‘On an unprecedented and promising path,’ despite challenges
Last week the Minority Inclusion Alliance released a report on the progress and status of the Rosa Parks Initiative, saying it reflects “that the minority inclusion movement is on an unprecedented and promising path, but still faces challenges.”
In November 2006, five activist organizations representing local minority contractors and workers announced an alliance to seek equitable minority inclusion – jobs and contracts – on construction projects in the St. Louis area in general and on 11 targeted metro-area construction projects totaling over $3.6 billion in particular.
These organizations – The Metro East Black Contractors Association (MEBCO), MOKAN, the Concerned Citizens Coalition (CCC), the St. Louis Minority Contractors Association (SLMCA), and Sharon Smith International Ministries (SSI Ministries) – formed the Minority Inclusion Alliance, naming its economic effort after Rosa Parks.
The economic breakdown of the 11 targeted construction projects in terms of projected value is as follows:
* Ill-Mo Bridge, $900 million
* MODOT, $535 million
* IDOT, $500 million
* Pinnacle, $400 million
* North Park Industrial Project, $400 million
* MSD, $280 million
* Bottle District Development, $250 million
* Casino Queen, $150 million
* SLU, $100 million
* Hazelwood School District, $70 million
* East St. Louis School District, $40 million.
The alliance said it has discussed the $900 million Illinois-Missouri Bridge Project, which is still in the planning stage, with the Illinois Secretary of Transportation, who it said “is fully committed to minority inclusion on this project and views the training center to be established by IDOT in East St. Louis as a key component to this effort.”
The alliance credited MODOT with embarking “early with inclusion initiatives in planning the massive I-64 construction project that will span St. Louis City and County starting this year.”
It said MODOT has committed to $2.5 million in funding for minority workforce development for pre-apprentice training and employment programs and contractor incentives. MODOT also has committed to seeking for the project a 20 percent workforce goal for minorities, women and the economically disadvantaged.
“However, despite the urgings of the minority and women business community, MODOT only raised their DBE goal from 14 percent to 16 percent for the project,” the alliance said.
“With minority construction firms having a much higher rate of employing minority craftsmen than white construction firms, the low 16 percent DBE goal stands to limit the number of minority workers on the project.”
The alliance credited the local contracting firms working on the MODOT project, Fred Weber and Millstone Bangert, with “commendable records for minority inclusion” and expressed hope that “maximum minority inclusion can be achieved” on the $535 million project.
In 2005, after negotiations, IDOT entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with alliance members MEBCO and MOKAN, which the alliance said has led to a dramatic increase in the level of minority contractor and worker participation in what is projected to be more than $500 million in construction work in IDOT District 8, which encompasses the metro east.
Last year, as a result of the MOU, a six-mile stretch of I-64 construction roadwork was awarded to a joint venture of two African-American firms, the alliance said, which maintained a 60 percent minority workforce. It said last year District 8 reported an unprecedented 18 percent minority workforce last year.
Also per the MOU, IDOT has committed to open in East St. Louis in early 2007 a construction training center, to which IDOT has committed $2 million in funding over the next five years. The alliance said, “IDOT’s commitment to inclusion has been clearly demonstrated.”
However, the alliance said Pinnacle has failed to achieve its goals of 25 percent minority and 5 percent female inclusion and “has demonstrated recalcitrance and even resistance to seeking minority inclusion on this major civic-supported project,” valued at $400 million.
The alliance said that in a December meeting Pinnacle revealed that with the project now about 40 percent complete, it had achieved only 17 percent minority business participation and less than 20 percent minority workforce participation.
The alliance said city officials “admonished Pinnacle’s principal in the meeting” and have begun preparing with Pinnacle and the general contractor, McCarthy, a plan to ensure the goals are reached for the remainder of the project.
“Continuous monitoring of the city Pinnacle project situation is required to ensure compliance,” the alliance said.
