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BOSTON - Monday,
November 15, 2021 - Mayor Kim Janey, in partnership with the Equity and
Inclusion Cabinet, Economic Development Cabinet, and Boston Public Schools
(BPS), announced a new food vendor purchasing policy meant to boost
business for local entrepreneurs. Starting on January 1, 2022, municipal
departments and divisions based out of the City of Boston’s Bruce M.
Bolling Municipal Building will be required to procure food for events,
lunches, and office functions from businesses located within a half-mile
radius of the Roxbury building or within the neighborhood boundary of the
site of the event.
“This vendor policy
marks an important opportunity to keep City dollars in our neighborhoods,”
said Mayor Janey. “This will improve equitable economic growth for our
small businesses, while also better connecting our City employees to the
communities they serve.”
This policy memo is
targeted to help the City of Boston leverage its purchasing power to the
benefit of the communities in which it operates. The policy will assist in
providing local food businesses with the opportunity to obtain
pay-per-purchase orders and smaller contracts for food procurement for city
events and lunches.
The Bolling
Municipal Building, named for Boston's first African American President of
the Boston City Council, is the headquarters for the offices of Boston
Public Schools. The City will assist in this implementation by providing
City departments with a preferred list of local vendors by address and
neighborhood.
"In order to
grow a community, you must grow the businesses in that area,” said Cheryl
Straughter, owner and chef of Soleil in Roxbury’s Nubian Square. “This
policy is a great segue for that to happen. No community can survive
without thriving businesses. One goes hand in hand with the other.”
“Supporting small
businesses, including local food entrepreneurs, is an important part of
Boston’s economic recovery and growth,” said Midori Morikawa, Chief of
Economic Development. “This purchasing program advances our efforts to
expand access to economic opportunity in city neighborhoods.”
This pilot presents
an opportunity to direct more than $150,000 a year to local businesses, for
BPS catering opportunities alone, based on budget estimates. This local
food purchasing policy will be studied for expansion to other City of
Boston departments.
“Boston Public
Schools is proud to support local businesses that represent the heart and
soul of our neighborhoods,” said BPS Superintendent Dr. Brenda Cassellius.
“As our staff works every day to nurture the future leaders of Boston, we
can also support the local economies in the communities where they live.”
This procurement
policy builds on the City’s work to include diverse, small businesses in
the City’s economic growth. In October, Mayor Janey announced LGBTQ+-owned businesses are being included
in the City’s Supplier Diversity program.
This initiative also
supports some of the objectives of the Good Food Purchasing Standards passed in 2019 which requires the
City of Boston to source food procurement contracts with locally-owned
small to midsize food processing operations.
“Catering and
smaller procurements provide a low barrier to entry for City contracting to
businesses that are the backbone of our neighborhoods and commercial
districts,” said Celina Barrios-Millner, Chief of Equity and Inclusion.
“Through this new policy, the City of Boston will continue to build working
relationships with local and diverse businesses and ensure that we are
supporting our vital local economies.” | 
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