 Okay, so good morning again like to bring you greetings. My name is Eric Miller. I'm the contracting and compliance manager in the equity and inclusion department. I'm here before you today at this exciting time as we're able to bring back med week. Last year we were unable to come together and celebrate this important time in our community but we're excited that due to technology and really an opportunity that we all didn't want to pass up we decided to come together today and celebrate. So I'd like to bring you greetings and few things administrative wise. The fact that this is a webinar. Most of the attendees won't have full zoom capabilities. So you will be unable to unmute yourself and manipulate the camera, but you will be able to view all of the events. The panelists have been provided with access to those capabilities so you at any time that you're on the agenda that you have that you'll be making remarks you'll have the ability to share your screen. Unmute mute yourselves and also manipulate your camera. So just wanted to put that out there. If you have any questions or run across any challenges. Please feel free to use the chat box we have a support staff available to kind of assist you with those issues. Now in terms of another initiative item because of bandwidth issues for those who are panelists, we are asking that you disable your camera if you're not currently presenting just because we do have challenges with bandwidth from time to time and that does help to assist when we encounter those challenges. So thank you all in advance for accommodating that request. So in terms of why we're here today. This is a unique opportunity for us as a community to continue to support the accomplishments and achievements of our minority business communities. We've had a series of events that we will be using to highlight that. The first was the meet the team event that we had last night, which was excited that we was able to come together and provide access to connect with some of the collaboration partners that have committed to supporting the work within the city and the county of life. Today we have the med week luncheon. Tomorrow we're going to be able to come together and talk about some of the regional and local economic growth that the city is experiencing and how you as a business owner can try to gain access and be able to participate in some of that growth as well. Thursday night we're going to have a minority business fair where you'll be allowed the opportunity to basically provide a one to two minute pitch about some of the things products and services that you provide. Use that as an opportunity to connect with potential suitors for your services. And then on Friday, we're going to close out this week's event with a discussion about cybersecurity threats and some of the things that we can do in terms of preventative measures to protect against those threats that have really been more prevalent here in the last few years. What I'm going to do now is transition this portion of the ceremony over to my colleague at the county, Keisha Davis, and she's going to give us the occasion. Thank you, Keisha, and then she's going to be followed by Tammy Hall, the director at the North Carolina hub office. Thank you, Eric. I'm happy to be here. My name is Keisha Davis. I am the Durham County MWB coordinator. And I would like to share the occasion with you why minority enterprise development med week matters. In 1983, the president of the United States has proclaimed a national med week observance to recognize the outstanding accomplishments of minority business enterprises, and to honor those corporations and financial institutions supporting minority business development. The med week affirms local government, business and community organizations commitment to economic equity and inclusion. The mission of the med week in the city of Durham is to recognize and celebrate the contributions and achievements of minority and women owned businesses. This year has not been without its challenges. However, we continue to strive forward in our collaborative efforts to virtually present this week's series of events to encourage minority enterprise development and continue to grow. The theme of Durham's med week this year is thriving through adversity. This year's med week is even more special to those of us who have come together to collaborate and plan this year's event because our med week leader, the esteemed director of the city of Durham's department of equity and inclusion. Deborah Giles is retiring next year, and this will be her last med week leading us. Miss Giles has been a leader, a mentor, a friend, and a fierce advocate for minority enterprise development for many years and no med week occasion would be complete without us giving Deborah her flowers while she can still see them and saying thank you Deborah for your leadership and guidance. I will now turn things over to the director of the hub office miss Tammy hall. Thank you. Good morning, and thank you so much, Pisha thanks Eric for the invite. You know it's always a privilege to be here and participate in Durham's med week. Why because Durham is my home and Durham is where I have lived. My kids have gone to school there and it is just a great place to thrive and prosper so it is most privilege for me to be here, participate in support Deborah and all that she has done for the city of Durham. So that being said, I am here today to share with you that for every year under Governor Cooper's leadership, we have increased our spend with minority and women owned businesses. That is a huge plus that could not have been done without many of you that are participating this morning with us as we celebrate. I look forward to seeing many of you on Friday as well as we open the MBDA Minority Business Development Agency Center here in North Carolina and the RTP. This is such a huge honor for the hub office. And I look forward to celebrating it as well with you. So now I will present to you and my team, my staff will put in our chat, the proclamation from Governor Roy Cooper. Governor Minority Enterprise Development Month 2021 by the governor of the great state of North Carolina, a proclamation, whereas diverse entrepreneurship encourages progress towards innovative solutions to the