Purpose

In November of 2001, Ted Benavides, Dallas City Manager, invited the CEOs of DISD, DCCCD, Dallas County, DART, DFW, Parkland Hospital and Dallas Housing Authority to form a cooperative initiative to address local business development and minority participation in public procurement and employment opportunities. On January 30, 2002, the CEOs convened at City Hall for the initial meeting of the Dallas Alliance for Business Development (DABD). The CEOs established the following goals for the DABD:

• To exceed individual goals of local business development and workforce diversity.
• To provide an open and accessible system for purchasing, contracting, and employment.
• To remove the real and perceived barriers to doing business with and for the represented public organizations.

To accomplish these goals, the CEOs established five committees to address specific areas of cooperation among the agencies:

• Certification
• Construction Contracting
• Vendor Outreach
• Procurement Strategies
• Workforce Diversity

Each organization provided professional staff including procurement agents, engineers, human resource directors, and certification and outreach specialists to staff the committees. The first round of committee meetings began in March 2002. The established committees continue to meet on a monthly basis to accomplish the necessary action steps to meet the established goals.