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Reaffirming its commitment to Louisiana, Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) National Director Ronald Langston will inaugurate a new minority business center in New Orleans on Tuesday, November 14, 2006. Baton Rouge Mayor Melvin L. "Kip" Holden and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin will join Langston for the ribbon cutting ceremony. The Louisiana Minority Business Opportunity Center will help minority businesses in the Gulf region successfully compete for contracts as part of the federal, state and local efforts to rebuild the Region.
When and Where:
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
10:00 - 11:30 AM
Grand Opening/Open House (open to the press)
New Orleans Chamber of Commerce
Training Center and Suite 1010
1515 Poydras, New Orleans, LA 70112
P: 504-522-7226
2:30 - 4:00 PM
Press Conference
The Old State Capitol
(House of Representatives Chamber)
100 North Boulevard, Baton Rouge, LA 70801
P: (225) 342-0500, (800) 488-2968
Who:
• Ronald N. Langston, National Director of the Minority Business Development Agency, U.S. Department of Commerce
• Melvin L. “Kip” Holden, Mayor of the City of Baton Rouge
• C. Ray Nagin, Mayor of the City of New Orleans
• E. Frederick Preis, Jr., Chair, Board of Directors of the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce
• Loretta Poree, Director of the Louisiana Minority Business Opportunity Center
The events are a part of the “Rebuilding the Gulf Initiative” established by the U.S. Department of Commerce following the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. To date, MBDA has assisted over 340 displaced minority firms to prepare and submit applications for disaster relief, emergency loans and insurance claims; reconstructed business plans and other key business documents; assisted approximately 1,127 minority firms with the identification of procurement opportunities; conducted education and outreach activities reaching more than 4,000 MBEs; and vetted over 1,181 firms as viable minority firms with capacity to participate in the rebuilding of New Orleans.
Founded in 1971 and headquartered in Washington, DC, the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce. MBDA (mbda.gov) is the only federal agency created specifically to foster the establishment and growth of minority-owned businesses in this Nation. The Agency actively promotes the strategic growth and competitiveness of minority business enterprises by offering management and technical assistance and access to contracting and financing opportunities through a network of forty local business centers throughout the United States.
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tstevenson[.]mbda.gov 
