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Last modified: Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Minority business owners learn certification training through IU class

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 31, 2006

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University is hosting a Business Certification Training Class, Feb. 21, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., at the Indiana Business Diversity Council, 2126 N. Meridian St., Indianapolis. The program is the fourth in a series of events planned to provide assistance to become a certified vendor to small disadvantaged businesses or those owned by minorities and/or women in the state of Indiana.

IU conducts theses classes every three to four months, and the upcoming session is unique, because it is a collaborative effort among several organizations. The certification agencies will be present at the class to give presentations about becoming certified and the benefits of certification.

"It's more of a community effort," said LaTricia Hill-Chandler, director of supplier diversity and compliance programs at IU. "It started out as an IU effort, because we wanted to make sure the businesses we were doing business with were certified, but we opened it up to the entire community."

The presenters for the upcoming class include: Johnathan Carpenter, supplier diversity manager for the City of Indianapolis; Michelle House, certification manager for Indiana Business Diversity Council; Lynda Parrett, commercial market representative for SBA; and Michelle Thompson, deputy director for the minority and women's division for Indiana Department of Administration.

In order to be counted as a minority or small business by the state or federal government, the business must be certified. One criteria of being certified as minority business is that the business must be 51 percent controlled and owned by a minority. Some organizations have percentage goals of the total dollar spent with minority businesses. If such an organization works with a minority owned business, that business must be certified in order for the organization to legally count them toward their minority business goals.

To RSVP for this free class, call Juanita Lynn Mimms, supplier diversity representative, at (812) 855-4060, or e-mail at jlmimms@indiana.edu by Feb. 15.