Local First Arizona Awarded City Inclusive Entrepreneurship Network Funding
Funding provided by the National League of Cities will give underrepresented entrepreneurs more opportunities for economic advancement
PHOENIX (May 2022) — Local First Arizona (LFA) today announced it has received $15,000 from the National League of Cities (NLC) City Inclusive Entrepreneurship (CIE) program, which helps cities empower entrepreneurs of color and invest in underrepresented communities. Local First will use the funding to conduct outreach to qualified businesses and provide training on how to become a vendor for the City of Phoenix.
LFA will also conduct a series of “Doing Business With the City” workshops, in partnership with the City, to convene business owners to ensure they have their questions answered directly by city staff, and learn how to become registered vendors. These meetings will be filmed to make a permanent Q and A resource on the city’s website.
“Local procurement spending is a no-brainer. Leveraging government purchasing to grow jobs and stimulate the local economy seems like something every city, town, county, and state should do, but it's not easy,” said Kimber Lanning, CEO of Local First Arizona. “Local First has prioritized inclusive procurement for years, working in partnership with cities to increase the number of qualified local vendors to compete for contracts, which strengthens the economy and builds resiliency in Arizona.”
The CIE program, an initiative of the National League of Cities, helps cities adopt policies, programs, and practices to give underrepresented entrepreneurs more opportunities for economic advancement. Participants select an area of focus for their programs to support economic growth in their communities, including working with startups, creating micro-lending platforms, and helping small businesses raise capital through equity crowdfunding. Now in its third year, this network has grown to include more than 175 cities, 200 local partners, and $100 million in committed resources.
“To ensure the continued economic growth of our communities, city leaders recognize that we need to invest in the business owners and entrepreneurs who have been historically left out of these conversations,” said Clarence E. Anthony, CEO and Executive Director of NLC. “We look forward to working with Local First Arizona and all of our partners to support their goal of creating a more equitable local economy and expanding opportunities to succeed for their residents.”
This year, 60 cities from across the country made a total of 78 commitments through the CIE program to implement year-long projects to help foster economic growth in their communities. As the largest coalition of local businesses in the US, Local First Arizona has committed to ensuring more government contracts are awarded to entrepreneurs of color.
Leveraging its business accelerator programs in English and Spanish, Local First is perfectly positioned to assist businesses with becoming certified vendors and submitting successful bids for a variety of city contracts. “Local First is passionate about procurement and has gained valuable credibility working within the private sector, which has fostered our team's expertise,” adds Lanning. “We have worked in partnership with the City of Phoenix for more than 10 years, and have made great progress toward our goal of diversifying city contracts.”
The CIE program is made possible in partnership with and support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. For more information about the program, click here.
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About Local First Arizona
Founded in 2003, Local First Arizona (LFA) is a community and economic development nonprofit working to strengthen local economies. LFA’s areas of focus include developing entrepreneurship, rural and urban community development, racial equity, environmental action, and food access. LFA is the largest local business coalition in the U.S. and advocates for independently-owned businesses of all sizes by assisting local owners with technical assistance designed to help them compete and collaborate, which ultimately strengthens Arizona's economy and builds hometown pride. Visit www.localfirstaz.com for more information and a directory of more than 3,000 locally-owned businesses.