Published October 11, 2023

Economic inclusion and opportunity are at the core of the Department of Housing and Community Development’s (DHCD) mission. In December 2020, the City Council passed an inclusive procurement ordinance establishing a framework to set and achieve citywide aspirational goals of 12% minority-owned and 13.3% women-owned business participation on city contracts. The program promotes the involvement of minority- and women-owned businesses by breaking larger contract opportunities into smaller bid packages. The transformation of the St. Paul’s area is the designated pilot for the new policy.

To help break through the barriers often in the way for SWaM businesses looking to obtain opportunities with the St. Paul’s Transformation Area project, Norfolk’s DHCD is partnering with the Virginia Department of Small Business & Supplier Diversity to provide SWaM certification assistance and training. Find out more.