problem of economic growth and stability, and supports the promise of thriving communities that embrace inclusion and a better life for all families and whereas the state of North Carolina recognizes minority owned businesses as key drivers of economic success at the national, state and local levels, and the urgency to aid such businesses in post pandemic recovery. And whereas COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted communities of color across the United States. Many of these individuals experience higher illness and death rates and more severe economic complications in minority owned businesses have also declined across the country, as many are unable to financially stay afloat due to the pandemic. And whereas, according to a report from the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research from February to April of 2020, the number of active business owners in the US decreased by 22%. The largest on record since the onset of the pandemic, black owned businesses declined by 41%. Latino owned businesses decreased by 32%. Asian owned businesses dropped by 26%. And women owned businesses failed by 25% nationwide. And whereas the Andrea Harris social, economic, environmental and health equity task force was established under executive order number 143 to address the social, environmental, economic and health disparities in communities of color disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 in North Carolina. The Department of Administration's Office of Historically Underutilized Businesses, better known as the hub office, will operate the first North Carolina state business enterprise program to promote the usage and support of small contractors and businesses to competitively participate in procurement opportunities within the state of North Carolina. Whereas the North Carolina Department of Transportation and CDOT Office of Civil Rights is committed to enforcing federal laws, state laws, regulations that prohibit discriminant discrimination for customers and employees participating in North Carolina programs that receive federal and or state funding. And whereas the state of North Carolina recognizes and celebrates the achievements of minority owned businesses and encourages participation in programs that will honor the contributions of minority owned businesses and impact the expansion of access to economic opportunity statewide. Now therefore, I, Roy Cooper, governor of the state of North Carolina do hereby proclaim October 2021 as minority enterprise development month in North Carolina and command its observance to all citizens. Thank you. And I will turn this back over to Eric Miller. Thank you very much. Thank you, Miss Hall. Now we're going to have greetings and proclamations from the mayor, Steve Shul. Yes, Mr Miller. It's great to be here with you all. I really appreciated Miss Hall's proclamation from the governor I want to say that Tammy Hall represents the city of Durham on the Raleigh Durham airport authority. And we're really proud to have her as a representative. Thank you for your proclamation. I want to just say two things. First of all, this is the first time I have publicly heard the announcement about Miss Giles about Miss Giles retirement Miss Giles could you come on the screen for a moment. If you don't know Deborah Giles and most of you do. You are missing, knowing a great leader. I have known Miss Giles for for decades Miss Giles and worked closely with her for many years and her capacity on the county commission and with the city. And she is a wonderful leader. And I've so appreciated the words that have already been spoken about her as a mentor and a leader. Miss Giles, you will be sorely sorely missed in the city. But I know you're heading for a well deserved retirement. And that means you and I can have a cup of tea together. And I look forward to it. But thank you so much for your service it has been extraordinary. And I just wanted to appreciate that. Thank you so much for your kind words. I also will say that we have to this year has has taught us many things and Miss Hall's what Miss Hall read about the loss of minority and women owned businesses is critically, critically important, and one of the things that we did this year during the pandemic was with our friends from Duke University, and our friends from the county. We put together $3 million actually later on added some cares act funding about three and a half million dollars to assist small businesses and more than two thirds of those businesses were women owned and more than two thirds were minority owned most of them African American. And I'm very proud of that. But what it says to me as it shows the way for what we can do in the future. This can't be a pandemic only something we do only during pandemics we have to figure out ways to get much needed capital to women owned black and brown owned businesses, and I know that we can do that here. And I'm a proclamation, whereas one of the city's primary goals is to have a strong and diverse economy which reduces poverty and enhances the quality of life of its residents. And whereas the ingenuity innovation and tenacity, many minority and women entrepreneurs have courageously met the challenges posed by the pandemic. We're shining examples of the 2021 minority enterprise development week theme, thriving through adversity, and whereas minority and women owned businesses are helping to power the engine of economic recovery for the city, state and nation. And whereas the city of Durham is committed to the ongoing evaluation of its policies procedures and practices. So this business is conducted in a manner that ensures minority and women business businesses receive equitable access to all available opportunities. And whereas minority and women entrepreneurs are to be honored, not only as valued resources for the provision of goods and services, but as vital to our economic success. Hi, I'm Stephen M. Shul, Mayor of the City of Durham, North Carolina, who hereby proclaim October 4 to 8 2021 as minority enterprise development week in Durham. And hereby urge all residents to take special note of this observance, participate in many scheduled activities, and fully utilize the wide array of minority and women business enterprises in our community. Witness my