Join Next City and Living Cities for the second installment of our three-part live webinar event on public procurement, race, and the pandemic. Businesses owned by people of color are the hardest hit by the pandemic and its economic fallout. Commitment to inclusive procurement is an obvious way to ensure that the eventual recovery from COVID-19 includes or starts in the hardest-hit communities.

Even now with looming budget deficits, procurement is a tool to mitigate disproportionate losses for workers and the neighborhoods they support. What are some of the biggest lessons learned from decades of work on MWBE procurement programs? What are some of the emerging practices that can make public procurement work better specifically from the perspective of small businesses that have never before had the opportunity to do business with their local government? This webinar series will bring together perspectives from leaders responding to these challenges, using tried-and-true methods as well as new methods.

It is helpful to leverage race-conscious policies and programs to address disparities in government contracting. But not all cities have legal grounds for such policies. In cities and states where race-conscious programs aren’t an option, how can race-neutral policies work to expand city government’s contracting with businesses owned by people of color?

Join us to hear how cities are working to ensure that race-neutral policies benefit businesses owned by people of color. We will hear from officials in Tacoma and Houston, and from the small-business accelerator Interise, for takeaways and advice on how to institute equitable procurement in places where the means to get there cannot include race-conscious policies and programs.