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A Fair Share and a Fair Shake
The Greater New Haven Business & Professional Association's George Clarke
has spent three decades quietly advocating for small and minority-owned business
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Business New Haven
11/3/1997
By: BNH
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George Clarke, 66, is president of Clarke Cleaning Control, secretary of the Greater New Haven Business & Professional Association and a director of the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce. He visited BNH recently to discuss a subject close to his heart: the fortunes of small and minority-owned businesses.
Describe your own company.
Clarke Cleaning Control is an outgrowth of Clarke House & Window Cleaning Services Inc., which was started by my father in 1918. We're a janitorial service mainly, contract cleaning, after-construction cleaning, some house cleaning and temporary services.
Speaking of services: What's your service area?
We work in the greater New Haven, greater Bridgeport and greater Waterbury areas, mostly.
How is business?
Business is...business [laughs]. Janitorial jobs are the base of our business, because you know what you're going to be doing six months from now. The other types of miscellaneous cleaning - either you're overwhelmed with work, or you have a drought. Actually, the climate is getting much better for business, in general.
When did things start to turn around for your company?
About a year ago. It hasn't caught up all the way for small businesses yet. The first thing the larger businesses had to do was to get themselves healthy. Once they get healthy, then they start taking on other [contractors and subcontractors].
How many employees does your company have?
About 100, full- and part-time.
What is the Greater New Haven Business & Professional Association?
It was formed 30-odd years ago by about five minority business and professional people. They got together because they were having problems getting loans. They started talking and attracting other members - I joined maybe six months [later] - and deciding that in unity there was more strength. We started dealing with [the U.S. Small Business Association, SBA], talking with them about how to help minority businesses.
How did the SBA then compare with the SBA now?
SBA did a lot more, and a lot better, then. SBA committed more dollars and more resources than they do now. The commitment from the federal government then was to move away from the hand-out, give-away social programs and toward business. The thinking then was, 'If we're going to put $1 million into an area, we don't want to put that [solely] toward assistance - giving people money so that they can buy food stamps - we will make it easy for John Doe, if he wants to start a sewing company, to start the company.' The understanding was that there will be a high failure rate; but there will also be a high success rate. As a result, a lot of people who did not make it then learned an awful lot more about [business] administration, budgeting, and today are in good positions working for someone else.
Or perhaps have tried again and
succeeded.
Right. But over the last ten, 15 years, SBA's lending requirements have become so stringent that by the time the average small-businessperson is able to get the money, [he is] out of business.
SBA people in Connecticut would dispute that.
The pendulum has started to swing back to the middle - but it hasn't got there yet. It's still on...I guess I should say, the right side.
But back to the Business & Professional Association...
We went to the SBA, told them what we were interested in. They had an officer come down and work with us. [About 1972], the chamber of commerce formed a coalition of bankers that started meeting with members of our organization every other week. They helped our membership to structure loan packages. As a result, the bankers were able to work with the businesses they thought were viable and helped them strengthen areas that needed it - whether it was administration, production, marketing and sales. As a result, we got a lot of businesses started and got an awful lot of loans for businesses that were already [operating].
How about today?
Our organization continues to do pretty much the same thing it did then. We have a membership that goes from professionals to businesspersons to people who work for other people but are on a decision-making level. As a result, when there's an opening for a decision-making-level person in an organization - minority organization or not - we usually can come up with someone we recommend for the position. And when there's a job opportunity or contract opportunity we try to inform our membership and network to where that opportunity is. So we stay involved as members because it's good business for us.
The group has an agreement with the city to provide mentoring to other, perhaps newer, small businesses. Tell us about it.
Not too long ago we entered into a contract with the city to assist minority businesses. That includes some mentoring, some loan-packaging assistance and some technical assistance. That just started about a month ago. It's really just doing what we've been doing all along.
How sensitive to the concerns of minority-owned businesses is the DeStefano administration?
This administration is a no-nonsense administration that had to come in, balance the budget and, while doing that, make sure that businesses and [workers] were able to earn enough money so that the budget could be balanced. This mayor has met with our organization, has tried to do what we've asked him to do, and seems to be sensitive to small and minority businesses. There are things we'd like to see accomplished that have not been accomplished, but there seems to be a desire in this administration to accomplish them.
What are some of those things?
Ordinance 12.5 was passed by the Board of Aldermen quite a few years ago and said that a percentage of all contracts the city [awarded] had to go to minority businesses. It was 15 percent to minority [businesses], six percent to women-owned businesses, and 25 percent of hiring [by city contractors] was to be minorities. As a result, minority businesses got more [business]. After that, the Association of General Contractors fought that and broke that ordinance. They won a court case that had far-reaching negative effects on minority businesses. After that, our percentages of city work went way, way down. It was reported by the [city's] Commission on Equal Opportunities that only $16,000 was [awarded] in minority contracts last year. The city disputes that figure. This administration, after we met with them about it, has tried to turn that figure around, I think. The mayor has said he's distressed by that figure, and I think that's one of the reasons they signed the contract with our organization: to try to help small and minority businesses. I think this administration recognizes that if businesses is suffering in general, the area's going to suffer. The other thing that's helped is that this administration and the [Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce] seem to work closely together. [President] Matt Nemerson works hard, gets things done and seems to have an open ear to opportunities for local business.
Do you see the minority-owned business community growing in New Haven?
Compared to 30 years ago, yes. Thirty years ago, the average minority business was on Dixwell Avenue, with a few scattered in other places, [such as] Grand Avenue and Congress Avenue. Now, there are minority businesses throughout Westville, throughout the Hill, out State Street...
...In Chapel Square Mall...
Yes - heavily in Chapel Square Mall. So I'd say the minority business community has grown - not only in retail, but in services. And then there are a lot of minority business people out there who you might never see: plumbers. Electricians. Painters and renovators. Security services. And so forth.
There seems to be a lack of engagement between the minority business community and what you might call the 'downtown,' white business community. Why?
Two reasons: One is, the bulk of minority businesses are not in the center city; they're in the neighborhoods. Secondly, at one time it was almost impossible to do business without going into the center city. Nowadays, people in the minority community might not go downtown unless they have a reason. When I was growing up, a person was an affluent person in my neighborhood [Dixwell] if they were a chef at Yale.
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