Builders Brainstorm On ​“12½,” ​“12¼”

New Haven’s minority small-contractor program helped Booker Washington launch his business. But he could have used help navigating the program — help participants in a virtual ​“town hall” suggested giving a new generation of Black, brown, and female entrepreneurs.

The community ​“town hall” on Tuesday evening was devoted to two New Haven ordinances that promote the representation of women, Black, and Hispanic contractors and construction workers employed by the City

The town hall, which took place over Zoom, was part of a broader effort to reevaluate the two laws, chapters 12¼ and 12½ of the New Haven Code of Ordinances. Fred McKinney andGerald Jaynes of BJM Solutions, a diversity consulting firm that the city hired, led Tuesday’s dialogue alongside East Rock/Fair Haven Alder Charles Decker and Dixwell Alder Jeanette Morrison.

Over 40 contractors, union representatives, and other New Haven County residents attended.

This effort to reimagine 12¼ and 12 ½ comes as the city reckons with a persistent lack of representation among its contractors for various public construction projects. Throughout the summer, contractors including Rodney Williams of Green Elm Construction have vocally criticized the city and the Board of Education for a dearth of Black and Hispanic-owned contractors working on major projects like the forthcoming Q House community center in Dixwell (where after pressuring the numbers have risen).

At a Legislation Committee meeting in June, alders also criticized the 12 ¼ ordinance’s 30-year-old hiring targets, its failure to specifically target the city of New Haven within the Greater New Haven region, and its narrow definition of ​“minorities” (limited in the law’s language to ​“African American” and ​“Hispanic American.”) At that meeting, they learned from Small Contractor Development head Lil Snyder that legally, the parameters of the law are bound to the terms set by a 1992 disparity study of the area.

Tuesday’s town hall served as an opportunity for New Haveners to voice their concerns about the ordinances and share feedback to the legislators and consultants.

In one ​“breakout room” small-group discussion within the town hall, Washington and other minority and women contractors spoke to the challenge of navigating a complex bidding system — even with the help of training programs from the city, particularly the Small Contractor Development program.

The development program was helpful for Washington. But he voiced the need for more outreach and guidance to new contractors who are struggling to figure out the system.

“The program, the way it is, will benefit those who can get past the paperwork, the insurance, the bonding, the how to submit a bid document, what forms in the bid document are required to be filled out, how they’re filled out,” Washington told fellow participants. But the task of learning the system itself is ​“a bridge too far for some people.”

“The dynamic is extreme when you’re a minority contractor and someone throws a bid at you the size of a bible,” he added. ​“It’s discouraging and it’s despairing.”

He said he’d like to see other minority-owned businesses receiving more mentorship as they get started.

Doris Dumas, president of the Greater New Haven NAACP, said her organization has received numerous complaints about the underrepresentation of Black and Latinx contractors. 

She echoed Washington’s call for heightened mentorship. The city needs to be ​“making sure that [minority-owned contractors] know where to go when it’s happening in the city, and also what is required,” she said. ​“I’ve heard that minority contractors are concerned that they’re not getting the information they need.”

One participant, whose Zoom username identified him as the owner of Core Site Services, suggested that mentorship could arise organically, through grassroots community relationships rather than city-run programs.

“I’m willing to give any kind of mentorship to anybody that is needed. There may be a bump in the road that I can help out with,” he offered. Rather than focus on what the city can do better, ​“we just gotta come together and find a way to make it work.”

Michelle Saunders, a longtime contractor, called on prime contractors to focus their efforts on hiring Black‑, Hispanic‑, and women-owned subcontractors.

Hamden City Council Representative Dominique Baez noted that most of the conversation had focused on Ordinance 12 ¼, which sets targets for the city to promote minority-owned small businesses. She urged the city to shift its attention to 12 ½, which focuses on increasing the representation of racial minorities and women in the construction workforce.

Baez argued that the city used to be far more successful at enforcing 12 ½. (Baez’ mother, Nichole Jefferson, used to head the Commission on Equal Opportunities, which oversaw the implementation of 12 ½.)

“The city of New Haven has let this slip back to archaic numbers,” Baez said. ​“Where is the city-sponsored program, and where are the real people on the ground who make sure that people are getting placed on jobs?”

Towards the end of the town hall, the various breakout rooms gathered to share quick summaries of their discussions. A flurry of ideas surfaced: The city should make the city’s procurement system, Bonfire, more user-friendly; it should strengthen oversight over contracts and more diligently enforce ordinance 12 ½; it should follow up after a contract is awarded, to collect information about who was successful and unsuccessful in obtaining the bid, and consider boosting minority-owned contractors from outside the Greater New Haven region if necessary.

Tim Washington expressed frustration with the dialogue, with the notion that more guidance through the bidding process could help increase opportunities for minority-owned businesses. He said his company, Tim’s Enterprises LLC, has been around for two decades.

“We’ve been doing this for 20 years. Isn’t everybody sick of this right now?” he said. ​“It’s the same, the same, the same. I just don’t get it anymore. You keep sending us to get training, training, training. In the meantime, people are building around us.”

“While it’s frustrating to have to hear about this over and over and over again,” McKinney replied, ​“every generation has had to fight this struggle and we are in this struggle.”

Alder Morrison interjected with a more optimistic message. ​“I know this has been tried a thousand times before, but this is a thousand and one,” she said. ​“And hopefully, this is the golden ticket.”