Stevens pushes back that events are not producing contracts for Black and Latina women

But even if we're saying that the results are still having the disparities that they're having, clearly that's not working.

And so if one in every hundred...

MWBEs that are getting contracts are black women and Latinas, it's not working for them.

So maybe we should think about other things to do because that's not getting to the people who aren't getting the contracts.

So again, I'm asking the questions because maybe we should think differently, right?

Maybe we should think maybe that thousand event that we had that we can come here and say we had an event where a thousand people showed up is not where the black women or Latino firms are coming to get the information that they need to get certified.

And I know you're about to say, what are you talking about?

We got 10% this and that.

No, no, no.

What I was going to just say is the majority of the event was black and Latino community members.

All right.

So then I guess the numbers that we have aren't real.

So even if they were there, they're still not getting the contracts, correct?

And Chief Garner has described the cities.

I'll defer to people who are showing up.

Let me speak.

Because then you are having people that are showing up, doing the work, becoming certified, and then still not getting the contracts.

So then what's that going to do is discourage them from actually coming to other things.

Yeah, so we are in total agreement with you.

That we must do a more effective job of not only certifying businesses, but once a business is certified, integrating them at the agency level in the critical path of contracting and procurement.

We hear you.

We are working internally, overtime.

In order to increase the city of New York's ability to award contracts in a more broad aspect and focusing on the disparity within the disparity.

Certainly, what the city has done thus far with awarding contracts to black women and Hispanic women and Asian women,

is not satisfactory.

And we are working internally.

And you have my word that these numbers are going to get better.

It's not just the word.

I need us to think outside the box and think differently.

So clearly what is being done is not working.

So to tell me you're having events where thousands of people are showing up and they're still not getting contracts, that's not a fix.

And so I hear you like, oh, there was a lot of black women there.

There was a lot of Latino women there.

That sounds great.

But if they're showing.

They're certified.

They're doing all the things that they need to do, and they're still not getting the contract.

What we're doing isn't working.

Right.

And we don't want women, especially women who do extra work all the time, to then get burnt out and say, you know what?

I'm not doing this anymore.

And that's what's happening.

So we have to also speak to that of people wasting their time.

It's not easy to be certified, which you all know.

It's not easy to then have to run a business, to come to these meetings, to have one-on-one consultations and still lose.

Like, that's a lot.

And that's a lot to ask for.

So what we're doing isn't working.

So maybe we should change the trajectory and say, okay, that didn't work.

Let's consult and figure out.

Let's go back to the drawing board.

I'm here to help to have ideas.

I always have ideas.

I'm not a council member who's just going to sit here and go, why are you doing this?

I'm saying, what are we going to do?

Let's figure it out together because what you're doing isn't working.

That's what I'm saying.