14 Years of Service to the SBIR/STTR Community

Minority SBIR Support

-- working to help historically non-
     participating communities succeed --
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The SBIR Resource Center® Is Actively Engaged In Minority Enterprise Support


The SBIR Resource Center® interacts with more potential applicants and SBIR funding winners that any other commercial organization. This activity crosses all ethnic and gender lines. We have also worked closely with state economic development organizations, including CT, LA, MD, PA, OH, OK, VA & others and have now started working with the District of Columbia to support local SBIR outreach programs. These organizations, too, tend to focus much of their support on minority enterprises and historically non-participating communities.

The State of Maryland selected the SBIR Center as the primary entity to lead training and direct support services for the SBA funded "Maryland SBIR Minority Initiative" for the years 2003 and 2004. During this period events and SBIR Outreach Centers were provided for Morgan State University(MSU), Bowie State University (BSU) and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES). Maryland, once again, chose the Center to lead the SBA funded "Maryland Mountain SBIR Initiative" reaching out to under-served populations in 2005 and early 2006.

Again, in 2007 - 2008, the Center was once again the focal point of SBIR outreach efforts for the reinstated "Maryland Minority R&D Initiative"(MMRDI).

For each of these Minority Initiatives, we've often worked with/through the local HBCUs (historically black colleges and universities) to find and train local counselors, establish & equip outreach centers and support potential applicants. For the Mountain Maryland SBIR Initiative we worked through three publicly supported incubators in the poorest and most rural regions of the state. For the MMRDI, the primary focus is on working in the nearest DC suburbs in Maryland to promote minority participation and success.

Even between these funded programs (2006-2007), the Center worked closely with Bowie State University (an HBCU) to provide an SBIR Outreach CenterTM while also promoting and providing four (4) all-day SBIR/STTR training programs at the University. As part of its minority outreach efforts during this period, the Center also promoted and presented a full-day SBIR training program at Texas Southern University (TSU), and HBCU in Houston, TX.

In mid 2005, the Center was chosen to guide the establishment of an SBIR outreach capability for a Washington, DC area HBCU and to provide training programs, consulting support services and our tested products to individual applicants. Efforts are also underway with the City of Washington, DC to establish a legislatively mandated SBIR outreach Center at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC).

We have also been chosen as the "Consulting Partner" for SBIR Outreach to the PA Minority Business Development Centers (MBDC) funded by the US Department of Commerce. And, we have been selected as "Preferred Provider" for SBIR outreach with Pennsylvania's Ben Franklin Innovation Partnership.

Although we have not kept records (and do not ask for such information), it appears that the proportion of minorities supported by the Center, including seminars, products and services, is around 30% and approximately 20% of the colleges choosing to sponsor our SBIR events are HBCUs (like Texas Southern University). Why? Maybe it is because we have the lowest cost supports; or possibly more convenient support (electronic tools and delivered services); or possibly we just offer more productive support than other providers; or maybe we just appear more friendly and outgoing; but for whatever reason, it seems the proportion of minorities engaging us is far greater than any other service provider in the world of SBIR. We even help to underwrite the cost of scholarships for SBIR seminars and reduced SBIR tool purchases for deserving minority business enterprises, under certain circumstances.

If experience with minority outreach is important to your organization, then establishing a productive relationship with the SBIR Resource Center® is worthy of your serious consideration. Please contact John Davis, our General Manager, to discuss the potential for such a relationship.
 

"SBIR Resources" lead to "SBIR Success"

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