91视频

The Oregon chapter of the National Association of Minority Contractors believes that the real disparities that exist are much greater than recent studies compiled for the city of Portland show.

NAMC-Oregon, a nonprofit building trades association, last week released its initial response to results of studies commissioned in 2009. The studies looked at how often the city and the Portland Development Commission used certified minority- or women-owned firms on their projects in comparison to the number of those firms available for use. Read the 91视频’s analysis of the studies

鈥淭he city’s and PDC’s contracting programs are far from 鈥極K’,鈥� the statement said. 鈥淭he city, PDC and the community cannot be satisfied with a contracting process that sees no prime contracts awarded to an African-American or Asian-American firm over a four-year period.

鈥淚n fact, substantial disparities were found for these firms as well as Hispanic-owned firms for prime contracts, even under the city’s Good Faith Efforts (Minority/Women/Emerging Small Business) program.鈥�

The nonprofit also took issue with the finding that minority-owned firms receive less than 0.5 percent of contracting dollars for PDC-sponsored projects 鈥� those in which the public agency is not the only financial contributor.

Due to recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings, the studies were needed for the city to maintain its Good Faith Effort program and the PDC to continue use of its Business and Workforce Equity policy.

鈥淣AMC-Oregon acknowledges that the city’s disparity study was a necessary step to identifying and addressing the underutilization of all the talents that Portland’s metropolitan area has to offer, including those of minority-owned businesses,鈥� the statement said. 鈥淭he study does not, however, address some critical issues that disproportionately affect minority communities in the Portland area (such as) poverty, schools that don’t educate our children, and the historical remnants of societal discrimination that continues to plague the creation and growth of many minority-owned businesses.鈥�

According to the statement, NAMC-Oregon, like the other organizations that have responded to the study, is looking forward to working with the city to identify ways to eliminate the disparities.