hand this the fourth day of October 2021, Stephen M. Shul, Mayor. Thank you all so much for being here today. Thank you for including me in this wonderful occasion. And I look forward to the rest of the rest of the activities for minority enterprise development. Thank you Mayor Shul for those comments and reading of the proclamation. It was very much appreciated. Next we're going to move on and we're going to have greetings and proclamations from County Commission chairwoman Brenda Howerton. Hi everyone. It is indeed a pleasure to be with you this morning and I too want to extend my congratulations to Deborah Giles in retirement and knowing Deborah for quite some time. It's, it's absolutely a joy to know her and knowing that she's begin to take some time for her. I know and take care of those grand babies. So congratulations Deborah. So, and as the mayor talked about the funding, you know, the business, I just want you to know it was a collaboration between the city and the county and it never is enough. It never is enough that we do for our businesses. So the proclamation Durham Board of County commissioners proclamation minority enterprise development week 2021, whereas it is a policy of the county of Durham. They're purchasing by the county and contracts with the county be open to all people and be free of discrimination on the basis of race and gender. The Durham County minority and women enterprise witness section eight, that's 132 provides minorities and women equal opportunity to participate in all aspects of the county's contracting programs, including, but not limited to employment. Construction projects and or materials and service contracts consistent with the law and whereas diverse entrepreneurship encourages progress towards innovative solutions to the problem of economic growth and supports the promise of thriving communities that embrace inclusion and a better life for all families. And whereas, according to the Stanford Institute of Economic Policy Research, the impacts of the COVID-19 have contributed to a staggering 41% drop in African American business owners. 32% decline in Latinx business owners 22% in Asian business owners and a 25% reduction in women owned businesses nationwide. And whereas GS 143-128 provides for good faith efforts to be made in an effort to ensure fair participation of minority and women businesses owners in all county projects. And whereas it is farther the policy of the county to conduct is contracting programs so as to prevent such discrimination, correct present discrimination, and to resolve claims of such discrimination. And whereas the County of Durham is a sponsor of the minority enterprise development week, and whereas during minority enterprise development week, we recognize that our county and our economy are strong because of the hardworking men and women who comprise America's minority business community. They constantly demonstrate the courage it takes to overcome adversity, seize opportunity, and contribute to our shared prosperity. Now, therefore, be it resolved, I, Brenda Howerton, Chair of the Board of County Commissioners, and on behalf of the Board of County Commissioners, do hear back the claim October 4th through 8th, 2020 as minority enterprise development week. In Durham County, the 27th day of September, 2021. Brenda Howerton, Chair of the Board of County Commissioners. Thank you. Thank you, Chairwoman Miss Howerton up for those comments and proclamations. We really do appreciate their involvement of our city and county officials in the process. We understand how much how busy you all are so we appreciate you making that time of your schedule to support today's event. Thank you I look forward to seeing you in some of the events over the next few days. Thank you again. And so now we're going to move on to the recognition of our honor guests and sponsors. We're going to have Mary Crawford for Duke, assist us with that. Thank you, Eric. Thank you, Mr Mayor, Tammy and Keisha as well for those heartfelt sentiments that we all share as we wish Deborah her best. I would like to warmly welcome and extend special recognition to each person in attendance at this year's virtual Med Week honor ceremony. Thank you to the executive department heads and staff from federal, state, county and city government who are present. Now I'm unable to identify all of you by name. Please accept this acknowledgement, along with our gratitude that you took the time from your busy schedules to join in the celebration. This year, the sponsors represent entities whose staff participated in planning all of the Durham med week events. A special thanks this year goes to the city of Durham, Durham County government, historically underutilized business organizations like SANSKA, Samet Corporation, Lachace, Durham Public Schools, Duke University, Duke Health, SAS, the current consulting LLC, the greater Durham Black Chamber of Commerce, the greater Durham Chamber of Commerce, and the National Institute of Minority Economic Development. If any of us on the med week planning committee, please enjoy the celebration today. Thank you Mary for that for those recognitions and in considering that we're operating in a virtual environment, the importance of the collaboration and the support of our sponsors was key to being able to deliver an event and a week that really highlights, you know what we're trying to celebrate. The significance of those relationships were clearly evident and being able to do something in this environment, which we all felt was important. So I want to extend a special appreciation to those sponsors and planning committee members again. Thank you Mary. So now we're going to have the introduction of our keynote speaker and that's going to be done by Denise Barr. She's the regional diversity manager with the Chase construction, Denise. Good morning. Thank you, Eric. Good morning everyone. It is a great honor and a pleasure to be here today. And definitely our honor to introduce our speaker for today. Mike Areola is the district director of the Small Business Administration. Mike oversees an office that drives economic development by assisting local entrepreneurs were starting and growing their business. Mike also directs the implementation of SBA programs related to access capital, business