For the fourth consecutive year, EDGE/IDB PILOT recipients outperformed the anticipated minority/women/locally owned small business spend. PILOT recipients spent nearly $286 million with minority/women/locally owned small firms from 2012-2017, exceeding their commitments by almost $20 million.
A new Minority Spending report covers the activity of 67 firms with active PILOTs approved by either the Industrial Development Board (IDB), now part of EDGE or, since 2011, EDGE itself. Those 67 PILOT recipients contracted with 319 Minority/Women Business Enterprises (MWBE) and Locally-Owned Small Businesses (LOSB). The average spend with certified MWBEs was $1 million per contract.
Efforts to assist MWBEs and LOSBs through the PILOT program date back to 2001, when the IDB launched its Jobs Plus Optional Program. When that voluntary effort proved unsuccessful, the IDB created a mandatory Diversity Program in 2008. EDGE continued the Diversity Program and subsequently updated it with the Local Business Participation (LBP) Program which, since 2017, focuses exclusively on growing City and County-certified MWBEs.