In May, the South Florida Anchor Alliance officially launched the SFAA Regional Marketplace, which aims to help local, small, and minority-owned businesses access contracting opportunities at regional anchor institutions. 

The Health Foundation team is grateful to the 11 anchor institutions that joined the SFAA Marketplace: Miami-Dade County, Broward County Government, City of Miami, Florida International University, Broward College, University of Miami, Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Broward County Public Schools, University of Miami Health System, Broward Health, and Jackson Health System (coming soon). 

The Marketplace is a shared digital platform designed to make the process of finding opportunities and bidding on contracts to do business with large institutions easier, more accesible, and more inclusive. 

Collectively, the participating institutions procure more than $10 billion a year in goods and services, so this project has the potential to be a significant economic engine for local, small, and minority-owned businesses. 

Along with the SFAA Regional Marketplace launch, the Anchor Alliance also introduced a free capacity-building program that assists local, small, and minority-owned businesses in strengthening operations. Led by Broward College, in partnership with Prospera and the Florida Atlantic University Small Business Development Center, the capacity-building program provides local small businesses with guidance and access to an ecosystem of resources to build their confidence in bidding on procurement opportunities by strengthening their capacity to do business with anchor members. 

Two events, one in Miami Dade County and one in Broward County marked the launch as nearly 300 small business owners learned to access and engage in the virtual Marketplace. We were delighted to also be joined by Mayors Daniella Levine Cava and Lamar P. Fisher to celebrate the occasion.