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Black Contractors Say Stimulus Isn't Providing Jobs
Produced by Adriene Hill on Wednesday, June 24, 2009
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Photo by Kerry Lannert |
If you follow economic news, you know that billions of dollars under the federal government’s stimulus plan are flowing to the states. Stimulus projects in Illinois are moving from “shovel ready” to “shovel in.” But in the Chicago area, many African-American contractors say they’re not the ones with the jobs and they don’t see the political will to help make it happen. WBEZ’s Adriene Hill has been tracking stimulus bucks to understand where our tax dollars are going. Today, she has the contractors’ story.
Related: Federal/State DBE Summary Report
A nine-mile stretch of the Bishop Ford Freeway is one of the first “shovel-in” stimulus projects in Illinois. And the government wants you to know it; there are big signs with the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act logo and the slogan “Putting America to Work”.
WILLIAMS: When you see these signs saying recovery and stimulus, it’s almost a joke.
That’s Pastor Anthony Williams. We meet off an exit of the Bishop Ford project. He’s been trying to get black politicians to pay attention to what he sees as a huge problem with how money is getting out from the stimulus plan.
WILLIAMS: It’s not beneficial to the community and the people aren’t benefitting.
That’s the same thing I heard from Black Contractors United, the African American Contractors Association and the Reverend Jesse Jackson. They all say that Chicago’s black contractors are in desperate need of work and they’re not getting the jobs the recovery act promised. The national unemployment rate is 9.4 percent. Compare that to the unemployment rate among black men - 16 .8 percent.
Dan McDuffie had to lay off about a dozen guys. He’s the president of Destiny Decorators, a minority certified business.
MCDUFFIE: We’ve been told that money is on the way and projects are on the way that have the stimulus money but we haven’t seen anything yet.
McDuffie says the businesses getting the contracts are those that know how to play the game. He calls it the “good old boys” network.
MCDUFFIE: I’m following the money, following the dollar. And how are we going to get it takes more of us, African Americans to get involved and stay on top of it. You know it seems like a secret. You don’t know. You’re going to lose out. It shouldn’t be that way, but that’s just the way that is.
And there’s good evidence that he’s not just complaining.
Here’s an example for you: according to a document the Illinois Department of Transportation filed with the Federal Highway Administration—disadvantaged businesses—that includes minority and women owned companies—have been getting less and less of its funding in recent years. In 2007 and 2008, black-owned businesses grabbed less than 2 percent of the pie.
Gary Hannig runs the transportation department. He acknowledges the drop off in minority participation but he says there’s been less road money to go around and many small contractors, including minority contractors, have gone out of business without that money. Hannig’s hopeful the new federal and state spending will help and....
HANNIG: that we can use that as opportunity to grow more minority firms in Illinois.
He says the Illinois Department of Transportation is already trying to help that along. They have programs in place to help get minority contractors involved in road work, including a division dedicated to supporting small businesses.
HANNIG: The stimulus bill basically is not that much different from what we do on a day to day basis.
He says in Illinois it’s up to each agency to make sure minority businesses are roped in to potential recovery act work.
By contrast, the state of Colorado is taking a different approach to getting dollars to disadvantaged businesses. They have a five person full time staff dedicated to tracking and making sure people understand the stimulus opportunities; one of them is dedicated to minority outreach.
It’s the sort of help and focus that Pastor Williams and Dan McDuffie want here in Illinois, someone to pay close attention to who the stimulus money is actually putting to work.
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