National conference to focus on Milwaukee’s disadvantaged businesses
Milwaukee’s disadvantaged small businesses will be the focus of a national conference to be held in March by the Federal Reserve Bank.
The Federal Reserve Banks of Chicago and Boston will sponsor the Small Business Investment and Development Conference March 3-4 in Milwaukee.
The objective of the conference will be to assess corporate investment and mentoring, capital access programs and government initiatives to certify and assist minority-owned, women-owned and other disadvantaged businesses, according to Jeremiah Boyle, community affairs director for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
Conference participants will evaluate minority/disadvantaged business development strategies of the last five years and explore models for linkages between large corporations and small businesses, Boyle said.
The conference will attempt to identify strategies that can be replicated regionally and nationally, he said.
The conference will be organized in three parts:
– A facilitated roundtable discussion with participants from around the country to identify strategies that have worked (or show great promise) and some that clearly have not worked.
– Engage participants in a review and discussion of case studies and local initiatives to promote small business development.
– Explore whether Milwaukee could adopt or adapt any of the models and strategies discussed, and whether Milwaukee-area corporate and institutional leaders can create a strategy for developing small, entrepreneurial businesses in central Milwaukee?
"We are glad to be partnering with our colleagues in Boston to bring this national conference to Milwaukee," Boyle said. "We also hope this conference will serve as a catalyst for further development, participation and refinement of strategies to promote small business development and corporate linkages in Milwaukee and elsewhere."
Alton Bathrick, a retired executive vice president of Robert W. Baird & Co., who is now working as a venture capitalist, has been working behind the scenes to convince the Federal Reserve Bank to hold the conference in Milwaukee. Further details about the conference will be announced at a later date.
Dec. 12, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee
