Guv: Progress Can’t Come With Discrimination

Connecticut can’t prosper if some groups get left out of the equation, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy told a crowd in New Haven Wednesday evening.

“We can’t have a furtherance of economic discrimination,” he said. ​“It’s only good if everyone shares that same prosperity.”

Malloy was speaking Wednesday evening to a gathering of state and local movers and shakers gathered at New Haven’s Graduate Club on Elm Street for a cocktail-style Minority Business Meet-and-Greet. The event was organized by the state department of Economic and Community Development’s Minority Business Initiative (MBI) to highlight the program.

MBI helps black and Latino entrepreneurs gain access to capital and contract to start or grow companies. It also promotes financial literacy and advises the state government on minority business development.

The MBI targets small minority businesses that have ​“been neglected” and ​“marginalized all over the state,” said Hartford State Sen. Douglas McCrory, an MBI board member. The board includes New Haven funeral home owner Howard K. Hill and Outreach Realty President Roberta Hoskie. Local entrepreneurs who have benefitted from the program include fashion designer Neville Wisdom.

MBI Program Manager Toni Karnes said MBI was founded in 2015 to ​“increase businesses in eight communities [in Connecticut] with high unemployment.” MBI offers ​“state capital, state contracts, and technical assistance” through the forms of mentors and support entities that benefit small businesses throughout the state. Karnes has been responsible for creating and staffing an advisory board that helps the mayor and governor make the most informed decisions that would best help the companies at stake.

“We’ve gotten $28 million from the state to help minority businesses grow,” said Karnes, emphasizing the magnitude of this project in the last two years alone.

“[Small businesses] are a vitally important sector of the state economy” and form the grounds for a ​“vibrant economy” ​“fulfilling the American Dream,” said New Haven Mayor Toni Harp.

Following her brief introduction, Mayor Harp introduced Malloy, who called it ​“vitally important to [him] that people of all color enjoy [economic] success.”

Malloy, who is finished his second term with the nation’s highest unpopularity ratings and a widespread public sense that the economy has stalled, praised the work of programs like MBI and declared he is“excited for the future of Connecticut.” MBI, for instance, has created jobs, helped lure businesses here, and increased larger companies’ purchases from in-state contractors, he said. ​“That’s just a start.”

“Good times are coming,” he insisted. ​“We’re on the road to getting it right.”