DETROIT (WWJ) - Detroit's business leaders feel they're being left out of opportunities in city's economic resurgence.
That's according to a new survey that found that 62% of Detroit's leading 100 black business owners feel that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's administration is doing a poor job making sure black owned businesses get a fair shot at securing state government contracts with tax breaks and other development opportunities.
After the governor, the Detroit Mayor's Office had the second highest negative rating with 58%; the federal government came in the third highest negative approval at 55%; Wayne County Executive's Office has a 50% negative rating; and Detroit City Council followed with a 49.5% negative view of the job they are doing leveling the playing field.
In other survey results: 80% of the city's leading black owned businesses surveyed feel left out of the current economic boom and opportunities for inclusion in private sector development opportunities, particularly for major projects like the new hockey arena and old Hudson's site.
Dr. Ken Harris, President and CEO of the National Business League, is not surprised at all by the survey results.
"Because when you look at the federal mandates in particular on federal opportunities that exist through the disadvantaged or DBE program, those numbers are startling," he told WWJ City Beat Reporter Vickie Thomas. "They're not inclusive of black owned businesses."
Harris said that if Michigan is to be competitive with the rest of the country, the state and Detroit leadership -- both public and private -- must create equitable and inclusive policies to ensure a diverse and sustainable economy.
Duggan's Chief of Staff, Alexis Wiley, said that under the mayor's administration, 80% of the recipients of Motor City Match grants went to black owned businesses.
Wiley also pointed out that Duggan launched the Entrepreneurs of Color Fund, which gives loans to minority-owned small businesses in Detroit, now totaling $22 million.
"The mayor made it a priority that we need to make economic equity in this city, and that's something that he'd doing," Wiley told Thomas.
But could more be done?
"Absolutely; more can always be done," she said. "And that's why our Director of Civil Rights and Inclusion has been in regular contact with the Detroit Coalition for Economic Inclusion."
The governor's office released the following statement in response to the survey. Basically, it says, she has also been working on it.
"Governor Whitmer recognizes that this has been a longstanding concern (even prior to her taking office), which is why during her first week in office she signed an executive directive to expand opportunities for small and disadvantaged businesses in Michigan. Executive Directive 2019-8 strengthens our workforce, helps small and minority-owned businesses, and builds strong communities.
"If we're going to call Michigan a successful state, we've got to expand opportunities for business owners in areas that are struggling. Governor Whitmer is proud to have put together the most diverse cabinet in the state's history who will work to help businesses thrive and who are ready to get to work building bridges between entrepreneurs and state government.
"Through this executive directive, the Michigan Department of Technology, Management, and Budget must work with other departments, agencies and organizations representing small businesses to reduce barriers for disadvantaged businesses. They'll do this by increasing purchases from and contracts with them for things like supplies, insurance, equipment, and construction."
