A bill that is gaining momentum in the City Council aims to establish a minority youth entrepreneurship program targeted at Black and Latino young people that allows them a chance to compete for city contracts.
“We have been very assertive with making sure that we’re adding resources to young people on different career paths,” said Councilmember Kevin Riley, who sponsors the Minority Youth-owned Business Enterprise (MYBE) bill. “Something that we’ve seen a lot of young people are leaning into is entrepreneurship.”
The MYBE bill would require the city’s Department of Small Business Services (SBS) to establish a youth entrepreneurship and business development program for individuals between the ages of 18 and 30. The program would provide young business owners with training and work experience, as well as resources to navigate how to apply for and win city contracts, essentially building on the model for the current Minority Women Business Enterprise (M/WBE) program. The bill has been introduced in the City Council, but details have not been worked out in a committee yet or in any public hearings, Riley said.
According to the city’s latest report from the Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), despite showing improvement, racial disparities in regard to unemployment remain high. White New Yorkers are also employed, generally speaking, at higher rates — well above the rates for other races and ethnicities.
These inequities are hard enough for full-fledged adults or families to deal with, so high school and college students just breaking into the workforce can easily become marginalized.
The idea is, “‘Hey, if we’re giving MWBEs these contracts, what about putting [something] aside for young people who are starting businesses at a very young age.’ Not every young person wants to go to college,” said Riley. “Even if that young person wants to go to college, maybe they also want to have a business, so they can help themselves pay for college. This bill is supposed to navigate and give young people the opportunity to not only gain a contract with the city if [it] is able to pass, but showcase that the city is really invested in young people, especially young business owners.”
The youth behind the bill
A driving force behind this bill is Project 2028 founder Joshua Dieudonne, 27, who was a youth advisory board chair in 2022 and is most known for his annual Hip-Hop Holiday event that encourages local rappers, like A Boogie Wit da Hoodie and Joey Bada$$, and electeds to give back to young people. He also has a similar MYBE bill in the works with state legislators.
Beyond initiatives like “tax the rich,” Dieudonne believes that giving MYBEs a chance to have city procurement is an important component for affordability, economic upward mobility, youth ownership, and preparing for a workforce that incorporates AI and is likely to replace entry-level jobs of all kinds.
“Millionaires and billionaires give their children access to venture capitalists,” said Dieudonne. “They have access to pools of money that [an] inner city youth from a minority neighborhood isn’t going to have access to. I believe that the city and schools need to start giving out more contracts to youth and young adults so they could be able to afford New York City and to thrive in New York City.”
He envisions the program helping a college basketball student who is contracted to create the shirts for the basketball team … get mentorships and government contracts. “The fight shouldn’t just be about going against billionaires and millionaires, but it’s about how we create more wealth within the community,” he said.
Dieudonne said city agencies do an appalling job of advertising in a way that reaches young adults, which is why so many never hear about the programs and resources the city has to offer. He applauded individual elected officials, such as Mayor Zohran Mamdani or Councilmember Chi Ossé, who have been able to connect with young voters via social media. He recommended that the city’s Department of Youth and Community Development, CUNY and SUNY schools, and the Department of Education beef up their social media and online presence to be better at advertising their programs to young adults.
“It’s all about where their attention is. If all their attention is on Instagram, all they’re seeing is influencers,” said Dieudonne. “That really outshines the businesses — the boring businesses and everything like that.”
He added that plenty of youth and young adults have tried their best to sign up for the MWBE process, “but because they didn’t have the knowledge, they were rejected, and now they have to wait about a year to sign up for the process again. There’s a ‘language’ barrier.”
The funding for M/WBEs and participation also seems to fluctuate deeply with each administration, even under Black leadership. In the 1990s, M/WBEs received only 7% of the city’s contracts. Under Mayor David Dinkins, the city’s first Black mayor, that rate shot up to about 19% until 2001. In 2011, then Governor David Paterson worked to pass legislation that raised the cap of discrepancy purchases a state agency can award to M/WBEs.
Former Mayor Eric Adams made it his mission to hit the city’s lofty goal of giving out close to 30% of contracts to M/WBEs. Adams’s appointee Michael Garner still heads the Mayor’s Office of M/WBEs in the Mamdani administration.
According to the 2025 city comptroller report, only 5% ($2.4 billion out of $46 billion) of citywide procurement is actually awarded to M/WBEs. Businesses specifically owned by “women of color and Black and Hispanic American men” win far fewer contracts than others, said the report.
“The process is daunting. We know the procurement process takes a very long time within the city and it’s just about navigation,” said Riley. “I think when a young person becomes a business owner, they go into different kinds of [phases] …, whether you’re going to get a loan from a bank, whether you’re trying to figure out different ways to market your business, whether you figure out who your consumers are. I think there’s always the complexities of businesses and of course, the government doesn’t make it any better, but with this bill, you’re actually given the opportunity.”