About Us

The Small Business Initiative was officially established in July, 1999, but its mission and philosophy began to take shape in 1994. Mayor John DeStefano Jr. recognized the unique needs of small businesses and the lack of a department dedicated to the interests of the fastest growing segment of our economy.

In 1997 an Ad Hoc Committee formed by Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. was charged with determining ways to help small business participate in future projects in the city. He also decided to reallocate resources dedicated to economic development so that there was a significant emphasis on small business.

"Most of the new jobs created in America are created by small business", stated Mayor DeStefano."We are committed to giving New Haven's small businesses the tools they need for success, and we are going to make certain that they have access to the loans, technical assistance and partnerships they will need to be successful"

Over the past eight years the Small Business Initiative developed:

The New Haven Regional Contractors' Alliance was incorporated with a mission to assist small, minority and women owned businesses improve their ability to compete for construction and construction related contracts by developing and providing a variety of technical programs and services to achieve these purposes;

The Small Business Enterprise Construction Opportunity Initiative outlines for the City a set of efforts to improve contracting opportunities for minority, women-owned, and small businesses. 121/4 requires that all construction and construction related contracts valued under $125,000 be reserved for bidding by registered Small Business Enterprise contractors. On School Construction projects 10% of the total contract value has to be awarded to registered Small Business Enterprise contractors. The ordinance also requires on projects over $125,000 an overall 25% good faith MBE sub-contractor utilization.

We are determined to help small businesses succeed and grow to their potential.