College workshops to focus on the contracting process

By JERRY GLEESON, THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: October 16, 2002)

Two workshops to help women and minority entrepreneurs and other businesses obtain government contracts will be offered at Westchester Community College in November and May.

Hudson Valley Preparing for Profit, or PREP, is designed to help demystify the contracting process and provide useful information on the fundamentals of running a business, its sponsors said yesterday at news conference at the college.

It also will help man businesses collaborate on government contracts as a prelude to bigger deals down the road, said Robin L. Douglas, chief executive of the African-American Chamber of Commerce of Westchester and Rockland Counties Inc,. one of the sponsors.

“The partners will definitely be prepared to work with the corporate community, which is our ultimate goal,” she said. They also will be better prepared to bid on work related to the Ground Zero rehabilitation in Manhattan, she said.

Among other things, instruction is provided on business controls, cost estimating, financial statements, accounting, recordkeeping and taxes. Instruction also will be offered on refining marketing strategies and strengthening communication and presentation skills.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, one of the sponsors, has worked with a PREP program in Queens since 1991. More than 1,200 businesspeople have completed the program, and 14 businesses have grossed more than $1 million in contracts with the MTA and other agencies said Kenneth A. Neal, director of the MTA's Office of Civil Rights.

The WCC workshops each last for 32 hours over four Saturday sessions and cost $150. The times and dates are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Nov. 2. 9, 16, and 23, and on May 10, 17, 31, and June 7. To register, call the African-American chamber at 914-699-9050, or the college's Community Services Department at 914-785-6985.