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Thursday,
July 3, 2003
Contact: Ben Langer, 202-366-5580
DOT 56-03
U.S.
Transportation Secretary Mineta Announces TEAMs To Help DOT Reach Out to Small
Disadvantaged Businesses
U.S.
Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta today announced that eight
organizations from across the country will partner with the U.S. Department of
Transportation to provide information about contracting opportunities to
Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBEs) for the next 12 months.
They are located in Atlanta; Orlando, FL; Seattle/Tacoma; New York;
Milwaukee; Chicago; Oakland, CA; and Washington, DC.
The
eight organizations are called TEAMs (Transportation Equity Act Model).
"Entrepreneurship
is the path to prosperity for many Americans, including minorities and women,
and the Bush Administration wants to create an environment where entrepreneurs
can flourish," Secretary Mineta said. "These TEAMs will greatly help the Department's
continuing efforts to extend our reach to disadvantaged business enterprises and
to increase their chances of success."
The
purpose of TEAMs is to help the Department's Office of Small and Disadvantaged
Business Utilization (OSDBU) find contract opportunities for small businesses on large projects funded by DOT and other DOT-related
contracting opportunities. The
OSDBU tries to increase small, minority, women-owned and disadvantaged business
participation in OSDBU financial assistance programs and contracting
opportunities around the nation.
"When
he was in Congress, Secretary Mineta supported the DBE program by inserting
language into ISTEA (Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991)
and has been an advocate of this successful program ever since," OSDBU
Director Sean Moss said, "TEAMs are key to the development and growth of
DBE firms. We are confident that the new organizations will increase
contracting opportunities for DBEs."
DOT
enters into cooperative agreements with chambers of commerce, trade
associations, business organizations, and for-profit entities to represent the
OSDBU and the small-business community at the local level.
Specifically, TEAMs try to increase the number of small and disadvantaged
businesses that enter into transportation-related contracts, increase the number
of firms that receive surety bonds and working capital through OSDBU's financial
assistance programs, and increase the number of businesses participating in
hands-on training in order to become more successful at winning contracts.
A
DBE is a for-profit small business concern that is operated and at least 51
percent owned by one or more individuals who are both socially and economically
disadvantaged.
The
following list shows the 2003 TEAMs and the executives who represent them:
Mid-Atlantic
TEAM
Asian American Business Roundtable (AABR)
Rawlein G. Soberano, Ph.D., President
Samuel Clark, Project Director
20224 Thunderhead Way, Suite B
Germantown, MD 20874
301-601-9038; 301-601-9430 (fax)
Email: aabr89@aol.com
Southeastern
TEAM
The Greater Atlanta Economic Alliance:
Hebrew Dixon, III, President
Gwen Winston, Project Director
125 S. Loop Road
College Park. GA30337
404-530-5700; 404-209-1880 (fax)
Email: hebrew.dixon@atlanta-airport.com
Southern
TEAM
Minority/Women Business Enterprise Alliance, Inc.
Ann Brown Payne, President
Shirley Walker, Project Director
625 E. Colonial Drive
Orlando, FL 32803
407-428-5860; 407-428-5869 (fax)
Email: abrownpayne@allianceflorida.com
Northern
TEAM
Resource Business Group, Inc.
Joe Ann Siller, Executive Director
Consuelo Miller, Project Director
1737 East 71st Street
Chicago, IL 60649
773-643-1652; 773-643-1657 (fax)
Email: soshorechamber@juno.com
Western
TEAM
MECCA Management & Insurance Agency, Inc.
Kaye Stevens, Project Director
900 Murmansk Street, Suite 2
Oakland, CA 94607
510-272-0736; 510-272-9229 (fax)
Email: mmia2@sbcglobal.net
Midwestern
TEAM
DWS & Co., Inc.
David W. Stokes, President & CEO
7100 W Center Street
Milwaukee, WI 53210
414-467-4472; 414-352-8819 (fax)
astokesmd@aol.com
Eastern
TEAM
New Cassel Technical Learning Center
Rudolph H. Clark, Ph.D.
Mark J. Green, Project Director
361 W 125th Street, Suite 200
New York, New York 10027
866-692-3681
newcassel@nyc.rr.com
Northwestern
TEAM
William M. Factory Small Business Incubator
Tim Strege, Executive Director
Alan Collage, Project Director
708 Broadway
Tacoma, Washington 98402
253-272-0068; 253-572-5714 (fax)
Email: tim@williamfactory.com
TEAM
Manager
Arthur D. Jackson, Chief of Field Operations/
DOT Surety Bond Division
U.S. Department of Transportation
Office of Small and Disadvantaged
Business Utilization S-40
400 Seventh Street, S.W., Room 9414
Washington, DC 20590
Telephone: 1-800-532-1169 ext. 65344
202-366-5344; 202-366-7538 (fax)
Email: art.jackson@ost.dot.gov
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