inclusive Economic Opportunity, click here.

Public response is one of several criteria being used by the City Accelerator to select cohort cities. The number of ratings or comments by themselves do not determine final status or selection.