Each year, the Urban League hosts Equal Opportunity Day (EOD), which provides a diversity discussion among corporate and civic leaders about the challenges of achieving equality while honoring local equal opportunity advocates. This year’s EOD will focus on that success and explore the best and promising practices in growing small and minority businesses. The buying power of African American and Latino consumers tops $1 trillion annually, and research indicates that these groups are also the fastest growing number of new small business owners. Moreover, as Oklahoma City looks to improve efforts in minority supplier development, COVID-19 has exposed some of the challenges for small and minority owned businesses.

According to recent research by the University of California- Santa Cruz, of businesses shuttered since February 2020, 41% of those businesses were Black-owned compared to just 17% of white-owned businesses. The National Urban League (NUL), through unique partnerships between the corporate community and NUL affiliates, has made significant impact across the nation growing small and minority businesses and supporting minority supplier development through entrepreneurship centers.