Lt. Governor Dan McKee Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month with Small Business Roundtable
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, Lt. Governor Dan McKee hosted Advance RI’s first Latino Small Business Roundtable. Advance RI releases a monthly episode, broadcasted on PEG RI-TV, that focuses on the latest initiatives taking place at the Office of the Lieutenant Governor.
During this one-hour session, Lt. Governor McKee sat down with six representatives from the Rhode Island Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to learn how the state can improve small business development. Among the six attendees invited to share their perspective was Jhonny Leyva, president of Heroica Construction located in Providence.
“I get involved a lot with the state, minority business enterprises (MBEs), and women business enterprises (WBEs). The state demographics have changed big time since they did the last disparity study about 20 years ago. They haven’t done one since…the funding was removed,” said Leyva. “I think it’s important to do one to see the demographics of this state… Not just for vendors like myself doing work for the state, but also state agencies hiring more people of color.”
As a MBE and DBE certified business, Jhonny and the Heroica Construction team work hard to improve the local business environment for themselves, the subcontractors they hire, and the greater Rhode Island community. At the heart of these efforts lies the advocacy for small business growth, minority employment, and accessible training.
During the conclusion of this special roundtable, Lt. Governor Dan McKee announced his office’s new initiative to put collected job training funds to better use.
“We’ve identified that there are some job training dollars that are available and that are being underutilized. We’re going to make a major effort to get more of those job training dollars out on the street on behalf of the small businesses,” stated the Lt. Governor.
For more information on Heroica Construction, visit https://heroicaconstruction.com/.
For more information on Advance RI and Lt. Governor Daniel McKee, visit http://www.ltgov.ri.gov/advanceri/.
About Heroica Construction:
Founded in 2007, Heroica Construction began as a small residential painting company with a Rhode Island client base. Since then, the company has formally transitioned from a specialty contractor to a self-performing general contractor servicing multi-family residential, commercial, and institutional work throughout the East Coast.