advising and government contracts. The SBA operations in North Carolina consists of the district office in Charlotte and satellite office in Asheville, Raleigh, and Wilmington. I'm going to be into the point so I want you all to please welcome me and give it a warm welcome to Mike Areola. Thank you so much, Denise for that introduction and my thanks to the team for med week 2021 for having me today. Just a second so that I can share my screen. Okay, it is med week so I want to welcome everybody and wish you all a very happy med week. It is also I hope you can see my screen is as it transitions. It is also National Hispanic Heritage Month, as well as women's national national women's small business month so special welcome to our Hispanic and women owned small businesses as well. We have a recap of where we've been the last 18 months in terms of our COVID relief programs and where where the SBA is is going forward. And so just by way of a recap with all of the various programs that we've had going on. Okay, we've done about 268,000 PPP loans totaling about 18 billion in an ordinary non COVID year SBA does about 1 billion and lending to all kinds of small businesses through our various SBA loan program so we we've managed to squeeze 18 years of lending into this period since the inception of the PPP program so far we've done almost 100,000 direct economic injury disaster loans to help folks recover from the after effects of the COVID pandemic. We've given out 140,000 advances another 20,000 in targeted advances that's free money that folks do not have to repay shuttered venue operators grants totaling just over 400 for live entertainment venues of all kinds throughout the state of North Carolina. And the restaurant revitalization fund finally went to about 3000 restaurants and other food service enterprises of all kinds across the state of North Carolina. The only programs that are available now are the economic injury disaster loan and the associated targeted events and supplemental targeted advanced programs so those are still available, and I'll say a word about those in just a moment. Let me talk briefly about the PPP program because it's had its reach has been very far and wide, but still towards the inception of the PPP program I think it was pretty clear that SBA needed to improve its reach to minority and women own small businesses and so that's exactly particularly with the second round. SBA was very intentional about doing even more outreach to minority communities. We improved our collection of racial and demographic data as well so that we can better assess the degree to which we are reaching minority small businesses. We improved our efforts to reach out to and to actually generate applications from the self employed. And finally, we did a pretty good job in enlisting lots of community financial institutions to come on board with PPP lending in order to help our minority or firms. Let me give a quick update on the COVID idle program this is the one that's still available we're accepting applications until December 31. So folks that were not able to get a PPP loan folks that are a little bit apprehensive about whether or not there's going to be restaurant revitalization I want to let you know that the COVID economic injury disaster loan program is still very much available up until December 31. These are very low interest rates interest rate loans up to 30 years, plus your first two years of payments are deferred so you have a two year break before the loan payments start to kick in. Again, over 30 years. So the monthly loan payments are very, very low, and small businesses can use COVID idle funds for really any ordinary type of working capital purpose. One of the things that we did to enhance this program is that we allowed for the repayment of debt as well and I'll go into that in the next slide, but you can apply at sba.gov slash EIDL. Minimum credit score of 570 so we've relaxed that quite a bit. 625 for loans greater than 200,000. Sorry, greater than 500,000. We did increase the loan amount from 500,000 to 2 million very recently and we're going to start approving those $2 million up to $2 million applications beginning October 8. But the part that I really wanted to point out is now you can actually use an economic injury disaster loan to pay off your commercial debt. So if you have relatively high rates of interest that we're taking out for business purpose just know that you can use an economic injury disaster loan to repay that going forward. So this is my personal outlook for the SBA in terms of our mission for the state of North Carolina. I just covered all of the various COVID relief programs that have been available I mentioned briefly about the fact that the COVID idle program is still available for small businesses as well but what have we seen at the SBA and what kinds of things do we need to take into account going forward. And I think it's I think it's important for me to let you all know that my personal mission is to insert the SBA in such a way as to make a difference in conversations about income inequality and economic empowerment because if there's one thing that we learned from our experience over the last 18 months or so that is not everybody has fair and equitable access to capital. So my main mandate for myself is to position the SBA in such a way as to be a lot more active in those conversations and wherever we can come up with solutions that can provide even better access to capital because it's access to capital is an ongoing and an enduring thing that takes into account some of the historic injustices that communities of color have experienced over generations. This impact on folks ability to access capital now. And I guess what I'm saying is that it's important for the SBA to be involved in those conversations to do what we can to ensure fair and equitable access to sources of capital to small businesses of all kinds of community black and brown communities. And so with that my intention is to do even more robust outreach to black Hispanic Asian American Pacific Islander communities to women audiences and to the LGBTQ plus community in particular where we can let them know about the programs and services that are available to them. If there's any one thing that comes up in