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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 19, 2018)
September 19, 2018 The Skanner MINORITY BUSINESS ENTERPRISE EDITION Page 5 Special Business Edition MBE 2018 Federal Ad Spending with Black-owned Firms Dismal; NNPA Demands Action By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire ver the past five fiscal years from 2013 to 2017, federal government agencies have spent approximately $5 billion in advertising, but a minute share—$327 million—went to minority-owned businesses, according to a long-awaited report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The federal government serves as the largest advertis- er in the country. While non-minority-owned businesses continue to rake in billions of dollars in federal advertising money, Hispan- ic-owned businesses received just $192 million over five years—or about $38.4 million per year. Black-owned businesses net- ted just $51 million—or rough- ly $10 million per year over the five years covered in the new report, which was prepared over a nine-month period beginning last October. Con- gresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) requested the report. Native American-owned businesses were the recipi- O ents of $50 million in adver- tising spending over the past five fiscal years while Asian American-owned enterprises received $31 million over the same period, according to the report. Ethnicities classified as “oth- er” received $3 million. “Today, the National News- paper Publishers Association (NNPA) and the National As- sociation of Hispanic Publi- cations (NAHP) received the long-awaited report from the United States GAO, a study that was triggered by the NNPA and NAHP, working with Con- gresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton’s office, members of the Congressional Black Cau- cus, and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus,” said NNPA President and CEO Dr. Benja- min F. Chavis, Jr. “This factual report exposes gross, racial discrimination and the refus- al of the federal agencies cit- ed in the report to be serious about diversity and inclusion with respect to annual federal spending on advertising.” Dr. Chavis continued: “For the government to admit, to- day, on the record, that in the last five fiscal years, nearly $5 billion was spent on advertis- ing and yet only a total of $327 million was actually spent on FREDDIE ALLEN/AMG/NNPA GAO Report Finds Federal Agencies Spend Very Little of their Advertising Budgets with Black-owned Firms NNPA President and CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., speaks outside of the U.S. Capitol during a joint press conference with the NNPA and the National Association Hispanic Publications on Capitol Hill in March 2016. D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (far left) joined the press conference to call for the GAO report to examine how much federal agencies spend on advertising with minority-owned firms. minority-owned businesses… this report is not surprising nor is it shocking, but it does reveal the consequences of systemic racial discrimination in both Republican and Demo- cratic administrations when it comes to federal advertising spending.” NNPA Chairman Dorothy Leavell wasn’t surprised by the GAO report, but she still expressed disappointment in the federal government. Leavell, who is also the pub- lisher of the Crusader news- papers in Chicago and Gary, Ind., called the federal govern- ment’s current level of adver- tising with Black-owned firms “atrocious.” “We have the Census coming up, HHS with Open Enroll- ment, and what they’ve spent with us on a scale of 1 to 10 is less than 1,” Leavell said. “How do you get this government to be responsive to its citizens; to give them information; to work with our businesses, and to do all of the other things that fed- eral agencies should be doing?” The Department of Defense (DOD), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), See SPENDING on page 6
