Home City Development Inc. (HCDI), Allegrone Construction, and the Minority Construction Council (MCC) have been working together over the past year to ensure the expansion of minority participation in the Elias Brookings Apartments project, which will begin construction in early 2021. Based out of Hartford, MCC is a non-profit organization that helps to build visibility for, and match, minority and woman-owned businesses (MWBEs) to projects in the construction industry.
Helping minority businesses in construction is Jennifer Little-Greer’s, Executive Director of MCC, passion and focus. “The MCC provides the MBEs with development tools, assistance and the support needed to be successful so they can increase their capacity.” Though the MCC is based in Hartford, their reach goes as far as Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island.
James Culliton Jr., VP of Construction with Allegrone said “We do a lot of multi-family work, and those projects all have minority hiring goals…The purpose of working with MCC is to help us achieve…those goals.”
Together, MCC, HCDI, and Allegrone put together a minority outreach event for the Elias Brookings Apartments development project, and this event took place on October 23rd. “Jennifer’s connections brought a large number of potential minority bidders into the bidding process,” Thomas P. Kegelman, Executive Director of HCDI, said. “One bidder specifically asked if Jennifer was going to be involved throughout the construction process. Her reputation for strong advocacy provided valuable reassurance that their bids would get the fullest consideration.”
Normally, Greer explained, when a general contractor is looking for subs, it’s easier for them to work with people that they know and trust. That is the purpose of the minority outreach event. “It’s creating relationships,” Greer said, “It’s human nature…to gravitate to someone you know.” She went on to say MBE Outreaches give the general contractor a better sense of who is bidding on the project. And in turn, the subcontractors can find out what the general contractor is looking for and what the requirements are on the project.
In looking for subs, Allegrone casts a wide net. “We cast the net across the state for all contractors that qualify to estimate their portion of the work, we capture all of the listed minority contractors in the state as well.” He said that they might solicit 600 bidders and get 150 bids. In addition, Allegrone held two additional walk-throughs of Brookings specifically to meet with sub-contractors that MCC had connected them with.
Attendees at the October 23rd Outreach event included: Dwight Ware, Jose Santiago, Willie Jones, Charles Brantley, Silesia McKenzie, Andy Ramos, Liz Ramos, Luz Vela, Leon Samuel, Anna Badera, Justin Mauldin, Kerwayne Huie, Jude Sylvester, Emmanuel Byron, Jean Darcelien, Rhonda Boyd, Mike Lanagan, Chris Beckford, Pablo Villareal, Vincent Gaither, Dion Kelly, Archie Kelly, Deandrea Williams, and Betty Collazo.
MCC also assists with the extra administrative work that comes along with larger projects like this one, and that many sub-contractors don’t have the capacity to handle. Greer explained that if the project is backed by HUD or a state agency, the contractors are required to submit monthly reporting. “The MCC has Back Office Support Specialists in place to assist MBE contractors with completing their project reporting requirements,” she said. This assistance in turn supports both the subs and the general contractor. Culliton agreed that the back-office support will be a big help, “Normally we have to do that paperwork ourselves, so that will take a big load off of Allegrone.”
Kegelman meets with Greer and Culliton weekly to determine how they will work together to expand the minority participation on the project. “We believe in making good partners,” Greer said. “I’m looking forward to the partnership, and to see what we can do to help on this project, and any other project coming down the pipeline. We have been successful in working on similar projects…I think this will be a great fit.”
And Culliton reiterated that sentiment. “We’re excited about the opportunity to collaborate with [MCC] and we’re hopeful that this will lead to a long-term relationship.”