The alliance noted that on the North Park Industrial Project, also valued at $400 million, the city’s 25 percent minority and 5 percent female business participation goals have been adopted and a minority consulting firm has been hired. The alliance said at a pre-bid meeting for the initial phases of the work, one of the principals, Joe McKee, president of PARIC, “was emphatic in expressing their commitment to minority inclusion on this project.”
The alliance said that despite expressions of commitment to minority inclusion from MSD executives, MSD achieved only 15 percent minority participation on its construction projects. The alliance also has received several complaints from minority firms “who feel they have been excluded from MSD work, and the MSD CEO failed to respond to several inquiries about minorities possibly being excluded from a specific MSD area of work.”
The alliance said it plans follow-up meetings with MSD this year because its present policies and practices have yielded an “unacceptable” level of minority inclusion.
The alliance said that though the proposed $250 million Bottle District Development is “apparently still in its earliest stages,” it has had preliminary discussions with the city and understands that this project will adopt the city’s Executive Order setting 25 percent minority and 5 percent women business goals and that the city will monitor it for compliance.
The alliance said that owners of the Casino Queen were resistant to discussing minority inclusion on its $150 million project, but because of internal inclusion policies by general contractor Clayco and its working closely with MEBCO, the Casino Queen project “is turning into a model for minority inclusion.”
“A 25 percent minority goal has been established for the project, and virtually every local minority contractor in East St. Louis is being utilized on the project,” the alliance said.
“Clayco has established an in-house corporate minority inclusion policy and program for all of its projects, public and private – something cutting edge in the industry – and it is being implemented full-tilt on the Casino Queen project.”
Clayco and Saint Louis University also received high marks for inclusion in the $100 million in construction projects underway on campus. The alliance said SLU has adopted the inclusion goals established in the city’s Executive Order and that the city’s minority business office “reports great satisfaction with SLU’s efforts towards achieving these goals.” SLU also has taken the unprecedented step of establishing a 20 percent minority workforce goal for the arena project.
The alliance credited SLU president Father Lawrence Biondi with hosting two meetings of the area’s largest contractors to discuss their commitment to inclusion and with committing SLU’s School of Business to formulating the inclusion effort into an area of research to measure its economic impact, approaching minority inclusion “as a science that can be studied and improved upon.”
The alliance said Hazelwood schools and its construction manager, SM Wilson, experienced “a complete turnaround over the issue of minority inclusion” on its $70 million in school projects, going from direct protests by the alliance to “an amicable accommodation with the school superintendent” and “a very positive working relationship” with SM Wilson.
The alliance said Hazelwood School District (with a 60 percent black student population) established a 15 percent African-American business goal for the projects. It said SM Wilson is now “one of the areas exemplary companies for inclusion” and that “minority inclusion measures are, despite early controversy, now taking root in Hazelwood.”
The alliance said the East St. Louis School District established a 35 percent local minority goal for its $40 million in projects. “By working with MEBCO during both the pre-bid and the post-bid process, the district has been successful in achieving the goal on the Clark and Ducksworth school projects,” the alliance said.
The alliance said it also has reached out to several other major general contractors in 2006, including Tarlton, BSI, HBD, Korte and Pyramid. “Reflecting almost a new generation of thought, all have expressed and demonstrated their commitment to minority inclusion,” the alliance said.
The alliance said that in 2007 it also will target Ballpark Village, Cortex, Union Pacific, Downtown Lofts and Sauget Ethanol Plant for their inclusion efforts.
The alliance also listed a sobering set of “Inclusion Challenges” for 2007:
* Resources being devoted and allocated for accountability and enforcement of minority inclusion policies.
* Support services to build capacity of minority firms, such as access to working capital, being put in place.
* True business partnering by minority and majority firms being implemented to both foster more permanent subcontractor relationships and provide mentoring for creation of more minority general contractors.
* Pressing the unions and majority contractors to employ minority workers on par with their being employed by minority contractors, with a 20 percent metro area minority workforce goal.
* Tracking and measuring the progress and the macro- and micro-economic impact of minority inclusion on these projects and the area.
