City of Asheville to gather input during Disparity Study meetings

Press release:

City of Asheville to gather input during Disparity Study meetings

To know where you need to improve you need to understand where you’ve been and how you are doing now. That’s the reason organizations take measurements. And that’s the point of the City of Asheville’s Disparity Study, which began in June.

The study will look at the City’s Minority and Women Business Enterprise Program (MWBE), a branch of the City’s Community and Economic Development Department.

BBC Research & Consulting (BBC) has been commissioned to conduct this study. Specifically, the study will examine whether there are any disparities between:

·         The percentage of contract dollars that the City spent with minority- and woman-owned businesses during the study period; and
·         The percentage of contract dollars that minority- and woman-owned businesses might be expected to receive based on their availability to perform specific types and sizes of City contracts.

The study will focus on contracts that the City awarded during the period of July 1, 2012, through June 30, 2017.

And the City wants to hear from its residents on this topic. As part of the study, the City will hold two public meetings on July 31 — one in the morning and the other in the evening. At these meetings, people can get information about the disparity study and have questions about the study answered. The City will collect input about conditions in the Asheville marketplace. This feedback will become part of the public record for the disparity study.

Come share your experience and ideas. Again, two sessions will be held on July 31:

•             10 a.m. to noon

•             6 to 8 p.m.

Both will be held at TD Bank Building, 200 College St., First Floor Conference Room, Asheville, NC 28801

For more information, visit the City’s Disparity Study Project webpage. Or contact Asheville Economic Development Specialist Brenda Mills at bmills@ashevillenc.gov or 828-259-8050.