my own discussions with small businesses about the SBA is they sort of know maybe what the SBA does but they don't know exactly how useful some of our programs can be. So that's what I would like to do continue to do even in a more vigorous way is to let folks know that the SBA is here and available for their assistance. And that means deploying our programs to just these kinds of communities that I mentioned among which are regular loan programs SBA loan loans operate in partnership now with lending partners not just banks but also credit unions financial technology companies and all of the community development financial institutions institutions that we can list. We also have 504 loans that are available for folks wanting to expand purchase of building fixtures and equipment at very low rates of interest and with a low down payment. And finally there are SBA microloans available through qualified intermediary lenders across the state of North Carolina. And you can find them through SBA.gov slash lender match so these programs are going to get a lot more attention over the course of this post pandemic environment and at the SBA, we're actually seeing an increase in calls and emails wanting from folks wanting to know how do I get a business plan done. Where can I get capital to start my business. What is the best type of SBA loan to expand my business so it's very hardening it's very refreshing to see that the volume of polls that we're getting are starting to shift from you know hey I need my PPP loan or I needed idle to more regular types of inquiries and that's a very good sign that we're seeing in terms of the overall health of the economy. So we've got financing programs available. We've also got certification programs available for folks wanting to tap into the very lucrative federal contracting marketplace. Federal spending account amounts to about $700 billion a year for goods and services of all kinds. And our four primary programs can help make those happen for our small businesses. Our flagship 8A business development program where there is a preference target of 3% of all contracting dollars should go to socially and economically disadvantaged businesses such as those under our 8A program. The HUBZone program has a preference target of 3% also of all federal contracting dollars. Women owned small businesses 5% and service disabled veteran owned small businesses can take advantage of 3% of all federal contracting dollars. The percentages seem a little bit small but when we're talking about contracting opportunities of several hundred billion dollars, the opportunities for procurement contracting are actually pretty significant. And what the SBA does is we help with the certification of these small businesses so that they can tap into the $700 billion a year marketplace. So that is available for folks as well. And finally, we have an entire ecosystem of counseling and training resources. We have the Small Business and Technology Development Center which is a partnership between the SBA and the University of North Carolina system with 15 SBTDCs across the state, full-time paid counselors to help with all aspects of starting and expanding a business. We also have the 10 chapters of score which are volunteer mentors. We have the one veteran business outreach center at Fayetteville State University for our veterans audiences. And finally, we have the five women's business centers across the state of North Carolina in Charlotte Fayetteville, Asheville, Durham, and most recently at Winston Stadium State University, our very first SBA women's business center to be co-located at an HPCU and we're very excited to have them on board. So going forward, I would say that our mission, the SBA's mission, broadly speaking, is to insert the SBA, like I said, in conversations of economic empowerment across the state of North Carolina through our financing programs, through our federal procurement programs, and finally through the counseling and technical assistance that we provide through the SBA, as well as through our various partners so that we can make a difference in the lives, particularly of our minority-owned businesses. And so with that, I want to thank you so much for having me today. I wish you all again a happy Med Week and visit us sometime at SBA.gov.nc. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you, Mr. Ariola, for that insightful and informative message. On behalf of those in attendance, I would certainly like to extend our appreciation for taking the time to share that information with us. For me, a few takeaways, I think there's a certain intentionality that we need to have in our approach to ensure that the targeted assistance is reaching those intended communities. It's important that I think people are aware that there are still loan programs out there to support our business owners as you try to transition out of the impacts from the COVID pandemic. And also, you know, be knowledgeable of local resources. A lot of times, I think we lose sight of the impacts that our communities have and the resources that they can provide to support our efforts moving forward. And then I think it's a hopeful takeaway for us that maybe we are getting to a point where we can transition out of some of the needs that, you know, we were encountered with during the pandemic and focus on really building more sustainable operations moving forward and being able to tap into the expertise and resources that are available for all of us. So thank you again, Mr. Ariola, for your presentation and for your time as well. So now what we're going to do is transition over to the awards presentation portion of the ceremony and we're going to end Mr. Ariola is sharing information about the slide presentation and SBA resources in the chat for those who are interested. So now we're going to transition over to the awards presentation, which is going to be headed up by Dan Stafford. Thank you, Dan. Thank you, Eric. And also, again, thank you, Director Ariola for that great informative information. As I said, I'm Dan Stafford with the National Institute of Economic Development. Some may have also may not still be familiar with the name which is still as was the North Carolina Institute of Minority Economic Development. We're going to focus on