Cleveland approves $10 million to improve pipeline of minority contractors: Stimulus Watch
Construction workers gingerly lift lumber over a parked car at the driveway entrance to a construction site for new apartments in Cleveland's Hough neighborhood in February, 2022. Steven Litt, Cleveland.com
Updated: Jan. 31, 2023, 12:52 p.m.|Published: Jan. 30, 2023, 6:06 p.m.CLEVELAND, Ohio – Cleveland City Council has approved a piece of legislation setting aside $10 million to help prepare local residents for certain workforce programs.
The legislation sets aside $10 million of American Rescue Plan Act money for Ohio Means Jobs Cleveland—Cuyahoga County, a group that helps businesses find qualified employees and helps workers find jobs.
The law passed the influential finance committee Monday afternoon and then full council later that day without any “no” votes.
The legislation specifically aims to increase minority participation in construction, brownfield remediation, lead safety, broadband and more by training more workers, expanding apprenticeship programs, providing career development for students and additional support for those in job training, according to city documents.
“We will not be able to build Cleveland if we don’t have builders,” Craig Dorn, president & CEO of Youth Opportunities Unlimited, said during the committee meeting.
Improving representation in these areas would also make it easier for companies that genuinely care about diversity to meet government standards, said Council President Blaine Griffin.
“Even some of the minority contractors I’ve met with … say they just don’t have the workforce they used to,” Griffin said. “It’s hard to make it mandatory to have that diversity and equity and inclusion on projects when we don’t have the workforce.”
Of the 3,000 workers that Cleveland hopes will enter the workforce through the program, the city is hoping 75% are from under-represented groups, according to city documents.
One of the goals of the initiative is to help residents transition from being low-income to being middle class, said Glen Shumate, the executive vice president at Construction Employers Association who spoke at the committee in favor of the legislation.
“This request for funding really is to support a coordinated effort … that has not existed in Cleveland’s construction industry,” Shumate said.
During a committee meeting last week, several city council members expressed reservations that the legislation did not do enough to ensure equity in financing publicly funded construction projects.
In approving the legislation, Cleveland joins Cuyahoga County in spending ARPA money on a multi-million dollar workforce development project. In mid-2022, Cuyahoga County approved spending $9 million from its ARPA allocation to pay for manufacturing sector partnerships, K-12 career preparation for manufacturing, and funding internships, cleveland.com reported previously.
Councilman Richard Starr said that while he supports increasing diversity in construction, green energy, broadband, and more, he spoke against the legislation because it lacked “the actual plan” needed to ensure the program is equitable and effective. Plus, Starr expressed skepticism that the programs the legislation would fund aren’t different enough from what the city is doing already.
“Right now, I don’t see anything in this proposal that shows how we’re going to be successful,” Starr said.
Councilman Brian Kazy also expressed skepticism, saying the projects authorized by legislation should have been more thoroughly developed.
“When we’re passing dollars like these, things should be ready to go day-one, Kazy said.
Griffin responded saying the city can iron out those specifics later but given the December 2024 deadline to place ARPA dollars under contract, Cleveland needs to get to work.
“We have one contract. Out of all the ARPA money we’ve passed, we have one contract done so far,” Griffin said. “I’m starting to get concerned that we’re not getting money out the door fast enough.”