“I am excited to introduce a suite of new tools to help minority-owned business enterprises thrive,” Mayor Janey said. “I believe entrepreneurship is a proven pathway to wealth creation. As Mayor of Boston, I am committed to supporting projects that unlock opportunity for entrepreneurs of color and close our racial wealth gap.”

The new tools are likely aimed at correcting some of the shortfalls of the previous administration. As we previously reported, an analysis showed that of more than 47,000 contracts between 2014 and 2019 while current US Labor Secretary Marty Walsh was mayor showed that despite having “highest rates of businesses available to work with the city,” black-owned businesses “posted the lowest rates of contracts.” Black-owned businesses made up just 0.4 percent of prime contracts even though they accounted for 3.5 percent of “area businesses available to undertake prime contracts.”

The new tools launched by the new mayor include a “streamlined Minority Business Enterprise certification process,” a “New City of Boston first Buying Plan,” and a “new Statewide MBE-Certified business directory.”

The certification process has cut down the application form required to become a certified minority-owned business from nine to just three pages. Meanwhile, the Buying Plan outlines $65 million in planned purchases which “gives smaller firms, including MBEs, valuable lead time to secure additional equipment or staff to prepare a large bid.”

The MBE directory includes 4,000 MBE certified firms from both Boston and the rest of the state which will presumably be used by officials looking to do more business with diverse suppliers.