Pennsylvania Broadband Summit

September 20-21 at the Radisson Penn Harris Hotel and Convention Center, Camp Hill, PA

In January 2010, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was awarded a grant to collect broadband mapping data, implement strategies to address gaps, and identify barriers to broadband adoption. Consequently, the Commonwealth is organizing the 2010 Pennsylvania Broadband Summit this fall as a forum for education, discussion, planning, and sharing of information among broadband providers, anchor institutions, consumers and citizens, and officials at all levels of government, as well as key technology providers and other stakeholders.

The 2010 Pennsylvania Broadband Summit augments other broadband efforts undertaken by the Commonwealth, such as the ARRA-funded Middle Mile Infrastructure project in northern Pennsylvania, the broadband mapping project, and the state’s plan to open up the state’s tower assets to private providers.

For more information visit http://www.outreach.psu.edu/programs/pa-broadband/index.html

Preliminary Findings of the 2007 Survey of Business Ownership

In 2007, there were 5.8 million minority-owned firms generating $1 trillion in gross receipts and employing nearly 6 million workers.

The minority business community has grown at a faster rate than the minority population and all U.S. firms, yet economic parity still remains elusive. Over a decade, minority businesses nearly doubled from 3 million in 1997 to 5.8 million in 2007 offering an encouraging trend for the recovery of our national economy. Average gross receipts for minority-owned firms increased to $179,000 from $167,000 in 2002 but still remain lower than non-minority-owned firms which had average gross receipts of $490,000.

MBDA Report on SBO Data (.ppt)
2007 SBO Preliminary Estimates (.ppt)

The Pennsylvania Minority Business Enterprise Center

The Minority Business Enterprise Center (MBEC) is committed to accelerating the growth and development of minority-owned enterprises all over the state of Pennsylvania. The MBEC does so by providing a number of services to our minority business enterprise (MBE) clients.

The three main services we provide are Consulting, Contract Procurement, and Access to Capital.

Learn more

Consulting

We provide our clients access to high-end consulting in areas ranging from strategic planning to marketing, accounting, sales training, and human resources management.

Contract Procurement

We help clients do business with the Federal Government (which buys over $250 Billion worth of services annually) by leveraging our strategic link as part of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Access to Capital

We work hand-in-hand with our clients to obtain financing through partnerships with lending institutions statewide, and in some cases can provided funding ourselves. We have also explored a number of alternative financing sources for promising firms who have trouble getting a loan through traditional means.

Our Mission

Our mission is to accelerate the growth of minority enterprises through high end consulting, contract procurement, and access to financing services. Our goal is to have a significant impact on Pennsylvania's economy through the creation of jobs and taxable wealth.

The Pennsylvania Minority Business Enterprise Center is a federally funded program under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Commerce's Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA), the only federal entity specifically tasked with accelerating the growth of minority owned businesses.

Learn more about the MBDA