In a hospital, cleaning can be a matter of life and death. So medical facilities are used to choosing their cleaning services conservatively. But Toni Silva, head of the UPMC Minority/Women-owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE) mentoring program, saw something in All Purpose Cleaning (APC), a minority business enterprise she met through a local business association.

Today, All Purpose Cleaning is meeting UPMC’s rigorous standards daily on three contracts and several subcontracting jobs. The company’s outlook has expanded as well, broadened by the opportunity to branch out into the medical market.

The UPMC M/WBE program is based on the simple belief that businesses can grow, lives can change, and communities can be strengthened. All it takes is a clean shot.