New York City recently created a $10 million fund to assist women- and minority-owned businesses win construction contracts.
The money can pay up to $500,000 of surety bonds per contract. City contractors are required to post the bonds to guarantee they will satisfactorily perform work and pay their bills.
Smaller firms without a track record of completed projects, however, have a difficult time securing bonds from the private market. The fund will also help other contractors who are required to hire a certain percentage of these firms but can't find enough of them to meet their mandated quotas.
The city aims to issue $16 billion worth of contracts to minority- and women-owned businesses by 2025.
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