BOSTON – Secretary of Administration and Finance Jay Gonzalez today announced a new partnership with the Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation (MGCC) to administer a training program for small, minority and women construction contractor firms that will focus on enhancing the viability of small businesses to compete for and execute on public and private construction contracts. The program seeks to create and preserve jobs at small, women and minority owned businesses, and promote economic development in underserved, gateway municipalities and low and moderate income communities.
“This new program is another example of the Patrick-Murray Administration’s commitment to helping local businesses succeed by providing them with the skills and resources they need to grow,” said Secretary Gonzalez. “Small businesses represent 85% of all Massachusetts companies and employ over 25 percentof our workforce. Their success and growth means more jobs, more regional growth and stronger communities.”
The “Capacity & Contracts” program, managed by MGCC, will focus on training and development of small businesses. The program will include:
- A curriculum that provides participants with the strategies and tactics for scaling their businesses to better compete for public and private construction contracts, including classes in business development, financial management, access to capital and networking to build technical skills and exposure and interaction with industry leaders; and
- Mentoring support and evaluation to ensure small businesses are retaining critical skills to grow their business.
- This program builds on the Patrick-Murray Administration’s successful 2009 ARRA-funded technical assistance and capacity building program that provided education and training for minority and women-owned businesses to enhance their growth and development through best practices, partnerships, relationship building, bid awareness and training opportunities in order to successfully bid and compete for ARRA contracts. Outcomes of this program include:
- 90 minority and women-owned businesses participated in the program;
- 100 percent of the companies bid on ARRA-funded contracts; and
- 65 businesses won or participated on ARRA-funded contracts.
Based on the successful outcomes attained under the ARRA-funded technical assistance program, the Patrick-Murray Administration approved an additional $1.9 million in 2012 to develop a new multi-year, two-tiered technical assistance program to continue to build on the Administration’s efforts to assist small, minority and women-owned businesses.
MGCC, via a competitive application process, selected Next Street, a Roxbury-based merchant bank providing the tandem assets of growth capital and business advisory services to small and mid-sized enterprises in urban markets, to develop and execute the program. Participants will experience a five-day program focused on creating strategies for growth, hiring, access to bonding and capital, managing projects and costs, and partnering with other companies. In addition, business owners will network with prime contractors and have access to a mentor who can provide one-on-one advice.
“We are excited to leverage Next Street’s expertise in advising small businesses,” says Charles Grigsby, President of Mass Growth Capital Corporation. “We are dedicated to creating a forum that not only helps diverse and small companies build capacity but also creates an opportunity for them to connect with future partners, including prime contractors, capital resources and other small business owners.”
“We look forward to this new opportunity to partner with the Commonwealth and MGCC to take our capacity-building workshops to the next level,” says Ron Walker, President and Founding Partner at Next Street. “Aiding companies that historically have been underrepresented is central to our mission at Next Street, and we believe that this new program with MGCC will have game-changing impact on the ability of small businesses to grow and create jobs in their local communities.”
Capacity & Contracts will kick-off its first series of training July 2012. For additional information on the Program, please contact Michelle Macaux at Next Street at [email protected] or call 617-318-6500.
