Apr. 26—Dayton plans to give up a minority business assistance center (MBAC) that it has hosted and supported for about 45 years after the state made some changes to its grant program that would require the city to provide more staff and funding.
Three of the five members of the Dayton City Commission supported the move, saying the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce is expected to take over the responsibility of being the regional MBAC provider.
"The Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce is prepared to adopt this process," said Dayton Mayor Jeffrey Mims Jr. "We will continue to work in partnership with them, and it would basically allow us to raise funds here locally and to focus primarily on Dayton, which in fact would strengthen the relationship with our ... minority businesses."
Commissioners Darryl Fairchild and Shenise Turner-Sloss said the city is making a mistake.
Dayton's Human Relations Council "was created to address inequities in housing, employment, business opportunities and access to capital and finance," Fairchild said. "That's not the chamber's mission ... they just have different priorities, that's neither right or wrong, but it's not the same."
Dayton's Human Relations Council for decades has housed one of the state's seven minority business assistance centers, which are supposed to help minority and socially and economically disadvantaged businesses, according to city leaders.
The centers offer technical and professional assistance, which includes help with accounting, marketing plans, contract procurement, business management and accessing local resources and financial support.
The local center offers free assistance to minorities, women and small businesses in Montgomery, Greene, Miami, Clark, Champaign, Darke, Preble, Mercer, Auglaize, Shelby, Logan and Madison counties.
But the city of Dayton is not going to apply for state grant money to continue to fund the minority business assistance center in upcoming years. The deadline to apply for state money is Friday.
Mayor Mims said the state has reduced the funding available to the city of Dayton to pay for the assistance center.
The city would have to spend about $400,000 over two years to receive $400,000 in state support to become a Tier 2 MBAC provider, city officials said.
The city says the state grant requires Tier 2 providers to have four full-time equivalent employees. In the previous grant cycle, the state required two employees.
The mayor and Dayton City Commissioners Chris Shaw and Matt Joseph said during Wednesday's city commission meeting that they think it makes more sense for the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce to be in charge of the center.