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LIBUSINESS

iAimingto aid minority businesses -BYAISHAA1.-MUSUM· '.aisha.al-muslim@newsda:y.com

The Long Island AfricanAmerican Chamber of Com-merce is launchinga series 'ofworkshops to encourage mi-nority businesses to becomeNew York State-certified us.minority-owned firms.

ThedWunbersOunpMgritoincrease participation is -inalignment with Gov. AI,tdrewM. Cuomo's commitment in.2011 to provide 20 percent 'ofstate contract dollars to minor-ity and women-owned busi-ness enterprises (MWBEs). "'We are going to be the" "

voice of businesses in the Afri-·can-American community $1t .leads the charge to train busi-nesses to become certified,":chamber president Phil .Nn-drews said, . ,The chamber, in collabora-,

'tion with the Nassau. Courtty ..Department of Minority Af-fairs and the Roosevelt Com-munity Revitalization Group,will be conducting a series offree two-hour workshops start-ing Saturday and continuingAug. 2 and 9 from 10 to noonat the Baldwin Public Library,Preregistration is required bycalling 516-208-9988."We want our professional

services as well as our trades tobe aware of the contracting op-portunities," said workshop in-structor Charlene Thompson ofBaldwin-based Thompson Ec0-nomic Development Services."We want to give businessowners the skills and capacityto successfully engage in gov-ernment contracting on the[ocal stage and national levels,so theycan not only sustainthemselves and their employ-

At law offices in Freeport yesterday Phil Andfe!ls leadS a chamber of commerce disci.lssion oftraining workshops for minority-owned busi,!eSses that want to pursue state certification.

ees, but hire folks and createjobs."One business owner who

will be attending the work-shop is real estate attorneySacha A Comrie, of MartinMolinari Coward & Comrie inFreeport, ''1 know there are op-portunities out there," Comriesaid, "I know that. everyoneneeds legal services, whether itis the government or .the manon the street."Last year, utilization of

MWBEs in state contractsthrough 97 public agenciesand authorities reached 2L06percent, the equivalent 'of

$1.48 billion.About 49 percentof the contracts issued fromfiscal year 2012 to 2013 were inthe construction industry, and9percent were in construction-related professional services.Another 20 percent went to-ward nonconstruction-relatedprofessional services, and 12percent went to commodities."The state-is a huge purchas-

er," said Alphonso David, thegovernor's deputy secretaryfor civil rights. "; . . We wantto be engaged in a process thatis fair."There are 7;296 certified

MWBE firms in the state, of

.which 893 are on long Island,according to Empire State De-velopmenfs Division ofMinori-ty and Women's BUsinessDevel-opment. Cuomo !is seeking toadd 2,000 statewide, David said,"The [certification] process

is really cumbers~me, but youhave to be in it to win it," saidchamber vice I president-Sharon Davis, president and .CEO of S.J. Edw~ds Ine. TheFreeport firm, w¥ch providesemployee benefits services, re-ceived certification in 2013.It normally takes about 90

days for businesses to get certi-fied, David said. ->