On August 11, 2014 DCL's Amy Williams met with U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Congresswoman Grace Meng, along with State Senator Toby Stavisky, and Assemblymember Nily Rozic to urge the U.S. Senate to pass federal legislation that would expand access and opportunities for women-owned small businesses (WOSBs) seeking federal contracts. This legislation would help level the playing field for hundreds of City WOSBs who want to access the sizeable market of federal contracts.
Following is a local news report about the event.
Women-owned businesses are one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy – in 2014 nearly 30% of all Queens, NY firms were owned by women but they were systemically shortchanged in terms of being able to access the market of government contracting. More than two decades ago, Congress set a goal of awarding 5% of federal contracts to women-owned small businesses. In 2013, nationwide, women-owned small businesses once again fell short of that goal with only 4.3% of contracts awarded. Across New York City, it was even lower, according to data from Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP), at an anemic 1.48% of all federal contract dollars. If women-owned businesses had received the existing 5% goal, City women-owned small businesses would have grown their revenue by approximately $56 million dollars.
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