The Office of Partnerships & Outreach helps to facilitate Towson University’s anchor mission across campus and in the community. Anchor institutions are place-based, mission-driven entities such as hospitals, universities, and government agencies that leverage their economic power alongside their human and intellectual resources to improve the long-term health and social welfare of their communities. As an anchor institution, Towson University has an estimated annual economic impact of $2.1 billion on Maryland’s economy and plays a vital role in the state’s growth and stability through local hiring and buying, regional investments, and business and community outreach.
Our team leads a workgroup with representatives from across campus to help move this work forward, including procurement, HR, facilities, athletics, admissions, University Marketing & Communications, and the Office of Technology Services. Over the past year, the workgroup has focused on economic inclusion strategies related to inclusive purchasing and local hiring. We have made lots of progress in our local and inclusive purchasing efforts and so we asked Chanel Franze, manager of business inclusion and supplier diversity in the Procurement Department, to share how the work has gone over the past year and our goals for this year.
Q&A with Chanel Franze
One of our goals was to focus on improving communications about local purchasing and building trust between vendors and TU’s campus. Can you share how we worked towards this goal?
Improving communication for vendors: The first step we took was to update our website to provide more information about our supplier diversity efforts and support for small, minority, and veteran-owned businesses. We updated the TU (Towson University) Procurement Department website to include a Business Diversity and Supplier Inclusion page with information about the certification processes.
Improving communications for buyers: One of the biggest challenges was that the campus did not have an uncomplicated way to find small and diverse suppliers that they could purchase from. As such, we created a Small, Minority and Veteran Owned Business Directory on the new webpage that we update monthly, so both on-campus buyers and prime contractors can find and support certified businesses. Additionally, the Procurement card training slides were revised with new language and information about the socio-economic programs, including the veteran-owned business certification which was not previously included. The test required at the end of the training now includes more questions to ensure that procurement cardholders have a better understanding of these programs.
Engaging with buyers and vendors: We launched the Buy Better Campaign in mid-June to encourage procurement card users to spend more with local vendors in lieu of larger retailers such as Amazon and Wal-Mart. Communication about the contest was posted on our digital boards throughout the campus and in our TU Today, with weekly updates sent from the Procurement Department to include contest standings and tips on how to buy better.
We also held the TU Vendor Fair in June for buyers to attend and network with local vendors that were certified in Maryland as small, minority and/or veteran-owned businesses to learn how they could diversify their spending. Vendors were able to connect with potential buyers and connect in-person with TU’s Procurement office and other state agencies. Since smaller purchases can be done without the need for competition at TU, face-to-face interactions are crucial in changing the habits of buyers on campus.
What were the outcomes and highlights from the Vendor Fair?
We had 33 vendors and three state agencies attend the event as exhibitors. The Vendor Fair was different than others in that we had vendors on the floor as exhibitors, rather than attendees since our buyers on campus can have unique and diverse needs when purchasing. Getting the vendors and buyers in the room together really allows the vendors to explain their business better than any capability statement or website ever could. We had over 150 attendees, including attendees from other University System of Maryland (USM) institutions, state agencies, local colleges, and prime contractors that are currently working on campus for other projects. While there is not always an immediate opportunity at TU, our goal is to increase support for local small, minority and veteran owned businesses overall.
The feedback has been incredibly positive with many vendors asking when the next Vendor Fair is scheduled and how they can be included in any upcoming events. Many vendors said they made valuable connections and found the panel informative.
“The turn-out was really wonderful. Not only did we get to meet TU department heads, employees and staff, we got to network with ALL the vendors that attended. We had a question or two in regard to licensing and there were resources ‘on the spot,’ that not only answered our questions, but provided contact names, and numbers for follow-up. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet so many enthusiastic, enlightening business people.”
What are the next steps for this work and what are your goals for this year?
Our goals for local purchasing this year are to continue building out our communications strategy on this and increase participation in the Vendor Fair. We hope that continuous communication and education will help with getting the University close to meeting the State small, minority and veteran owned business participation requirements. Regarding communications, we would like to make a few updates to our website to include more information about upcoming events and how TU supports local and inclusive purchasing. We also plan to host another contest for procurement card holders, like the Buy Better Campaign, and do monthly communications with this group with tips on how to buy better and support local and diverse businesses.
The Vendor Fair will be held again in spring 2025 and our goal is to increase vendor and buyer attendance, along with representation from other anchor institutions in Greater Baltimore. To keep the momentum going from the first Vendor Fair, we are exploring how we can host meetings throughout the year with vendors and on-campus buyers so they can network and learn more about each other’s purchasing needs.
