Utah has its 1st minority business center — but it's sparking some discontent

The Mill Entrepreneurship Center at Salt Lake Community College has received $1.5 million to open Utah's first Minority Business Center. But some in the minority business community are questioning why it got the grant.

The Mill Entrepreneurship Center at Salt Lake Community College has received $1.5 million to open Utah's first Minority Business Center. But some in the minority business community are questioning why it got the grant. (Google Maps )


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SANDY — Salt Lake Community College is opening Utah's first Minority Business Center after being awarded a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

But SLCC getting that grant has sparked some discontent.

One of the college's board of trustees members resigned over it. Some in the minority business community are questioning how the college will serve minority communities and why it received the grant over other applicants.

And SLCC officials themselves initially expressed surprise that the college received the grant over the Suazo Business Center, which has locations in Salt Lake City, St. George and Ogden. Five of the six members of Utah's congressional delegation had recommended the grant be awarded to the Suazo Business Center.

The grant was one of six recently awarded by the Department of Commerce's Minority Business Development Agency, which supports minority business centers throughout the country. Those centers aim to grow minority-owned businesses by providing owners with capital and other types of support that communities of color often don't have the same access to.

SLCC applied for the grant through its Mill Entrepreneurship Center. Beth Colosimo, executive director for the center, said the grant fits nicely with its goal to "agnostically support anyone and everyone" during its two-decade history. She pointed toward the center's Everyday Entrepreneur program, which she said intentionally sought to include entrepreneurs from minority communities, as an example.

"We've had long-standing relationships with various organizations throughout the valley. The grant is not meant to replace or compete with existing business entities. We've all coexisted here in Utah for a very long time," she said. "We want to continue supporting the efforts of the ethnic minority chambers and ethnic minority business organizations as we've done throughout our history."

Unknowing 'strategic partners'?

However, a number of minority business organizations that were listed as "strategic partners" with whom it "maintains strong alliances and connections" on the Mill Entrepreneurship Center's grant application were surprised to learn that they had been included.

Pacific Island Knowledge 2 Action Resources CEO Susi Feltch-Malohifo'ou, for example, said she denied Colosimo's request to write a letter of support for the Mill's grant application and said PIK2AR does not partner with or refer clients to the Mill.

"Because of her lack of cultural relevancy, it was hard to engage in programming. I don't ever want to subject my community members to resources that do not assist them to move their business forward," she said.

Feltch-Malohifo'ou said the center's engagement with PIK2AR — a nonprofit whose programs for the Polynesian community include the Pacific Island Chamber of Commerce — has been limited to one or two presentations on its Goldman Sachs program and allowing PIK2AR to use its building space a few times. She added that the Mill Entrepreneurship Center's location in Sandy doesn't make sense if the goal is to reach communities of color.

For context, 86% of Sandy residents are white compared to places like West Valley City and South Salt Lake that hover closer to 55-60% white, according to census data.

PIK2AR and other organizations appear to have been listed as "strategic partners" on the Mill Entrepreneurship Center's grant application because of their membership in the Salt Lake Center of Opportunity Partnership. The Salt Lake County program is funded through federal COVID-19 relief dollars and seeks to connect lower-income businesses with community resources.

Luna Banuri, executive director of the Utah Muslim Civic League, said the league was introduced to the Mill Entrepreneurship Center through the Salt Lake Center of Opportunity Partnership and that the organizations have not interacted outside of it.

"We were surprised to hear or learn from (KSL.com) that we were listed as strategic partners. There was no pre-consultation with us on that," she said. "My question really remains, what's on the menu? I don't even know what would MBDA do for us. If we're not at the table designing it, then we should be able to see a finished product of what it looks like — and, once again, I have not fully seen that yet."

SLCC said the term "strategic partners" refers to various levels of interaction and engagement levels of engagement and doesn't imply a fiduciary or formal agreement.

"If these organizations were asked how they collaborate or are connected with us, or their alliances with SLCC, then they would understand this context better than being referred to as a partner," SLCC spokeswoman Peta Owens-Liston said. "Historically, many of the groups listed in the MBDA grant and in many other grants have been allies and partners with SLCC in all sorts of ways."

Ghulam Hasnain, founder of Salt Lake American Refugee Services (another Opportunity Partnership member) that SLCC listed as a strategic partner, said although the Mill offers a class for refugees, it doesn't suit the Somali refugee community he serves since the classes are in English and many of the female Somali entrepreneurs are not able to get over to the Mill's campus.

"In any case, we basically have our own project because we can't benefit from theirs," he said. "That's the problem with the Somalis — nobody can figure out how to help them because they don't really fit the sort of description of a regular minority. ... They were not born and raised here. They don't know even broken English. They need a much more hand-holding and customized (approach)."

Trustee resignation, Suazo endorsements

The Suazo Business Center, which also applied for the Department of Commerce grant, questioned why the Mill applied. Suazo Center President and CEO Silvia Castro resigned from SLCC's board of trustees after the college was awarded the grant.

"SLCC's decision to compete, rather than continue to cooperate and partner with the Suazo Center, will result in a dilution of local resources in a way that will slow the current efforts to extend resources to minority-owned businesses throughout the state," Castro said in a resignation letter.

In emails obtained through a public records request, SLCC President Deneece Huftalin and Vice President Tim Sheehan both expressed surprise that the college received the grant over the Suazo Business Center.

Provost Clifton Sanders, however, made the argument that the Suazo Center did not have the bandwidth to fulfill the grant requirements.

