Word: stimulus
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...Gihan Perera, that's just one example of how federal and state governments are missing a great opportunity to use the stimulus to aid the poor and minority communities hardest hit by the Great Recession. Perera, director of the nonprofit Miami Workers Center (MWC), is among a number of antipoverty activists closely examining which communities and contractors are getting stimulus dollars, and so far he says the picture doesn't look bright for already marginalized "low-opportunity" zones and minority-owned firms. The lion's share of road and other construction work in Florida has gone to venues like airports...
...That's not just a concern for the Sunshine State, which now has one of the nation's highest jobless and home-foreclosure rates. Earlier this year, the Associated Press found that across the U.S., the stimulus plan was "set to spend 50% more per person in areas with the lowest unemployment than it will in communities with the highest." In Illinois, President Obama's home state, a Chicago Public Radio investigation this fall found that less than 10% of the Department of Transportation's stimulus contracts had gone to "disadvantaged business enterprises," or DBEs, even though the state says...
...Washington and the states have been trying to get stimulus money and projects out the door as quickly as possible, often bundling smaller projects into larger ones set to begin work immediately (so-called shovel-ready projects) for more efficiency. Consequently, they have also tended to rely on larger and therefore predominantly white-owned construction contractors (who in turn also tend to use their preferred subcontractors) over smaller minority-owned firms that often don't have ample equipment or personnel. Those smaller companies also have trouble finding the resources to post construction bonds (money contractors must offer up front...
...Obama Administration insists that 15% of the stimulus contracts awarded so far across the country have gone to DBEs. That's 2½ times the share of federally funded projects that went to minority- and women-owned firms in fiscal 2008, say officials. "It's a top priority of the President's, and we've worked very hard to create those opportunities," says David Hinson, director of the Commerce Department's Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA). Hinson points to the outreach program the MBDA and the Small Business Administration have created to "put boots on the ground" and make contract...
...Most of the federal stimulus money is disbursed via states and counties, and the outlook for minorities does seem better once the dollars reach more local levels. Miami-Dade County's Public Works Department has kept its so far $25 million worth of stimulus projects relatively small, and therefore more accessible to minority contractors, to ensure its own 10% DBE participation goal. On some projects Miami-Dade has even 100% DBE involvement. For now, the county is using what stimulus money it can earmark for transit purposes to purchase a fleet of BRT (bus rapid transit) buses that will...