May 21, 2012


The mission of the Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council is to significantly increase business relationships between our corporate members and our certified MBEs.  We believe that minority business development is a key component of reducing poverty, unemployment, increasing wealth, and integrating American society.  You are receiving this email in order to keep you abreast of developments with the Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council, Supplier Diversity Issues and Minority Business Development.  If you like what you read please share internally and externally. 
Governor Deval Patrick to Attend 2012 MED Day 
Conference and Expo, June 7
Governor Patrick
The Honorable Deval Patrick will attend and speak at the 2012 New England Minority Enterprise Development (MED) Day Conference on June 7, 2012 at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center?


Mark your calendars for Thursday, June 7.  The GNEMSDC along with the Boston MBDA Center and several strategic partners are organizing New England MED Day 2012 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.  MED Day is the premier event for minority enterprises and the public and private sectors. MED Day will offer the opportunity for MBEs to access information, tools and resources to grow their businesses both domestically and internationally.  This year the event is FREE and open to the public.  We have a limited number of tables available to large buying organization that would like to meet with some of the largest and finest Minority Business Enterprises in New England. 


This conference will also introduce the new U.S. Department of Commerce's Boston Minority Business Development Center, a powerful tool for MBEs who want to grow.  Attendees can expect networking, business-to-business matchmaking sessions with corporate procurement officials and capital providers and workshops. This free event includes continental breakfast and luncheon. . .
Space is limited, so please REGISTER by Friday, June 1.

This year we are going to present the Schwartz Award for Minority Business Development to Mr. Heyward Davenport, the New England Regional Director for the Minority Business Development Agency.  Mr. Davenport has spent over 30 years in the "struggle" for minority business inclusion and development.  Congratulations Mr. Davenport. 

Large corporations can expect to meet Small Disadvantaged Businesses (SDBs) and MBEs to achieve their federal government goals. Buying organizations interested in participating in the afternoon match-making session should contact Sarah James at 617-578-8900 or sjames@gnemsdc.org   

GNEMSDC 2nd Quarterly Meeting - Tuesday May 29
LM
Tuesday, May 29, 2012 -Liberty Mutual will host the Quarterly meeting at their location at Weston, MA  from 1:00 pm- 4:00 pm.  More information to follow.  
These meetings have  been averaging about 125 corporate members and MBEs.  This is our first 2012 Quarterly Meeting in Greater Boston.  We strongly encourage our corporate members to sign up for this informative meeting where several MBEs will have the opportunity to present their businesses to the network.  These presentations have led to multiple business relationships in recent years.  We thank our host Liberty Mutual for allowing us to use their facility in Weston, MA.  Register now! 

For more information contact Sarah James at sjames@gnemsdc.org
GNEMSDC  Massachusetts Supplier  Diversity Golf Classic - 
Almost Sold Out!
golf
The GNEMSDC Massachusetts Supplier Diversity Golf Outing is coming to
Ferncroft Country Club on Monday, June 11.  As of this past Friday, we have only about 20 golf slots left.  This is will be a sold out affair. Please reserve your slots today.  We are very pleased to announce one of our celebrity MBEs will be in attendance and playing at the Boston event:  Hall of Fame great, Gayle Sayers of Sayers40 will be  joining us this year.  

Annual Sponsors have the choice of participating in either the Ferncroft Country Club MA outing or the Lyman Orchards Golf Club, CT outing July 13 or both.  

We are asking for sponsors to provide us with the names of their guests by May 15Due to the limited space, we will not be able to hold your slots if you do not send your names to the office by June 1. One of the main attractions of this event is getting MBEs and Corporate members together.

If you are interested in a fun morning of golf, networking, food, drinks and relationship building and are not registered, we can put your name on a waiting list.  

Another great way to support the Golf outing is to donate something we can raffle off at the luncheon on June 11.  If you would like to donate any items for our very popular raffle, please contact the office (888-874-7114).  These will be greatly appreciated and all the proceeds go to great cause, our MBE Scholarship program.  This year thanks to your support, we were able to pay for 8 full scholarships to Tuck and Kellogg.  Our goal is to make it possible for every certified MBE with 3 or more years of consecutive certification to get executive education.  

Need to place to stay night before June 11th?  We made it easy!  
Call (978) 750-7987 and reference the Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council Golf Outing... or book online using the group promotional code: GNE. CoCoKeyBoston.com
                                             
***Volunteer  Opportunity  available for July 13, CT  - Contact Volunteer Coordinator*** 
Events That MBEs Should Not Miss  
There are several events coming up on our calendar that are designed specifically for MBEs to learn about corporate opportunities.  In order to help you organize your own calendars and keep things straight, we have begin sending out invitations using Constant Contact.  This way we can include directions, agendas, share with you who else is attending and allow you to register.  If it seems like we are busy, it is because we are.  As I like to tell people, business is a contact sport.  We know how busy everyone's schedule is, but these are events often hosted by our corporate members with the expressed purpose of finding out more about you and your business with the ultimate aim, to make you a valuable supplier to their companies.  Here are some events you should consider:
Dr. Fred to Receive SBA Award on June 6 in Boston
Fred in ohio
I am honored to be the 2012 recipient of the Small Business Administration Minority Champion Award for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I hope you can join me and the other award winners at Fenway Park on June 7 at 12:00 noon.  This award is a reflection of the fantastic MBEs and corporate members that I have the honor of working with.  I want to personally thank Ron Marlow and Reggie Nunnally for nominating me for this award.  They and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts whom they both work for have been excellent partners in our journey to increase opportunities for MBEs in the Commonwealth.

