To Stanford Cameron, there’s no doubt that minority-owned construction companies and minority contractors aren’t getting enough work.
Cameron, president of the Center to Advance Minority Participation in the Building Trades, points to figures that show the state doesn’t come close to meeting a mandate that at least 10 percent of its purchasing and construction spending should be awarded to minority-owned businesses.
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“No question, they’re not getting a fair share,” Cameron said last week. “But the thing we must do is figure out why and address that.”
That’s what a new partnership among several minority construction organizations, trade groups and the Community College of Rhode Island aims to do.
Using a $100,000 grant from the Governor’s Workforce Board, the groups already have hired a coordinator and expect to develop a Web site to get crucial information to the minority-owned companies.
Also in the works are networking events during which minority contractors can make contact with key players in the construction industry. And the new coordinator has been assigned to conduct a “skills gap” analysis in which companies will be surveyed to determine what type of training is needed the most in the industry.
“Many of these small minority enterprises do not have knowledge of the resources available to them,” said Robin Smith, dean of CCRI’s Division of Lifelong Learning, which is the fiscal agent for the Industry Partnership grant. “A main focus is to get these people together as a consortium and ally together.”
The groups collaborating on this project include the Black Contractors Association of Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Hispanic Contractors Association, Rhode Island Housing, the Rhode Island Indian Council and the South Providence Development Corporation.
In a related development, the R.I. Economic Development Corporation recently awarded $30,000 to the Center to Advance Minority Participation in the Building Trades to raise awareness of training programs offered at that Providence-based agency, among other things.
“A lot of general contractors can’t find enough certified minority contractors to do a variety of work,” said Victor Barros, urban development manager for the EDC. “And there’s also a lack of minority tradesmen for these companies. That’s been a gap that’s been identified clearly.”
The state’s Minority Business Enterprise Program oversees the amount of state contracts that are awarded to minority-owned and women-owned companies and contractors, ensuring that the state attempts to meet the state law requiring that a minimum of 10 percent of purchasing and construction spending should go to those companies.
According to the program, 386 businesses – from construction companies to IT consulting firms – are certified as minority-owned, although many are not located within the state.
Charles Newton, the program administrator, said that contracts totaling $75.2 million passed through his office last year, and $3.3 million – or 4.3 percent – went to minority and women-owned companies.
But the grant’s focus is more than just public-sector work.
The partnership already has reached out to organizations such as the Associated Builders and Contractors and the Rhode Island Builders Association, “so minority contractors can become better informed about all the opportunities in the construction industry,” Smith said.
Roger Warren, executive director of RIBA, said his group already has representation on the steering committee for the grant.
“There will be a lot more networking that presumably will come out of this, and [minority contractors] will get more directly involved from that standpoint,” Warren said.
The Center to Advance Minority Participation in the Construction Industry is doing its part to get minorities ready for the potential opportunities.
Cameron said the center offers numerous training programs that can last between one and three months, including a tree worker program, carpentry classes and a construction office skills program. “They’re prepared to get into an entry-level job and grow from there,” Cameron said.
And, when it comes to the new grant coordinator for the Industry Partnership grant, Cameron said, his job won’t be easy.
“He’s got to get minority and majority groups together,” Cameron said. “And the goals of the grant may not be in the interest of either party. The majority groups may be happy with the way things are right now. And the minority groups might have the attitude that they’ve heard it before, and they’ve tried it before.”
The grant coordinator, Michael Johnson, said he’s focusing on developing the informational Web site and organizing networking events for minority-owned companies.
“By them taking advantage of the information and the opportunities, there’s nowhere for the numbers to go but up,” he said. •
