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With 42 percent of its staff women and people of color, Walsh鈥檚 dedication to workforce diversity and inclusion of MWESB/SDVBE firms is rooted in its 60-year history of building and contributing to vibrant, inclusive communities.

On every project, Walsh engages its well-developed bid database and trusted community relationships with PBDG, NAMC-OR, OAME and LatinoBuilds. It also holds mentoring programs for subcontractors and Section 3 businesses.

Afton Walsh leads the company鈥檚 community outreach and, as a builder herself, is trained in anti-bias and micro-aggression avoidance. She is dedicated to building trust with COBID firms and often applies her construction knowledge through mentorship.

In 2000, Walsh joined forces with O鈥橬eill Construction Group to create O鈥橬eill/Walsh Community Builders (OWCB), which builds on both companies鈥� strengths and enables O鈥橬eill to learn about processes and programs necessary to succeed on larger-scale projects.

鈥淲e partner with companies looking to improve the communities in which we live and work,鈥� said Jennifer Cornilles, Walsh鈥檚 corporate marketing director. 鈥淎ffordable housing is our main market sector, offering critical housing for those in dire need. Many of our employees serve on boards in efforts to inform construction programs in the area and provide guidance.鈥�

In addition to its work with pre-apprenticeship programs, Walsh has invested in programs that promote construction careers to area youth. These include its partnership with Benson High School鈥檚 CTE program, which brings Walsh鈥檚 project engineers into the classroom each week to develop relationships with students and educate them about career opportunities in the trades.

Walsh also is a partner in EmpowerHER, a workforce development program based on the premise that students decide the one thing in their neighborhood they would want to change through design. Then industry members and companies combine efforts to offer a community-based design and construction workshop to make that change happen.