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Advocates ask New York Legislature to add Middle Eastern and North African New Yorkers to MWBE eligibility
Summary
Nonprofit and community leaders told the Governmental Operations Committee that Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) business owners are excluded from state MWBE supports and urged lawmakers to pass Assembly bill 82691 to add MENA to eligibility criteria.
At the Governmental Operations Committee hearing, advocates urged the legislature to amend MWBE eligibility to include Middle Eastern and North African New Yorkers, a population they said is currently excluded from MWBE supports.
“Middle Eastern and North African people…are not eligible for benefits or opportunities under the existing MWBE program,” said Rana Abdel Hamid, founder and executive director of Malika, a Queens nonprofit. Abdel Hamid said MENA New Yorkers run thousands of businesses but are treated as white for federal and state program eligibility, denying them access to MWBE certification and related contracting opportunities.
Why it matters: advocates said the exclusion blocks many community-based entrepreneurs from state procurement and financing opportunities. Abdel Hamid urged lawmakers to support Assembly bill 82691, introduced by Assemblymember Jessica Gonzalez Rojas, which would explicitly add MENA people to the list of eligible groups for MWBE certification.
Abdel Hamid cited demographic and economic figures to describe the community’s scale: she said New York is home to roughly 180,000 MENA residents and about 20,000 MENA-owned businesses that contribute about $854 million in state and local taxes and have a combined spending power of roughly $5.8 billion. She urged the legislature to expand outreach, culturally competent business services and contracting access to MENA entrepreneurs.
Assemblymember Gonzalez Rojas, who chairs the Task Force on Women’s Issues and helped sponsor the bill, said adding eligible groups would help ensure state contracting reflects the diversity of New York communities and pointed to concrete missed opportunities: a small immigrant-owned café in Astoria was cited as seeking concessions opportunities at a major redevelopment but was ineligible because owners are Yemeni.
Ending: Advocates asked lawmakers to consider the bill and to fund technical assistance and outreach for communities that face language or cultural barriers so certified firms can compete for procurement opportunities.
