Graphic: MGN Online ‘We really haven't seen a surge of opportunity for Black businesses. Even though we got a magic word—a stimulus that's coming out and everybody's excited, it's not even getting to our side of the street yet and that's very unfortunate.’ —Omar Sharef, President of the Chicago-based African-American Contractors Association

Instead, Mr. Sharef said, he has witnessed more White-owned businesses preparing to take advantage of new opportunities that are being bestowed throughout Illinois.

“Even though we got a magic word—a stimulus that's coming out and everybody's excited, it's not even getting to our side of the street yet and that's very unfortunate.”

A slew of construction jobs are readily available from funds distributed to state and local governments, and through various federal agencies, such as the General Services Administration, which is projected to spend $5.55 billion on over 250 construction projects nationally, according to Recovery.gov. However, when it comes to securing contracts to execute these jobs, Black contractors are still waiting. The general consensus among Mr. Sharef and other Black contracting advocates and construction firm owners is that they have seen little to no money from the stimulus package.
“Black folks aren't getting the type of stimulus money White folks are getting,” said Mr. Sharef. This is in spite of a promise on Recovery.gov that states “recovery act funds (shall be distributed) in accordance with all anti-discrimination and equal opportunity statuses, regulations, executive orders, and policies... .”

Tyrone Hart, executive director of the National Association of Minority Contractors, said it is “difficult” to answer whether Black construction businesses are getting their fair share of the stimulus because “some regions of the country are doing better than others.” He describes the state of Pennsylvania as fighting “tooth and nail” for a share while the state of Texas has been doing fairly well.

According to John Macklin, president of the Philadelphia chapter of the National Association of Minority Contractors, and regional vice president for the northeast region of the association which extends from Maine to Virginia, states in his region are being affected by project labor agreements that permit projects to be awarded exclusively to union contractors, which only represent 15 percent of the workforce, he said.

“That means the union discriminates against more than eight out of ten construction workers who would otherwise be able to work on a construction project if not for a union-only project labor agreement,” said Mr. Macklin. “Those contracts that are subject to project labor agreements typically discourage minority contractors and non-union contractors from bidding... .”

Mr. Macklin also said that the state of California is hurting as well.

An exception on the east coast is Maryland which has a strong minority contracting community so legislators are up to par with assisting Black and female contractors with securing work, said Mr. Macklin.

The state of Texas is progressing based on its right-to-work status, which allows a contractor to work whether they are union or non-union.

Florence Cox, executive director of Black Contractors United, an organization based in Chicago that provides information, outreach and advocacy on numerous construction related issues, said an additional restriction is that stimulus money is devoted to contractors that are certified as a disadvantaged business enterprise. This is a federal regulation that extends to all states whether or not they are subject to project labor agreements. A majority of Black Contractors United's members are minority business enterprises or women business enterprises.

“Based upon what our members have told us, in most instances when they compete they are competing as subcontractors in an arena that is dominated by majority White-owned companies,” said Ms. Cox.

In Jackson, Miss., Jacqueline Williams and Renna Fisher, co-owners of construction company Fish & Fisher, are seeking a contract with the Mississippi Department of Transportation. But, so far they have been making minimal progress.

“I don't know where to begin,” said Ms. Williams. “We're trying to get information from the Department of Transportation's website, but nothing has been posted yet.”

Ms. Williams is uncertain whether other Black contractors have reaped a portion of the stimulus when the state has apparently not shown interest in including the Black business community.

“The state had a meeting in April and the minority business community was invited; the governor was scheduled to show up to talk to us about the stimulus package, and he didn't show up,” said Ms. Williams. She said to this day, the governor has not responded with an explanation.

“If something doesn't happen for Black businesses—if things don't change and they don't create a fair marketplace where we can compete for business, Black businesses will go under.”

Ms. Williams concluded: “Racism is at its worst I believe, especially with minority construction companies ... Black construction companies have been taking a hit for a very long time and as long as we keep silent and no one says nothing, we'll continue to take the hit.”