Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) held its first session of the Working With SDOT 101 Outreach Event series on February 10, which is held quarterly at the Seattle Municipal Tower. The first session brought over 40 Women- and Minority-owned Businesses (WMBEs) together with a dozen SDOT staff members to share information on how to find contracting work with the City of Seattle. Highlights of the event included an hour-long networking session between firms and staff, and technical assistance for the Seattle Online Business Directory.
SDOT WMBE Advisor Edson Zavala facilitates “Working With SDOT 101” Outreach event.
SDOT WMBE Program Outreach session.
The Seattle Department of Transportation’s Women- and Minority-owned Business Enterprises (WMBE) Program promotes equity in contracting through the inclusion of small and historically underutilized businesses on transportation projects. Mayor Murray affirmed the City of Seattle’s commitment to promote race and gender equity in contracting through Executive Order 2014-03 Equity in City Contracting.
The Executive Order directs departments to “Increase the opportunities for women and minority owned businesses (WMBEs), and to provide a welcome and responsive environment for all businesses that support such efforts.” The SDOT WMBE Program promotes the participation of women and minority owned businesses (WMBEs) on department contracts, fosters internal support for the program, and facilitates outreach within the community to increase WMBE inclusion.
WMBE Program Crew working on SDOT project.
This event is the first in a series of targeted outreach initiatives for SDOT to increase the inclusion of WMBE firms. To learn more about the SDOT WMBE Program, please visit our website at: http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/wmbe.htm.