Strategic Services Division

Austin Small and Minority Business Resources Strategic Services Division administers and oversees the City of Austin’s Small and Minority Business Resources’ (Austin SMBR) outreach and communications engaging the small business community; manages high-priority initiatives and special projects; and monitors and report the department’s key performance indicators, measuring the impact of the City’s Minority Business Enterprise and Women Business Enterprise (MBE/WBE) Procurement Program.

The Division develops and implements internal and external communications, collaborates with SMBR Divisions and partner departments to ensure effective outreach and engagement is performed to stakeholders, works closely with internal partners to implement strategies and processes to improve service areas, and effectively tracks and reports department performance.

Strategic Services is responsible for the department’s marketing, outreach, communications; develops key reports for leadership; monitors and reports the department's key performance data; manages technology assets and coordinates special projects.

Through its work, the Strategic Services Division led a:

• 90.4% increase in ASMBR hosted events from FY24 to FY25
• FY24: 21 hosted events / FY25: 40 hosted events
• 78.6% increase in ASMBR outreach event registrations marketed by Strategic Services from FY24 to FY25
• FY24: 2,300 outreach event registrations / FY25: 4,085 outreach event registrations
• Assisted with 15+ special initiatives, such as Active Construction Equity (ACE) Outreach Plan, 2026 Gateway 2 Concessions series, Small Business Spotlight series, SMBR’s Strategic Planning sessions.

Strategic Services works collaboratively with its department's Certification, Compliance and Resources Divisions;  Austin Economic Development’s Small Business Division; Austin Aviation’s Stakeholder Relations; Austin Communications and Engagement and various other department's across the City ecosystem. 

These partnerships fostered significant projects such as, the Certified Small Business Spotlight series, the Active Construction and Equity Plan for the Airport Development and Expansion Program, and development of the Subcontractor Resolution Form.

The division is led by Patricia Bourenane, division manager who brings over twenty years of project management and public administration experience at the City of Austin. Under her leadership, the division has focused on implementing new strategies to enhance the department’s social media presence, led the department in strategic planning to ensure the department has clearly defined goals to align strategies and performance measures, and implement process improvement strategies. Patricia works closely with the Director’s Office, Certification, Compliance and Resources to ensure stakeholders remain engaged and aware of services.