To view the list of winners and learn more about this event, go to www.sba.gov/ma. To sign-up to attend this annual celebration of entrepreneurs and small business champions, go toevents@HACC.com. We look forward to seeing you there! 
MBE News  
yumiYumi EcoSolutions, Inc. was featured on Connecticut TV Channel 12 "On the Money" Show and aired recently as part of "Earth Day 2012" celebration.  We are pleased to share this video with you.  It can be viewed by clicking on the link below or accessing the Newsroom of our website at http://yumieco.com/html/newsroom.html 

  Employment Opportunities  
It is very important in business to be able to balance between staying close to your core competencies and meeting the needs and demands of your customers.  For many years I have resisted the offer to take employment ads, however at the risk of opening the flood gates, I will begin accepting offers for employment at MBEs and corporate members.  Even though the economy continues to improve unemployment is too high.  If we can play any positive role in connecting people to jobs, we will do so.   We reserve the right to publish.

Request for Proposal and Other Opportunities 
The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport
Painting Services - Invitation for Bid (IFB)
BP
Solicitation Number:  010-CM-12-S Date: May 14, 2012
The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport is accepting bids for Agency-wide vacant unit painting services.

A non-mandatory Pre-Bid Conference is scheduled for Wednesday, May 23, 2012 at 10 a.m. at 301 Bostwick Ave, Bridgeport, CT 06605.   All bids are to be submitted no later than 10 a.m., June 4, 2012 at 301 Bostwick Avenue, Bridgeport, CT 06605 at which time bids will be recorded and read aloud publicly.  

A complete copy of the IFB document along with required HUD forms can be obtained after 1 p.m., Monday, May 21, 2012 at the Purchasing Department, 301 Bostwick Ave, Bridgeport, CT (203) 337-8820, Attn:  Ms. Caroline Sanchez. 
for NMSDC Program Managers Training 
Register for the  Program Managers' Regional Seminar Today.bnsdc
Program Description:   
The 2012 NMSDC professional development seminars are designed to provide sourcing and supplier diversity professionals access to the most current and effective concepts in supplier diversity process management. Register Now! 

This year's seminar focuses on best practices and lessons learned in cultivating scalable MBEs. We will also discuss the burgeoning issue of integrating sustainability and supplier diversity.
This interactive one-and-a-half-day seminar is designed to maximize participant interaction and provide insights on taking your initiative to the next level. Regardless of your level of experience, if supplier diversity is important to your company or to your major customers, you cannot afford to miss this opportunity. Come and see why Ralph G. Moore is recognized as the leading practitioner in supplier diversity and why RGMA has been the primary training resource for NMSDC for the past 20 years.
CPSD™, CPSM ® , C.P.M. and A.P.P. Credit
Participants earn continuing education hours that may be applied toward recertification requirements for Institute for Supply Management (ISM)'s Certified Professional in Supplier Diversity ® (CPSD™), Certified Professional in Supply Management ® (CPSM ® ) and C.P.M. and A.P.P. 
Dr. Fred's Corner
Please take a close look at the information listed below.  The links will take you to detailed information.   
And Finally...
Fred in ohio
There is a big difference between making decisions with a long run perspective than making them with only the near future in mind.  Economists define the long run as a period of time when all costs are variable.  In other words, in the long run everything is on the table.  Leadership is often conflicted with these two perspectives.  In the case of public companies in the for-profit world, leaders are often motivated by short-term results, i.e. the better the quarterly profits the greater their bonus.  This often leads to lapses in corporate ethics, for instance,  companies pad sales figures at the end of the quarter to meet some trigger for bonuses, only to have those products returned at the beginning of the next quarter.  We see the dominance of short term bias in the public sector as well.  Elected officials consider the impact of policy primarily from the lens of their term in office instead of the long term interest of taxpayers, consumers, workers, or investors.  I think this problem of perspective between the short term and the long term is mitigated if not eliminated when leaders view their decisions from the perspective of stewardship instead of what is traditionally thought of as leadership.  The perspective of stewardship makes it possible for leaders to take hits in the short-term for future benefits. Economists also make an important distinction between consumption and investment. From the stewardship perspective, investments are made even if they have negative impacts on short term profitability, or the technically and wrongly defined "budget".  In the public sector an example of this is how we treat expenditures on public infrastructure.  These expenditures are treated on public budgets as expenses against current income instead of as public investments that have benefits over a long period of time. Bringing it closer to home, expenditures for scholarships for MBEs are treated as expenses rather than investments for the long term health of the Council as well as MBEs who directly benefit.  It is here that gives us reason to be proud of the goal we have as Council, which is to pay for any MBEs with three years of consecutive certification to attend executive education.  These are clearly investments in our mission and our organization, despite the impact on our short term budget. Fortunately for me, the board and the organization supports this investment and commitment.  Think how much better other organizations and the public sector would be if decisions were made with stewardship in mind.  
In your service,
Dr. Fred
Dr Fred QR