City of Knoxville departments that purchase millions of dollars of supplies and services annually will attend the East Tennessee Purchasing Association's (ETPA) 5th Annual Diversity Business Expo on Thursday, March 7, 8-11:30 a.m. at Bridgewater Event Center, 205 Bridgewater Road. Attendees should register at no charge at Eventbrite.com. 

Representatives from these City departments will be present to meet and discuss the products and services they purchase: Parks & Recreation; Housing and Neighborhood Development; Public Service; Knoxville Police Department; Knoxville Fire Dept; Fleet Services; Purchasing; and Engineering. 

Additionally, ASM Global, which manages the Knoxville Convention Center and other city-owned facilities, will attend and be available to answer questions about their service and purchasing needs. 

"Events like these are important to our community because they facilitate connections between local, diverse, minority-owned, women-owned, service- disabled veteran-owned businesses, businesses owned by persons with disabilities and the agencies that are looking to do business with them," says Purchasing Agent Penny Owens. "One of the City’s goals is to increase the percentage of business we do annually with our diverse businesses."
 
The City of Knoxville is a member of the ETPA along with Blount County, City of Chattanooga, Hamilton County, Hamilton County Schools, Knox County, Knoxville Utilities Board, Knoxville's Community Development Corporation, Public Building Authority, Tennessee Board of Regents, Tennessee Valley Authority and the University of Tennessee system.

Also at the Expo: an educational session on "Credit for Small Businesses" presented by John Nolan, Y-12 Federal Credit Union Manager Community & Business Development will be held at 9 and 10 a.m.

The City’s Purchasing Division is on Facebook at BizWithCityKnox. Learn more about the division and its Small Business & Diversity Outreach efforts at KnoxvilleTN.gov/Purchasing.