This afternoon the US Conference of Mayors awarded the City of Portland its first 2019 Partner Annual Small Business Friendly Award of the year. Receiving the award were members of the Economic Development Committee, chair Spencer Thibodeau. and Mayor Ethan Strimling. The ceremony took place at the State of Maine Room, at City Hall.

Jeff Bean, the managing director of Partner America said Portland was chosen because it is an open city, a robust Chamber of Commerce, is business friendly and it has lots of resources. This city also provides more grants than most cities of a smaller size” said Bean. Councilor Thibodeau said the story is really “about risk takers in Portland. There are exciting opportunities here in Portland.”

Mayor Ethan Strimling said one of the values of the US Conference of Mayors is the net working that can be done by Mayors across the country. “Small businesses are the backbone of Portland’s economy. “We are not a milltown. We have an incredible workforce. If anyone doesn’t understand how important immigrants are, we would have 1,000 fewer businesses than we do without them. We need immigrants,” Strimling said.

Greg Mitchell, Director of the Office of Economic Development, said this award is important to Portland because it calls attention to our city and could attract businesses and workers to the area.

This is the official nonpartisan organization of the nation’s 1,295 cities with populations of 30,000 or more. www.usmayors.org.