Federally-funded WA business center closes this month, leaving ‘huge void’
Leaving the corporate world after 30 years to explore entrepreneurship was intimidating, but Arti O’Brien knew years ago that she was ready for the change.
“I wanted to be an entrepreneur,” she said in an interview with The News Tribune on June 24. “I wanted to help people [and] mentor young folks coming in the workforce because I didn’t get a good mentor until later in my life.”
O’Brien purchased a small traffic control company in Tacoma in 2016, Advanced Government Solutions, and grew the company.
She said she credits the business’s success to the support she received from the Washington Minority Business Development Agency Business Center.
The center will close its doors June 30.
The statewide program, housed at Tacoma City Hall, is losing its funding because of an executive order signed on March 14 by President Donald Trump. The order dismantled the federal Minority Business Development Agency, which funds the local center. As part of his widespread cuts to federal agencies, Trump ordered the MBDA and other programs removed “to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law,” because he deemed them unnecessary, according to the executive order.
The Tacoma center opened nearly nine years ago. It’s one of about 35 such centers in the country, and one of two operated by a local government. Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards told The News Tribune in an interview on June 17 that she suspects all of them will close before the end of the year.
Woodards said she wants residents to know that she doesn’t think this is okay.
“The Washington State Minority Business Development Agency Business Center in Tacoma helped strengthen our local, regional, and state economy,” she said in a statement on June 10 announcing the closure of Washington’s center. “Undermining such efforts weakens this foundation, and is both shortsighted and unacceptable.”
Washington’s MBDA Business Center has provided services and support to small minority-owned businesses as owners navigate entrepreneurship. MBDA has provided start-up workshops, training events, business loans, financial literacy tips, various certifications, and more, according to the center’s website. The center also assisted entrepreneurs with forming connections and customer growth.
The center has served 131 businesses across the state, Woodards said, 34 of which are in Tacoma.
Tacoma’s Community and Economic Development Department received a notice on April 29 from the U.S. Department of Commerce formally terminating federal funding for Washington’s MBDA center, according to Woodards’ statement.
The city operated the center for several years, “aiming to connect businesses across Washington state with resources,” Tanja Carter, the director of the city’s Community and Economic Development Department, said in an emailed statement on June 20.
“However, in recent months, the national MBDA program has faced significant operational instability, leaving local operators like us navigating a landscape of uncertainty,” Carter wrote. “This has included the shutdown of the national client data system, a lack of clear communication on funding, and no written confirmation of a potential one-year grant extension that was part of our original agreement.”
That uncertainty led the city to the decision to end its operation of the center.
“The current volatility of the federal funding environment presented a clear choice: continue with an unstable federal partnership that posed potential risks to other vital city programs, or pivot to a more secure and sustainable model of local support,” Carter wrote.
The Washington MBDA Business Center operated with a grant through the federal agency that provided up to $400,000 annually, Tacoma spokesperson Maria Lee said in an email to The News Tribune on June 24.
“While the city administered the funds locally, the federal agency, as the original source, retained the ultimate say in how its money was spent in support of its federal strategic priorities,” Lee wrote.
21 states, including Washington state, joined together to file a lawsuit against the Trump administration for withholding such funds, Lee wrote. A federal judge recently granted an injunction, requiring that reimbursement to continue through the end of the city’s contract this month. Getting access to the funds has been difficult, Lee said.
“While this ruling mandated the ‘restoration’ of MBDA’s grant-making capabilities, the city of Tacoma notes that the transition has presented substantial challenges,” Lee wrote. “The federal decision to effectively dismantle the MBDA and then ‘restore’ it with entirely new staff has created a difficult environment. The structure and hierarchy at the national level has not been restored yet.”
‘It takes a village, and MBDA has been a big part of my journey’
O’Brien’s traffic control company, AGS, places and rents out traffic control equipment like signs, lights and cones throughout the city, according to the business’ website.
Washington’s MBDA staff reached out to O’Brien after she bought the company in 2016. She was one of the first businesses the center worked with after it opened.
She said she had minimal experience running a business at the time.
The agency helped O’Brien connect with contractors, fund initiatives, secure contracts and supported her through seminars, she told The News Tribune.
“It takes a village, and MBDA has been a big part of my journey,” O’Brien said.
AGS is no longer considered a small business, but O’Brien stayed affiliated with the center as a mentor, she said. She’s presented at MBDA seminars, providing insight to new business owners.
The closure of the center will leave “a huge void” in the community, O’Brien said.
“I was lucky enough that I had a corporate America life, but a lot of the businesses don’t have that background,” she said. “They need these kind of organizations who can guide them.”
The closure will also impact the center’s two employees. Those federal jobs will go away when the center closes. The city will provide them with employment support services, Lee said.
“What made MBDA great was the people,” O’Brien said. “They constantly are fighting for the small businesses to help them grow.”
Through local partnerships with the Economic Development Board, the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce, the Tacoma Urban League, the Washington State Department of Commerce and WorkSource Pierce, the city is looking for ways to maintain support for minority entrepreneurs.
“It is crucial for Tacoma’s business community to know that the conclusion of this single federal program does not mean the end of support,” Carter said in her email. “Our priority is clear: to provide consistent, high-quality, and direct support to the businesses right here in Tacoma.”
The city is open to restarting the center in the future, Woodards said, under different circumstances.
“We will continue to monitor federal executive orders and contract requirements closely,” her statement said. “Should conditions change, I will work with my City Council colleagues to direct the City Manager to prepare a proposal supporting the relaunch of the Washington State Minority Business Development Agency Business Center in Tacoma.”
She doesn’t expect that to happen soon.
“I don’t anticipate any hope under the current administration,” Woodards said.
This story was originally published June 28, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