the years in the MBDA Minority Business Programs and the SBA Women Business Center programs, but we want to focus today on the event, which is really the, if I can say it is really the heart and soul of med week where you get down to the actual businesses that have put in the grit and the effort to get things done. As we know, there's probably over 9.2 million minority business enterprises around the United States that support jobs and generate more than over 1.8 trillion in our economy, sorry, every year. And during Minority Enterprise Development Week, our nation recognized the importance of these minority businesses, the impact they've had on our communities. As Akeesh had mentioned earlier, of course, you know that med week was an issue at 90 speed during the growing sustainable event on national, regional and local levels. In med week, we recognize are those hardworking minority men and women who have comprised America's minority business community, where they've demonstrated the courage where it takes overcome adversity sees opportunities, contribute to the shared prosperity. And locally here in the city of Durham, it had they have the city itself has been the forefront in North Carolina as an advocate of minority businesses through the med week observances. The city of Durham through Deborah Giles leadership has kept minority and women on the mid business community challenges opportunities impact alive and is a vital part of North Carolina's economy. And because of the sustained commitment, we have seen over the years, grassroots minority enterprise events that have arisen in other North Carolina communities whether they be Charlotte Asheville Greensboro Greenville Fayetteville Jacksonville Raleigh Wilmington Shelby and it keeps going on and on. So to Mr. Giles and to the city of Durham, we are extremely grateful and always will be to your said fast devotion to this calls. So let us now celebrate some of these local business successes. And we will have a tie here in our first category. And let me go ahead and probably mentioned to that of course since we are virtual, which means we are not physical. These awards will be actually mailed to the recipients. Shelly McFader began bridge point general contract in 2007. Today bridge point is grown into three companies bridge point construction services bridge point general contracting and bridge point civil. All the combined revenues of over $30 million bridge point based in Durham, North Carolina is the woman owns a pub certified firm focusing on commercial and healthcare renovations. Now the firm has also been a contractor for Duke for many, many years and their relationship there is strong. It's a, it's a we are always in this together mentality that ensures projects are completed correctly on time. And they willingly will make sure they'll go those extra miles to ensure tenants and others are not interrupted in the work as it progresses and goes on. The companies receive the Durham magazines 2021 best in Durham award the 2020 triangle business journal fast 50 award 2019 triangle business journal leadership triangle impact award and many others. Shelly is would be considered stuff is a commanding theme is a commanding female success in a male dominated industry being quite construction is she's found that people have asked her these questions over and over. She said like being a woman at the construction table, which now just makes her kind of laugh and respond, not belonging to the table. Well my gosh I never ever crossed my mind. So let's switch congratulations to bridge point general contracting. Shelly McFader for the Durham 2021 med week outstanding achievement award in construction. There's a way that we can. Yeah, hey, thank you very much. Yeah, very thrilled to have been nominated by by Mary and Duke. We have been doing a lot of work for them and it was just I was thrilled to get nominated for the award and just wanted to say thank you to so many people that are on this call. Deborah Giles for sure in the early days of me getting started, helping to make sure that you know I had all my paperwork done that we were staying on top of it and to like bring us into awareness of opportunities that were there. Eric as well and Tammy hall, both supporters of bridge point thank you very much. You know I always just wanted to grow a company that one people wanted to work at. And I do think I have a very strong staff and in a very busy market, you know they stick with me and I think it's about culture and then I think that culture translates to our clients and and luckily we do do a lot of private work, but we're all we've done work for during public schools for the city of Durham for wake tech for NC State. So we do, we do dabble in the public realm as well but I have, I just want to say thank you very much we're very thrilled for the recognition Thank you so much. Durham based firm SGS contract founded 2014 is a license general contractor in North Clare. I'm sorry North Carolina and South Carolina and the firm's a mission to transform designs into reality. The core values of integrity trust customer service effectively executing those projects and developing lasting relationships. As President Brant Smith is over 15 years construction management experience has worked in numerous industries in fields of the K 12 schools the higher education research laboratories hospitality, municipal mixed use properties parking structures, I mean very versatile activities. Durham graduation from hillside high school finance degree out of Hampton University, master's in construction management from Western Carolina University, and I have to pause and which is shout out to a fellow Western Carolina University alumni. Brant saw the rising construction growth impact in Durham and decided Durham would be the home SGS. Right for a while now SGS has had a growing relationship with chase construction working on UNC Duke and Durham public school projects. So another congratulations if you will SGS construction, Brant Smith of the Durham 2021 med week outstanding achievement award in construction. Thank you, Brant. Thank you there brand. Thank you so much. I appreciate the opportunity. And the acknowledgement, I'd like to thank the chase for for nominating me in the city of Durham. Glad to be a part