Our Vision
Economic parity for communities of color, driven by the entrepreneurial spirit!
Our Mission
help entrepreneurs of color succeed!
Through accomplished and experienced professionals, MEDA offers one-on-one business consulting, training, leadership development, government contracting assistance, access to financing, networking with peers, assistance with minority certifications, strategic planning, and more.
We help produce:
New Businesses
New Jobs
Taxpayers
RoleModels
Community Vitality!!
MEDA’s successful performance results in:
- Sustainable businesses that employ diverse work forces and create quality
jobs.
- Business owners who make positive contributions to their communities, become leaders and are role models.
Our History
Metropolitan Economic Development Association (MEDA) was created in 1971 by a group of Twin Cities business leaders to address the issues of rapidly rising poverty, crime and unemployment in a new and improved way. These visionaries believed that supporting the creation and development of minority owned businesses was a positive, and achievable, approach to lead Minnesota minorities into mainstream economic life and to provide them with equal economic opportunities.
Organizational founders combined three area agencies to create MEDA: St. Paul’s Community Development Corporation, Minneapolis’ Urban League’s Project BEAM, and the Minority Business Development Task Force of the Minneapolis Urban Coalition. The original financial commitment of $227,000 came from the Twin Cities business community, private foundations, individuals and the Office of Minority Business Enterprise of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
MEDA provides assistance to businesses owned and managed by ethnic minorities. Unique among economic development organizations, MEDA's services are directed toward new and existing businesses whose owners are committed to making an impact through:
- job creation
- their firms' growth and profitability
- community involvement