Opportunities for small, women- and minority-owned firms to do business with Phoenix are growing, so much so that the city wants more companies to consider becoming certified through its diversity programs. That was the message Thursday from city officials at a forum on the city’s Minority, Women & Small Business Enterprise programs at Burton Barr Central Library. Certified and non-certified businesses were invited to air their concerns about the programs. The city urges contractors working on municipal construction projects to seek bids from firms certified as small businesses or those owned by minorities or women. City departments also seek certified firms to fulfill purchasing orders.

The type of information requests that we have in order for people to go through the process of documentation that they need to provide, at the end of the day is that really going to be worth it for them. Do one and one equal two? At the end of the day is it going to benefit me? So I think one of the misconceptions is that if you go through the process, at the end of the rainbow . . . there may not be a pot of gold, but there’s opportunity . So as a result of becoming certified, I try to explain to people . . . that becoming certified equals opportunity. The other thing that happens is once you get into our database . . . it helps people to avail themselves to other resources. It’s about building bridges and making linkages for people, connecting people to the right people and to information, and that’s what certification does. And it’s bigger than just having a certificate and a piece of paper.

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