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The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has received the 2011 Anchin Corporate Advocacy Award for the agency’s new Small Business Mentoring Program, which is designed to provide new opportunities to minority, women-owned and disadvantaged business enterprises.

The MTA Department of Diversity and Civil Rights and Office of Construction Oversight established the mentoring program to provide a “supportive framework for eligible firms to develop and grow within the construction industry, and to establish stable, long-term business relationships with MTA,” agency officials said in a prepared statement.

The program is set to exceed its first-year target by awarding $14 million in contracts to small businesses, with 10 of the first 14 contracts awarded to MWBEs certified by the state of New York. State legislation passed last year required that at least $10 million in such contracts be awarded in the first year.

MTA plans to expand the Small Business Mentoring Program by 50 percent next year, with a long-term goal of awarding $100 million in contracts annually.

Meanwhile, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) has received the Illinois Technology Association’s 12th annual City Lights Award for “best strategic use of technology” through the agency’s Train and Bus Tracker programs.

The programs provide estimated train arrival times for all 144 stations across eight rail lines, as well as for buses at 12,000 stops along 140 routes.