HUD presents on Section 3 during Virtual Town Hall hosted by North Carolina Historically Underutilized Businesses Office

HUD presents on Section 3 during Virtual Town Hall hosted by North Carolina Historically Underutilized Businesses Office.

The Greensboro Field Office recently presented on HUD's Section 3 economic development opportunities during a recent webinar attended by SBA and hosted by the North Carolina Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUB) (https://ncadmin.nc.gov/businesses/hub) office during their recent Town Hall Series for HUB firms. The webinar was part of the HUB office's ongoing efforts to provide relevant resources during COVID pandemic to local businesses.

The HUB Office is an organization that advocates actions which increase opportunities for historically underutilized businesses and promotes diversity and inclusion in state government procurement and contracting. Their mission is to promote economic opportunities for historically underutilized businesses in state government contracting and procurement that will foster their growth and profitability.

"The opportunity to present at the NC HUB meeting demonstrates HUD's ongoing commitment to helping increase awareness of the economic opportunities such as Section 3 to assist the low income and very low-income individuals we mutually serve," said Greensboro Field Office Director, Roosevelt A. Grant. "I would like to thank the NC HUB and SBA for providing us with the platform to connect with businesses directly, too."

Solomon Radcliffe, a Program Analyst with the Greensboro Field Office, with the support of Field Office Director Roosevelt Grant and fellow Program Analysts James Gormley and Camille Volper, presented on HUDs Section 3 Business Registry and Opportunity Portal to over 60 individuals and business owners. Within a few days of the presentation and based on ongoing outreach efforts the Greensboro Field Policy Management Office team observed a major uptick of new businesses self-certifying as Section 3 Businesses in the Business Registry.

The Section 3 Business Registry is a listing of firms that have self-certified that they meet one of the regulatory definitions of a Section 3 business and are included in a searchable online database that can be used by agencies that receive HUD funds, developers, contractors, and others to facilitate the award of certain HUD-funded contracts. The database can also be used by Section 3 residents to identify businesses that may have HUD-funded employment opportunities. It also enables HUD grantees to meet their Section 3 obligations by reducing some of the burden associated with locating eligible businesses.

###