Embedding Equity Into Large-Scale Infrastructure Projects

Tril­lions of dol­lars will be spent over the next sev­er­al years to fix our nation’s aging infra­struc­ture. These pub­lic and pri­vate invest­ments offer a unique oppor­tu­ni­ty to advance equi­ty and expand con­tract­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties for minor­i­ty-owned, women-owned and oth­er dis­ad­van­taged busi­ness­es (MWDBEs).

On Feb­ru­ary 21, 2018, the Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion host­ed a webi­nar to exam­ine strate­gies to expand inclu­sive pro­cure­ment prac­tices and posi­tion MWDBEs to com­pete for large-scale devel­op­ment projects. 

The ses­sion was the lat­est in the Foun­da­tion’s Com­mu­ni­ty Mat­ters series, which explores the com­plex issues sur­round­ing com­mu­ni­ty change — and the lessons Casey and oth­ers have learned from our work in neigh­bor­hoods around the country.

Watch the Webinar

Rep­re­sen­ta­tives from the Emer­ald Cities Col­lab­o­ra­tive and Pol­i­cyLink shared recent research about pro­ject­ed invest­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties across the pub­lic and pri­vate sec­tors, and engaged experts from the busi­ness com­mu­ni­ty in a dis­cus­sion about prac­ti­cal steps to help MWDBEs win these contracts.

Read the report

Among many oth­er rec­om­men­da­tions, pan­elists advo­cat­ed for more hands-on coach­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties to help MWDBEs increase their access to cap­i­tal and the estab­lish­ment of for­mal learn­ing exchanges to share best prac­tices across indus­try lines.