Kansas City Retires MWBE Program: Will New Scheme Work?!?

Just as AWESOME TKC READERS PREDICTED, pressure fom the Missouri AG and drastic shifts in the law of the land force a switcheroo.

But here's the bigger question . . . 

WILL MISSOURI REPUBLICANS KEEP PUSHING TO ELIMINATE KCMO CONTRACTS WON BY WAY OF THE OLD RULES?!?

We'll see . . . But for now here's a hopeful presser and a peek at KCMO working desperately to tap dance around dated language . . . Check-it: 

"City Council advanced today a plan, introduced by the Mayor and colleagues, that will retire the City's Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) program and replace it with a newly-expanded small business program designed to increase the number of contracting opportunities for local firms across Kansas City. The ordinances are likely to be approved Thursday at the full City Council. 

"The change is a replacement, not an elimination. The City's commitment to opening its contracts to small and local businesses will continue without interruption under the new program." 

The transition follows several recent legal issues, including a lawsuit pursued by Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway and a United States Supreme Court decision from this term limiting the ability of local governments like Kansas City to address historical racial and gender bias limiting opportunities for women and racial minorities in Kansas City."

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . .

Facing federal lawsuit, Kansas City proposes new system to help local small businesses

Members of a city council committee advanced the plan which calls for the replacement of the Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprise.

City Council advances plan to replace KC's minority- and women-owned business program

Kansas City is replacing its Minority- and Women-owned Business Enterprise program with a broader program designed to help more businesses than before while still abiding by new legal rulings.

Developing . . .