Minority Business Center Opening In Boston

Minority business owners in Massachusetts are set to benefit from a new resource designed to help them gain access to contracts, capital and markets.

The U.S. Commerce Department's Minority Business Development Agency is scheduled to formally open its new business center in Boston on Tuesday to help minority businesses expand.

The agency says minority businesses accounted for nine percent of all firms located in Massachusetts in 2002, the latest year for which data is available.

The minority accounted for nearly 20 percent of the state population in 2010.

The new business center will receive a five-year federal grant worth nearly $1.4 million to operate to help Massachusetts minority businesses to compete globally and in the country.

The center will be operated by the Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council.