The Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council wants minority-owned business to get more contracts with the state.
A minority business group is scratching for more of the Connecticut Lottery’s mega millions.The Hamden-based Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council is beginning a campaign against the Lottery with two sensational billboards in Hartford that declare, “They want our money, but not our business. Why won’t the CT Lottery spend on minority business development?”Fred McKinney, who leads GNEMSDC’s Connecticut chapter, said he hopes the billboards get the incoming legislature’s and governor’s attention.According to Connecticut law, state agencies, including quasi-public agencies like the Lottery, are supposed to award 25 percent of their contracts to certified small businesses. A quarter of those contracts — or 6.25 percent of the total — should go to minority-owned businesses.The Lottery exceeded its 6.25 percent goal by more than double this past year.But McKinney’s frustration stems from the fact that the law’s definition of “minority-owned” includes white women.According to McKinney, in the last fiscal year, the Lottery awarded 16 contracts (less than $20,000) to African American- or Latino-owned businesses, and 98 contracts (more than $217,000) to white women-owned businesses.The Lottery is complying with the law, says Meg Yetishefsky, the program manager for the state’s supplier diversity program. Yetishefsky adds that for the past two years the lottery has gone above and beyond the 6.25 percent.“The Connecticut Lottery Corporation has a clear record of outstanding accomplishment in support of small and minority owned busines
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