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Buildings go up and buildings come down every day, but institutional structures of inequality remain intact despite the Portland’s best intentions.

A report released today by the city of Portland’s Procurement Services, a bureau in charge of ensuring that public dollars are spent economically and equitably, shows that construction work done for the city by minorities, women-owned construction firms and small emerging businesses represent a significantly small percentage of total city contract work done. A recent city disparity study resulted in similar findings.

According to the , out of the $379 million spent on city construction contracts in FY 2008-2009 and FY 2009-2010, only $13.5 million went to minority and women-owned construction firms and small emerging businesses, or a paltry 4 percent of total construction contracts.

To the city’s credit, the biannual report highlights a number of programs Procurement Services has started over the past years to educate, integrate and engage Minority and Women owned and Emerging Small Business leaders in city contracts. For instance, Procurement Services offers 40 classes yearly to ensure that city contractors understand the city’s fair contracting programs so that they include minorities in their work. Read more about Portland’s efforts to beef up MWESB programs (subscription required).

-Peter Beland

Photo courtesy of via Flickr