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Minority-owned and women-owned businesses in the Portland area should see more government contracts come their way following approval of a new city ordinance.

The Portland City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved Mayor Charlie Hales‘ proposed ordinance to establish the Commission on Equitable Contracting and Purchasing 鈥� a seven-person committee that will provide guidance to the council in an attempt to increase the number of contracts awarded to women-owned and minority-owned businesses.

鈥淓very city, county and state struggles to come up with a meaningful way to support women-owned and minority-owned businesses,鈥� Hales said. 鈥淭he purpose of this commission is to take a deep dive into what Portland does, and what it could do, to really move the needle on this issue. It shouldn’t just be a nice policy. We should be able to quantify exactly how well 鈥� or poorly 鈥� we’re doing.鈥�

The ordinance came in response to city findings that indicate 鈥渢here is historically significant underutilization of minorities and women-owned business(es) as city vendors.鈥� The move also reflects the city’s commitment to increase those numbers.

Hales will nominate up to seven voting members for the commission, and the council will approve or deny each nominee. The voting panel will be made up of minorities and women contractors, as well as stakeholders with experience in diversity contracting. The commission is tasked with reviewing reports and data regarding contracting practices as well as monitoring the utilization of women-owned and minority-owned businesses in city contracting or subcontracting opportunities.

鈥淲e like to say, 鈥榯he Great Recession is over, and Portland is booming; yea!’ 鈥� Hales said. 鈥淏ut Portland isn’t booming for everyone. This commission will let us know if we’re truly being inclusive in our government contracting.鈥�

The Portland State University Center to Advance Racial Equity in mid-February published a report outlining the effectiveness of minority contracting initiatives.

The report found that, of the nearly $2 billion in contracts awarded by the state of Oregon in 2013, barely 1 percent of those dollars were awarded to minority-owned or women-owned businesses.

The authors conducted a case study of the Sellwood Bridge replacement project to determine if the general contractor, Slayden-Sundt joint venture, fulfilled its goals of promoting workforce diversity by hiring women and minorities. The case study determined what is being done, and what more could be done, to create equity for minority business owners and workers.

鈥淚 applaud the city for creating the commission,鈥� said Connie Ashbrook, executive director of Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. 鈥淭he commission’s proposed review of reports and data, and then analysis and recommendations, will be extremely valuable on the workforce side to understand where progress has been made and to see where future efforts need to focus to alleviate inequities in our city and bring diverse women and men of color out of poverty and into the middle class through access to the high-wage construction careers.鈥�

Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. for the last four years has worked with the NECA/IBEW Electrical Training Center to increase their numbers of minority apprentices. Ashbrook said she hopes the commission will produce similar results.

鈥淥ur central recommendation is that governments prioritize the creation of a regional system that ensures that minority contracting is as effective as possible,鈥� the PSU report states. 鈥淲e must ensure that we generate real economic gains for minority-owned businesses, for workers of color, and for their local communities where children are raised.鈥�

The report’s authors 鈥� Matt Chorpenning, Ann Curry-Stevens, Greg Schrock and Nathen Lamb 鈥� recommend that governments analyze current data, establish targets and create a robust accountability structure for ensuring that ideas are implemented.

鈥淭his commission is something the mayor has been thinking about since he got into office,鈥� said Dana Haynes, Hales’ communications officer. 鈥淗is recent work with the North/Northeast Portland African-American leaders, plus bringing the Black Male Achievement initiative to Portland, galvanized his thinking on this. The PSU study confirmed what he’d been thinking.鈥