The Pierre Firm-Goodwille Pierre LLC

01/13/2026

This educational, healing-centered virtual workshop is designed to support DBE, SBA 8(a), and similarly situated applicants in understanding the context, purpose, and emotional demands of the Socially Disadvantaged Personal Narrative.

To become certified as an SBA 8(a) or Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE), applicants from certain demographic groups who were once rebuttably presumed to be socially disadvantaged are now required to prepare and submit a Socially Disadvantaged Personal Narrative. This narrative requires applicants to describe experiences of exclusion, discrimination, economic hardship, or systemic barriers, often for review by individuals they have never met.

Notwithstanding the broader social dysfunction reflected in this new requirement, the more immediate challenge applicants must navigate is the process of writing and disclosing deeply personal experiences to strangers—a process that can be emotionally taxing and psychologically complex.

This workshop responds to that reality by centering psychological safety, emotional boundaries, and informed preparation. Participants are not asked to disclose personal experiences. Instead, the session focuses on understanding the framework, history, and emotional impact of the Socially Disadvantaged Personal Narrative so participants can approach future drafting work with clarity, care, and confidence.

This workshop focuses on:

1. Understanding the concept of being socially disadvantaged and how that concept has evolved over time

2. The emotional and psychological impact of writing a Socially Disadvantaged Personal Narrative

3. Trauma-informed approaches to reflection, boundaries, and self-protection

4. Preparing participants for future, more detailed narrative-writing workshops

This workshop does not cover:

1. Step-by-step drafting of the Socially Disadvantaged Personal Narrative

2. Legal advice or application strategy

3. Current agency evaluation standards or scoring criteria

Hosted by J. Goodwille Pierre, Esq, founder of Success in Business® (The Pierre Foundation, Inc.) CEO of Goodwille Pierre LLC and Managing Member of The Pierre Firm PLLC

Panelists:

Miriam Colbert, PhD, LPC, NCC, Principal, Nirvana Behavioral Health
Raymond Christy, Former ACDBE / DBE Airport Planning Manager and Unified Certification Program certification official, Salt Lake City International Airport
Panelists share historical perspective, professional experience, and reflective insight. This discussion does not provide evaluation guidance or application advice.

Who Should Attend
This workshop is ideal for:

DBE, SBA 8(a), and MBE applicants
Professionals preparing personal narratives for certification
Business owners needing to translate complex experiences into eligibility facts
Consultants who support DBE / MBE / 8(a) certification packages
Anyone seeking guidance on writing about disadvantage without emotional harm

Writing a DBE Social Disadvantage Personal Narrative Without Re-Traumatizing: Tools for sharing your story with care and boundaries. Success In Business®

01/08/2026

Success In Business® presents Resilience on the Record: Writing a DBE Social Disadvantage Personal Narrative—Without Re-Traumatizing. Tools for sharing your story with care, boundaries, and evidence

About This Workshop: This educational, healing-centered virtual workshop is designed to support DBE, SBA 8(a), and similarly situated applicants in understanding the context, purpose, and emotional demands of the Socially Disadvantaged Personal Narrative. To become certified as an SBA 8(a) or Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE), applicants from certain demographic groups who were once rebuttably presumed to be socially disadvantaged are now required to prepare and submit a Socially Disadvantaged Personal Narrative.

Notwithstanding the broader social dysfunction reflected in this new requirement, the more immediate challenge applicants must navigate is the process of writing and disclosing deeply personal experiences to strangers—a process that can be emotionally taxing and psychologically complex.

This workshop responds to that reality by centering psychological safety, emotional boundaries, and informed preparation. Participants are not asked to disclose personal experiences. Instead, the session focuses on understanding the framework, history, and emotional impact of the Socially Disadvantaged Personal Narrative so participants can approach future drafting work with clarity, care, and confidence.

Narrative

Writing a DBE Social Disadvantage Personal Narrative Without Re-Traumatizing: Tools for sharing your story with care and boundaries. Success In Business®

12/15/2025

12/03/2025

12/02/2025

Success in Business

Attention HUB Vendor:

This is to inform you that emergency rules, effectively immediately, were posted to the Texas Register addressing the Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) program on Dec. 2, 2025. To ensure that the Comptroller's office implements and administers the HUB program in a constitutional manner, these emergency rules eliminate each classification that could violate the U.S. and Texas Constitutions. Without those classifications, the program will serve small businesses owned by service-disabled veterans (SDV) regardless of race s*x or ethnicity and will be referred to as Veteran Heroes United in Business or VetHUB.

HUBs that are currently certified under a classification other than SDV will be removed from the HUB directory upon the effective date of the emergency rules. This letter shall serve as notice that we have reviewed the classification of your business and determined it should be removed from the directory. If you believe this removal is in error or if you alternatively qualify as an SDV, please notify us at VetHUBprogram@cpa.texas.gov within 30 days, and we will collect the appropriate documentation to move to SDV status. If we do not hear from you, or if you cannot meet the SDV criteria, your business’s certification will be revoked under 34 Texas Administrative Code Section 20.291. If you were certified as an SDV through one of the state’s certification partners, your certification will remain intact.

These actions will not affect existing contracts with the state of Texas. Please visit our website for to access frequently asked questions.

11/20/2025

A healing-centered workshop for DBE and 8(a) applicants on writing social disadvantage narratives without re-traumatizing.