"If I had to say anything about the Suazo Center grant (not having seen it) in this context, despite their reputation and track record, I don't know if they are mobilized enough at this point to compete with the other winners," Sanders said in a September email to Sheehan. "I believe that our infrastructure, outreach record, procurement history and grant writing savvy made us competitive. Clearly stiff competition."

The Suazo Center appeared to have widespread support for its application based on reviews of both organizations' grant applications.

SLCC's grant application included letters of support from the Utah Hispanic Chamber, VentureCapital.org and the Procurement Technical Assistance Center, a program within the Utah Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity. Those three letters all follow the same template and consist of three sentences that confirm the entity has "a referral and partner-based relationship with the Mill and endorse(s) their efforts to enhance services to minority businesses through the MBDA opportunity."

In contrast, the Suazo Center had several unique letters of support, including from the Utah Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity; Salt Lake Chamber; U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall; Wasatch Front Regional Council; Ogden Mayor Mike Caldwell; Reps. Burgess Owens, Chris Stewart, John Curtis and Blake Moore; and Sen. Mitt Romney.

"Please accept this letter in support of the Suazo Business Center as the most qualified applicant to be designated as the Minority Business Development Center representing the state of Utah," states a letter from Dan Hemmert, executive director of the Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity. "We support the center's application to be designated a Minority Business Development Center because we recognize the mission of the MBDCs is to promote the growth of minority-owned businesses — and no other organization in Utah has done that better than the Suazo Business Center in 20 years of service."

Another difference in the two organizations' applications were their total proposed budgets and how much money they would have matched with the $1.5 million grant. The Suazo Center proposed a $6 million budget, while the Mill Entrepreneurship Center proposed $2 million.

Castro told KSL.com her concerns center on the Mill's lack of work with minority community business owners, especially outside of Salt Lake County, and a lack of diversity among its staff. The Mill has since hired Utah Black Chamber President Sidni Shorter to head its minority business center.

The Mill's website displays its employees and their roles.
The Mill's website displays its employees and their roles. (Photo: The Mill Entrepreneurship Center)

"I think there's a lot of good intentions. People really want to help people, really want to figure it out, but I think one of the hardest things is that when you don't involve the people that you're trying to help in the solution, then you're not really being helpful," Castro said. "This is why cultural competency, not just language capacity, matters."

Edward Bennett, director of business development for Suazo Center, added that the center has referred clients to the Mill's programs in the past but believes those clients were treated as "others."

Bennett and Castro said the Mill's award of the grant is representative of wider problems in this round of Minority Business Center funding from the Department of Commerce as well as funding within Utah.

"This whole giving to the usual players sometimes backfires — because there is a huge presence missing from those decision tables, and that's the minority representation," Castro said. "What we see is there's a lot of organizations that are getting funding to serve a population that they don't have any representation of."

Opportunity for collaboration?

James Jackson, III, founder of the Black Success Center and former CEO of the Utah Black Chamber, believes the Mill is a good fit for Utah's first Minority Business Center and he's confident in its ability to partner with minority communities given the Mill's track record with the Black Chamber. He said the chamber has had a relationship with the Mill Entrepreneurship Center for almost a decade, which has included membership in the chamber.

"We know their capacity to grow. We know their willingness to be inclusive and engaging and wanting to connect with the community," Jackson said. "(Colosimo) has reached out to identify even candidates to help build the agency through the diverse community so she understands what's required and knows what's needed. She doesn't expect for them to even see them as a leader of this agency but as a facilitator, more than anything."

Jackson said the Black Chamber considered applying for the federal grant to open a Minority Business Center but ultimately decided against doing so after coming to the conclusion that none of the state's ethnic business organizations had the capacity for the project.

"I can see from a minority business organization standpoint why they don't feel SLCC should be getting that grant, but from capacity and how they're able to fulfill all the requirements there and how they're able to lead out on it — that part makes perfect sense," he said. "By having an external partner that's going to leverage the relationships that they have with the diverse business organizations — I feel that's a stronger play than one of us really trying to lead out on it because we're already so small and strained as it is."

Liz Pitts, president of the Utah LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber often refers business to the Mill and that the Mill provides critical resources for marginalized small business owners.

"They've got a long-standing good track record of providing some pretty critical resources and educational programming," she said. "It's a big grant and a huge chunk of work that they bit off, so I am wishing them success because I know the impact will be more small businesses getting more support and assistance."

Jackson added that having a Minority Business Development Agency in Utah is an exciting prospect.

"I feel that we're no longer a kept secret. Having an MBDA here will further the development of just the overall growth of Utah's diversity," he said. "With what's being planted here, with what's being seeded here, I feel like the harvest is coming and people just really need to invest, engage and really see how we can actually be the example for what diversity, equity and inclusion looks like for the rest of the country."

Owens-Liston said the grant is a positive for Utah and its minority organizations and the business center has already enrolled its first client.

"Keep in mind that winning such a grant is highly competitive and a rigorous process and we're up against other states," she said.

A previous version said Suazo Business Center has two locations; it also has a location in St. George. It also miscounted how many members of Utah's congressional delegation recommended the grant be awarded to the center; five of the six members endorsed the center.

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Sydnee Chapman Gonzalez is a reporter and recent Utah transplant. She works at the Utah Investigative Journalism Project and was previously at KSL.com and the Wenatchee World in Washington. Her reporting has focused on marginalized communities, homelessness and local government. She grew up in Arizona and has lived in various parts of Mexico. During her free time, she enjoys hiking, traveling, rock climbing and embroidery.

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