Boston Council Grills City Officials Over $2.6 Million Small Business Budget Cuts

BOSTON — April 30, 2026 — Boston City Council budget panel scrutinizes $2.6 million in proposed cuts to small business and supplier diversity programs. The Committee on Ways and Means, chaired by District 6 Councilor Benjamin J. Weber, heard from Interim Chief of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion Donald Wright, Director of Small Business Alicia Porcena, and Director of Supplier Diversity Andrea Carruth during a fiscal year 2027 budget review Wednesday. The single largest proposed cut is the elimination of $1 million in legacy business award grants — $30,000 awards to each of 30 neighborhood businesses annually — which officials said stemmed from the expiration of federal ARPA funds. The Department of Supplier Diversity faces an 11.2 percent budget reduction even as officials reported that only about 10 percent of total city contracting dollars, roughly $84 million, went to minority- and women-owned businesses in FY26 against an aspirational city goal of 25 percent. Councilors Ruthzee Louijeune and Sharon Durkan raised the prospect of private philanthropy backstopping the legacy awards, while Councilor Edward M. Flynn pressed unanswered questions about a financial irregularity in the Main Streets program and unresolved 17F information requests about the Office of Nightlife Economy's spike-drink training work.