This story has been updated

NEW YORK -- Before stepping onstage at Delgado Community College in New Orleans Monday, legendary investor Warren Buffett turned to a local businessman who had just completed a training program and handed him his wallet as a joke. "I almost fell to the floor because it was so heavy," laughed Kendall Washington, the owner of a pest control company.

Buffett may have been humoring him, but he was serious about helping Washington and the 29 other small business owners who completed a training program in management, marketing and accounting through Goldman Sachs's 10,000 Small Businesses initiative. The Wall Street firm launched the $500 million initiative -- the single largest charitable contribution in the bank's history -- in partnership with Buffett in November 2009. The bank committed $300 million to help small businesses access capital through lending and gifts over a five-year period and $200 million for business and management education programs. Amid an anemic environment for small-business lending and widespread criticism of Goldman's trading practices, the initiative promised to do some good and help restore the firm's reputation along the way.

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June 6: Warren Buffett, Mayor Mitch Landrieu, D-New Orleans, and small business owner Kendall Washington join Morning Joe to discuss the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program. Washington is the owner of the New Orleans business, Safe Spot Pest Control, and he's a graduate of the program.

Mayor Mitchell J. Landrieu

2011 State of the City Address

Mahalia Jackson Theatre for the Performing Arts

New Orleans, Louisiana

April 28, 2011

Click here to download the full text version of the 2011 State of the City Address.

Click here to download the City of New Orleans Summary Report: Year One.

Good morning, thank you for being here. Thank you to Archbishop Aymond for today’s invocation. Thank you to the KIPP Renaissance band and Band Director Lionel Williams for their wonderful music. Thank you to our elected officials, and especially the City Council, whose partnership with us this past year has helped to lay the foundation for progress in the years ahead.

On Inauguration Day, nearly 365 days ago, we spoke about the challenges we must face together. We gave testament to the belief that there is nothing that cannot be fixed, no problem that cannot be solved. No divide that cannot be bridged. We are all one team. One fight. One voice. One city. We all agreed it begins with one single step.