Title
Recognizing the 30th Anniversary of Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) programs in the City of Philadelphia,
Body
WHEREAS, In 1980 a small group of Philadelphia businesspeople formed the BrainTrust, a Minority Business Action Group, selected Beverly A. Harper as President, and set as its goal, the passage of legislation in Philadelphia that would guarantee minorities and women a share of City contracts; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Edward Robinson produced documentation that minorities were being awarded less than one percent of City contracts; and
WHEREAS, City Councilman Lucien E. Blackwell, introduced legislation that amended Chapter 17-500 of the Philadelphia Code, City Council overrode a mayoral veto by a vote of 16 to 0, and the Administration promulgated regulations and guidelines; and
WHEREAS, The Minority Business Enterprise Council (MBEC) was in service from 1982-1989 to ensure that minority, women and disabled owned enterprises are afforded equal access and opportunity to compete for and secure contracts within the City of Philadelphia; and
WHEREAS, The first MBEC Council consisted of Dr. Lorraine Brown, Barbara Daniel Cox, Kemmel Dawkins, Angela Dowd-Burton, John Smith, Geri Swift and Joe Young; and
WHEREAS, Past Executive Directors of the Office of MBEC and the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) are Melvin Le Grande, Al Childs, Curtis Jones, Jr., Marla Hamilton, James Roundtree, Michael Williams, Carolyn Nichols, Michael Bell, Curtis Gregory and the current director, Angela Dowd-Burton; and
WHEREAS, In 1990 until 2003, MBEC existed under several executive orders; and
WHEREAS, In 2008, the Office of Economic Opportunity was created through executive order and the legal/legislative framework established in Section 6-109 of the Charter and Chapters 17-1500 and 17-1600 of the City Code; and
WHEREAS, Mayor Michael A. Nutter signed Executive Order 3-12 in September 2012, regarding Anti-Discrimination related to DBE's particip...
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