Success In Business® presents
Resilience on the Record: Writing a DBE Social Disadvantage Personal Narrative—Without Re-Traumatizing
Tools for sharing your story with care, boundaries, and evidence

About This Workshop
Writing a DBE or SBA social disadvantage narrative can be emotionally taxing. Current rules require applicants to provide individualized accounts of discrimination, exclusion, or systemic barriers—often forcing people to revisit harmful or traumatic experiences.

This healing-centered, trauma-informed, and legally grounded workshop is designed to help you tell your story with care, boundaries, and evidence—without re-traumatizing yourself.

Across two hours, you will learn how to transform lived experience into a clear, structured, and eligibility-ready narrative that protects your emotional well-being while meeting federal program requirements.

A healing-centered workshop for DBE and 8(a) applicants on writing social disadvantage narratives without re-traumatizing. Success In Business® presents

10/03/2025

Rolling Back Civil Rights in Contracting

The Interim Final Rule issued October 3, 2025, and TxDOT’s immediate suspension of DBE contract goals and related reporting, is deeply troubling. This action not only undermines decades of progress in ensuring fair participation of minority and women-owned businesses in federal transportation contracting, but it also raises profound legal concerns.

First, the outright suspension of DBE goals and demographic reporting directly conflicts with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits recipients of federal funds from engaging in practices that result in racial discrimination, intentional or otherwise. By halting data collection and goals, TxDOT effectively eliminates the very compliance mechanisms necessary to enforce Title VI. Without demographic reporting or goal setting, systemic disparities can remain hidden and unaddressed, perpetuating exclusion.

Second, the IFR contradicts binding Supreme Court precedent, including Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Peña (515 U.S. 200, 1995), which recognized the compelling governmental interest in remedying the effects of past and present discrimination in federal contracting, provided programs are narrowly tailored. Similarly, in Grutter v. Bollinger (539 U.S. 306, 2003) and more recently Fisher v. University of Texas (Fisher II, 579 U.S. 365, 2016), the Court reaffirmed that remedying historic and ongoing racial disparities can justify race-conscious measures under strict scrutiny.

The IFR’s blanket removal of race- and s*x-based presumptions—without providing a lawful, narrowly tailored alternative—amounts to a de facto elimination of civil rights protections in contracting. It goes beyond tailoring and instead strips away statutory protections Congress deliberately designed under the DBE program (49 C.F.R. Part 26).

Finally, suspending DBE goals and recertification requirements places minority and women-owned firms at an immediate competitive disadvantage. This runs counter to congressional findings underlying the DBE statute itself: that “Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, and other minorities” have been historically and systematically denied equal opportunity in federally assisted contracting. Congress reaffirmed this compelling interest through multiple reauthorizations of the DBE program.

In short, the IFR and TxDOT’s response appear not only regressive but in violation of Title VI, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and established Supreme Court law. Stakeholders should consider immediate legal and policy challenges to protect the integrity of the DBE program and the civil rights of disadvantaged contractors.

National Bar Association Texas Department of Transportation Airport Minority Advisory Council American Bar Association Houston Minority Supplier Development Council 100 Black Men of Metropolitan Houston NCBW100.Houston Rho Beta Beta Graduate Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated Desert of Texas A.E.A.O.N.M.S. Prince Hall Shriners

Rolling Back Civil Rights in ContractingThe Interim Final Rule issued October 3, 2025, and TxDOT’s immediate suspension of DBE contract goals and related

09/18/2025

FTA-Funded Opportunities • DBE Matchmaking & How-To

City of Beaumont – Transit Contracting Forum

Who’s participating:
City of Beaumont — Beaumont Transit • City of Port Arthur — Port Arthur Transit •
South East Texas Regional Planning Commission (SETRPC) • Other agencies invited
Who should attend:

- Certified DBEs and small businesses ready to prime or subcontract
- Firms exploring DBE certification (TUCP) and vendor registration
- Prime contractors seeking qualified DBE partners and suppliers

What to expect:

- Briefings on upcoming FTA-funded procurements and timelines
- How to do business with local transit agencies (registration, insurance, compliance)
- Meet-and-match networking with agency buyers and prime contractors
- DBE/TUCP and SAM/UEI guidance tables (information

FTA-Funded Opportunities • DBE Matchmaking & How-To City of Beaumont – Transit Contracting Forum Who’s participating: City of Beaumon

09/17/2025

FTA-Funded Opportunities • DBE Matchmaking & How-To

City of Beaumont – Transit Contracting Forum


Who’s participating:
City of Beaumont — Beaumont Transit • City of Port Arthur — Port Arthur Transit •
South East Texas Regional Planning Commission (SETRPC) • Other agencies invited

Who should attend:

- Certified DBEs and small businesses ready to prime or subcontract
- Firms exploring DBE certification (TUCP) and vendor registration
- Prime contractors seeking qualified DBE partners and suppliers

What to expect:

- Briefings on upcoming FTA-funded procurements and timelines
- How to do business with local transit agencies (registration, insurance, compliance)
- Meet-and-match networking with agency buyers and prime contractors
- DBE/TUCP and SAM/UEI guidance tables (information

FTA-Funded Opportunities • DBE Matchmaking & How-To City of Beaumont – Transit Contracting Forum Who’s participating: City of Beaumon

09/15/2025

Register at:

FTA-Funded Opportunities • DBE Matchmaking & How-To City of Beaumont – Transit Contracting Forum Who’s participating: City of Beaumon