Scores of Black and minority business owners and civic advocates assembled in Greensboro on Thursday to demand actionable solutions from state officials following the formal dismantling of North Carolina’s Office for Historically Underutilized Businesses. The elimination of the agency has left thousands of small enterprises reassessing how they will navigate state procurement pipelines and secure government contracts.
Convened at the historic International Civil Rights Center and Museum, the town hall meeting brought together entrepreneurs, community organizers, and regional lawmakers to address the sudden shift in state contracting protocols. The gathering was spearheaded by The Collective, a statewide coalition composed of key minority business advocacy groups, including the NC Black Alliance, the Greater Durham Black Chamber of Commerce, and the Greensboro Business League.
At the core of the coalition’s message is an urgent plea to ensure that minority-owned and disadvantaged small firms are not locked out of public sector opportunities. With the previous support structures dismantled, attendees emphasized that North Carolina must establish alternative pathways to help historically underrepresented entrepreneurs bid competitively for state-funded work.
To prevent immediate disruption to ongoing commerce, the coalition is urging the state to automatically transition all vendors previously certified under the discontinued HUB framework directly into North Carolina’s Small Business Enterprise program. Leaders argue that such an administrative transfer would allow registered businesses to retain visibility and maintain continuous access to commercial opportunities without starting the certification process from scratch.
In addition to shifting businesses into the Small Business Enterprise program, advocates are pressing the administration of Governor Josh Stein to institute a dedicated Advisory Council on Black Affairs. This proposed body would serve as an advisory mechanism to monitor economic fairness, review business equity issues, and present policy recommendations directly to executive leaders in Raleigh.
The heightened sense of urgency among attendees reflects tangible disruptions already being felt by local business operators across the state. Gerald Carr, the chief executive officer of Charlotte-based All-Pro Builders and Restorations, shared firsthand accounts of the uncertainty facing specialized contractors who have long depended on state frameworks to guide them through complex bidding systems.
Carr explained that the support offered by the former agency was instrumental in assisting small construction outfits to identify bidding opportunities and establish working partnerships with larger general contractors. Demonstrating the immediate economic fallout of the policy change, Carr revealed that his enterprise lost a prospective contract valued at upwards of $400,000 only three days after the state officially terminated the HUB office.
The dismantled agency held a long-standing presence in North Carolina's government operations, having been created in 1999 under an executive order issued by then-Governor Jim Hunt. For more than two decades, the office focused on leveling the playing field for minority-owned enterprises seeking to bid on state and municipal public contracts.
Throughout its operational history, the HUB program offered dedicated guidance and business development resources to its registered participants. Beyond providing specialized technical training, the office directly alerted vendors to newly opened state bidding opportunities and maintained a public, searchable directory that larger primary contractors used to locate qualified subcontractors.
When state lawmakers moved to close the office, the HUB initiative maintained an active registry of more than 6,000 certified enterprises across North Carolina. The abrupt dissolution of the office ended the state’s formal recognition of these specific credentials, leaving those thousands of registered vendors in administrative limbo regarding future contract considerations.
The dissolution occurred as part of North Carolina’s enacted 2026 state budget, which totaled $34 billion and encompassed several wide-ranging legislative mandates. The shutdown of the HUB office followed legislative maneuvers by state House Republicans, who successfully overrode several vetoes by Governor Stein to pass statutory measures defunding and restricting state-level diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
In response to the closure, the North Carolina Department of Administration stated that although certified HUB designations will no longer be renewed or recognized for state government contracts, affected enterprises remain eligible to bid on state work through standard public channels. The department stressed that small businesses are not barred from competing for government procurement dollars.
To ease the transition, the Department of Administration announced a specialized business accelerator program designed to assist firms navigating the altered landscape. According to state administrators, the initiative aims to provide transitional support and fast-track small-business certifications under the remaining Small Business Enterprise framework for enterprises impacted by the HUB shutdown.
However, business leaders and advocates at the Greensboro forum expressed skepticism, noting that general small-business classifications may fail to provide the specialized outreach, networking bridges, and targeted support that previously helped underutilized firms thrive. State lawmakers on hand, including North Carolina Representative Amos Quick III and Senator Gladys Robinson of Guilford County, joined Carr and fellow panelist Michelle Clark Jenkins to listen to community concerns and weigh legislative remedies.
For business owners like Carr, the abrupt changes highlight how difficult it is to compete when regulatory frameworks disappear overnight. As minority entrepreneurs push the Stein administration and the General Assembly for concrete contracting benchmarks and replacement programs, they maintain that clear, supportive rules are essential for small firms trying to navigate North Carolina's multi-million-dollar contracting arena.
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