Call for Companies: BEDC Delridge, South Park & White Center Business Community Development Initiative

Sponsored by JP Morgan Chase

The BEDC is seeking to intensify its work to support business and job growth in the Delridge, South Park and White Center neighborhoods by helping to grow 70-85 small businesses through our winter quarter BEDC Business Assistance Program and BEDC Business Certificate Program.

If you own your own small business or manage a nonprofit in Delridge, South Park and White Center, we invite you to learn more about how the BEDC can provide you with the additional tools, skills, and education to grow.

Enrollment open for the Fall BEDC Certificate Program in Yakima and Tri-Cities

The BEDC is pleased to offer its second BEDC Certificate Program this year. Through the generous financial support of Seattle Bank and State Farm Insurance and partnerships with community colleges and business development organizations in Tacoma and Tri-Cities, minority business owners with revenues under $500,000 can learn fundamentals that will help them take their business to the next level.

Thanks to support from UPS, scholarships are available to companies that qualify to receive them. Learn how you or a business owner you know can benefit from the BEDC Certificate Program. [more...]

2009 UW Minority Business of the Year Awards

Please join us on Thursday, December 10 as we celebrate the achievements of Washington's minority business community at our 2009 UW Minority Business of the Year Awards.  This year's awards banquet will feature a keynote speech by Alaska Airlines Chairman and CEO William Ayer.  Purchase your registration online today.

We are honored to have Bank of America and Chase as this year's gold sponsors and American Family Insurance as our silver sponsor.  If you or your company would like to support the growth and advancement of minority-owned businesses, we invite you to download our sponsorship information page and learn more about the various levels of sponsorship opportunities available.

UPS makes first time gift to the BEDC

"Here's what brown did for the BEDC."

UPS, which got its start in Seattle’s Pioneer Square neighborhood 101 years ago, has made a $10,000 gift to the BEDC to continue to support business and nonprofit success in the city where it was born. This contribution supports three key BEDC programs: The Minority Business Executive Program, the Board Fellows Program, and the Business Certificate Program.

UPS has been an avid supporter of the BEDC for the last five years through leadership on the center’s Advisory Board and in support of our Annual Report to the Community Luncheon and UW Minority Business of the Year Awards. This gift, however, represents the first investment by its national foundation in the BEDC.

UPS has played an important strategic role on the BEDC’s Advisory Board for a number of years. Kadie Delzer from their WA District Industrial Engineering division has been on the BEDC’s Advisory Board for the last two years.

In addition to this financial support Charlie Covert, UPS’s Vice President of Global Solutions who is based in Atlanta was a guest lecturer in the 2009 Minority Business Executive Program (MBEP). His class on global supply chain management provided the participating CEOs with insights into both supply chain management trends and strategies to improve their management strategies. We are building the MBEP to have a special focus on global supply chain issues and Mr. Covert’s class helped us in this curriculum transformation process.

BEDC launches Green Economy Network

“If you don’t go with the trend or things that make you more effective in business, then you’re not going to stay in business.”

As companies seek out environmentally friendly goods and services to reduce costs a new “green economy” is emerging. Much like the technology revolution in the 1990s, the emerging green economy offers opportunities to firms who can be among the early movers. Washington State’s economy is at the center of this change and the BEDC has launched an initiative to insure that minority- and women-owned small businesses have the information they need to profit from this economic evolution. The BEDC is building a network to provide minority- and women-owned small businesses with timely information on emerging trends, market opportunities, and educational programs. To learn more about this initiative or to sign-up to be a part of the network visit our Green Economy web site.

Just released, Minority Small Business Survey July edition

Despite some early signs of economic recovery in the broader economy, small businesses in Washington State are struggling as a result of the significant financial downturn in the US and globally. Small business owners have laid off employees, seen their revenues fail to meet their expectations, and are struggling to get the financing they need to be successful. To learn more about the state of small businesses in Washington, including those owned by people of color download your copy of the July 2009 Washington Minority Small Business Survey.