of med week look forward to continue to grow in SGS and building Durham. I would also thank Eric Miller. He was a part of starting. He was there when I first started SGS, and he has assisted us in growing SGS and we look forward to continue to grow in the future. Okay, again, thanks to SGS CSGC construction. Evoke is a Durham based architectural firm. Specializing in architecture, design, visioning and master planning. Its principles are licensed in North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Texas. And evoke believes that the remarkable architecture enhances the lives of its occupants. And then directly on projects through places such as NC, North Carolina Central University, the box yard and Durham public schools. And equally important to their designs is their community engagement with organizations in the area such as the Durham smart initiative. And then the minority contractors of North Carolina, Durham Rotary Club Durham Chamber of Commerce preservation Durham, the minister for Stephen Ministries and big brothers big sisters. Thank you. So would you relevant, would you wish you congratulations to evoke architecture, Terry Canada for Durham 2021 med week outstanding achievement award in professional services. I do not believe that Miss Canada is an attendance today. Eric Miller will accept the award from Miss Canada on her behalf. Atlanta's graphics, which don't doing business as universal printing and publishing under Bob Moore has been serving the Triangles in 1999. Universal provides design print mailing communication services to the firms throughout the triangle area. More started the business in 1979 and Cameron village in the Cameron village area in Raleigh in a 400 square foot space. But he's always stayed on top of innovative technology and now the business sets in a 17,000 square foot facility out in rock research triangle park. Also adding fulfillment warehousing services to the very instrumental to Duke University during the early days as well as continued days now of the COVID pandemic providing staffing, staffing plans, contingency staffing plans to making sure timely delivery of medical forms were able for progress and procedures. Universal's value promise to his customers is unyielding when making you look better on paper on time. So congratulations to Bob Mora, Atlantic graphics, doing business and universal printing for Durham 2021 Med Week Outstanding Achievement Award non professional services. Joe Moyet would be accepting in Bob Murray's behalf, and we will make sure again our congratulations to universal printing and publishing will make sure they definitely will receive their award. Keisha Davis has been with the Durham County government since 2012. Currently serves as the minority and women business enterprise coordinator for Durham County's minority and women bits enterprise program. She is the county's internet internal departments and external minority women business owners communications. She facilitates minority women business enterprise. She is the county's private sector counterparts to do that want to do business with the county to ensure there's a strong understanding and adherence to the county's MWB program. At the same time, she strives to provide those these business enrichment resources to existing and inspiring small minority women owned firms were designed to contract with local government specifically of course county Durham County to help cultivate a more robust small and minority women own business community. For Durham, Keisha created a social media presence for the MWB program with the implementation of a dedicated Facebook page, YouTube channel, help get the Durham County's MWB website up running. And Keisha's commitment to social equity and the response of overseeing of Durham County's hub spending has demonstrated her leadership and excellence in promoting any of the inclusion and the advancement of minority women owned businesses. So to honor please Keisha Davis in WB coordinator for Durham County government Durham 2021 individual diversity advocate of the year. Thank you Dan, and thank you for my to all my colleagues who nominated me. And my honor to serve Durham County government in the capacity that I have as MWB coordinator, and it has been a privilege to work along with so many of my colleagues. I'll be remiss without mentioning Deborah again who took me under her wing so many years ago, Tammy Hall, Eric Denise, so many of you have, it has just been a privilege to work with you all and to be recognized is a great honor and my organization the support that I have received from the commissioners on down and working with the city Mayor Scholl with the Bloomberg initiative. I just want to say thank you for the recognition. And Joe Moy has joined, and maybe you can recognize him. Oh, that's what yeah, please go ahead and give a brief statement thank you again for on your on your honor. Thank you for giving award non professional services. Joe you ever come on Joe you should be able to unmute yourself and turn your camera on so you might be recognized. It appears he's having technical difficulty. So we'll move forward. Again, the congratulations to the Bob Moore and Joe for that for that award. That's always the benefits of live TV and the National Institute of Economic Development, also formerly known as a North Carolina Institute of Minor Economic Development, also known as the Institute is a nonprofit economic development organization that for 35 years has helped clients harness the power of diversity for chief business and economic objectives. The program is founded in 1986 as a North as the North Carolina Institute of Minor Economic Development with a grant from the Z Smith Reynolds Foundation, and the North Carolina Association Minority Business to diversify the North Carolina business base as a strategy for expanding economic opportunity business, government, many leaders, all recognized in the globalization changing demographics technology we're rapidly changing the game, replacing traditional industries with new ones that require different skills and strategies. And there was a need to engage significant untapped segments of the population, women, racial and ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, rural residents and others. This was a business imperative. So the Institute would be the force that would lead the way. And more than 30 years later the Institute remains the only organization of its kind in the country, focusing on economic growth to effective business diversity. North Carolina's model of collaboration and a successful sexual ecosystem are recognized as a model for other states and regions. Through its four primary work centers, Center for Entrepreneurship Center for Community Investment Research Policy Center Center for Professional Services, as well as its documented impact over the years of a billion dollars in financial and contractual awards to small diverse businesses, over 10,000 clients, the creation of over 3000 jobs. It continues to work with small businesses, supplier diverse firms, organizations, large multinational corporations, local governments, state federal leaders to open doors of opportunity, create an environment where business of all kinds can grow and thrive. So let's wish if you would with me now congratulations to the National Institute of Minority Economic Development, Kevin Price, Presidents and CEO for the Durham 2021 Medway Agency Diversity Advocate of the Year. I don't believe that Mr prices logged on. I don't, or is there anyone else who will accept on behalf of the Institute. I'm not answering the question just yet because I don't see if there's anyone else there at the Institute, before I would. There may be a lot of representation from the Institute but they don't have the ability to, to speak in this format. Well then, of course, and in lieu of that, you know, in support for the for Kevin price of the rest I accept that award and with great honor thank you so much. This is our ending of our award presentations. So I will turn it back to Eric. Thank you Dan, and I would like to, on behalf of all of our attendees today to congratulate again all of the award recipients. It certainly is an accomplishment in light of, you know, our current circumstances to be able to succeed. We're dealing with those additional challenges that, you know, most small business owners confront on a regular day these obstacles that we've been confronted with over the past few years and certainly made things more of a struggle and so we want to again extend our congratulations to all of the awardees who will deserve recipients. And thank you again Dan. So we have reached the portion of our program where we really want to, again, thank you all who have been involved in the pulling together this event in the virtual format as you see there are always challenges when you're dealing with these events live. We hope to be able to recognize and recognize and, you know, recognize and provide notification to those individuals who were unable to attend today and for those who weren't that we did accept the award on their behalf we would certainly like to extend appreciation on their behalf to the committee as well. And so in terms of closing comments, there's a few things that I wanted to highlight. Again, I want to thank Mr Ariola for that very appointed message I think the timing is relevant. And it really resonates with some of the things that we are dealing with as a community, and I think it's important that we continue to keep all of this in context and see how we fit in the process and how we can support continuing to work. And also again I would like to extend congratulations to all of the award recipients, and to highlight again where we are in this week's event, in terms of events and what we have slated for the remainder of the week. We'll close out today, the lunch and ceremony tomorrow we'll have a discussion about the regional and economic growth that we're seeing in the area and some of the ways that we as business owners and advocates and you know just interested individuals can find out about what's going on in our community and how we can participate. Then we're going to have the minority business fair, followed by the cyber security discussion which is very important I'm looking forward to myself. Also, you know, in terms of where we're at. We're certainly at a point in our communities where it's important that we continue to support one another and that's really the message of this week want to figure out what we can do as collaborative partners to continue the work. Find out creative innovative ways that we can support one another, create more sustainable partnerships and be able to do, you know, establish relationships that can go long beyond, you know we're at today, and to that end, I think we're making a lot of steps in that direction. So I really want to thank you all for your attendance because it makes it possible for us to continue to do the work of the support, and I would be remiss if I didn't again extend my recognition of Miss Giles and the impact that she's had on all of us in this space and her contributions to the community. I think it's very individual to endure more specifically. I think she certainly left an impression on those that she's encountered. She certainly left behind is going to leave behind a legacy. And it's something that we should continue to celebrate. And I think that we all in that vein to continue the work and show our support by continuing to support what she started to build in our own ways. I'd like to thank you all again. This event is being live stream and a lot of the information that was shared via the panelists and presenter is also going to be accessible via links in the chat so feel free to access those. If you have any questions, have any follow up feedback that you would like to share. Certainly our committee will be around for the remainder of the week and all of our events so please pull one of one of us aside reach out to us. Let's continue the conversation. Thank you again, and look forward to seeing you all tomorrow. And that event tomorrow will begin. That's going to be the regional. So I want to make sure that I have until that event actually will be utilizing the zoom link that we sent out for the Monday event as well so if you have that one will be the same zoom link that will be utilizing. That event will begin promptly at one o'clock and it'll go to 2pm. So if there's nothing else I would like to thank you all again and look forward to seeing you tomorrow. Thank you.