Dive brief:
- Executives from some of construction’s most prominent companies gathered in Washington, DC, on October 3 to formally launch an initiative aimed at increasing the number of black workers in the AEC field while elevating more companies of black ownership in prime contractor positions.
- AEC Unites will serve as a resource for black talent to the industry, the organization said, in order to create sustainable opportunities and support black-owned businesses. It will provide member firms with a database of black-owned architecture, engineering and construction firms, a much-cited need for prime contractors looking to work with underrepresented firms.
- It will also provide a handbook on how large contractors can more easily work with black businesses, which often face capitalization, certification and cash flow challenges when involved in major work.
Diving knowledge:
AEC Unites is the brainchild of Deryl McKissack, president and CEO of Washington, DC-based contractor McKissack & McKissack, whose great-grandfather started a construction company once he was freed from slavery after the Civil War. McKissack said he was inspired to create the group in the wake of the 2020 killing of George Floyd and the frequent display of the hanging. ties to construction works.
“I only had one account,” McKissack said. “I asked myself if I was doing enough to make a difference and started thinking about how I can make our industry more equitable and inclusive. It was time to speak up for the voices that have traditionally gone unheard.”
Three years after its creation, the group already has the support of some of the most important players in the sector. McKissack’s co-founders are Peter Davoren, chairman and CEO of New York City-based Turner Construction, which led the industry in 2022 with $16.3 billion in revenue, and Steve Demetriou, executive chairman of Jacobs, with Dallas-based, which had revenue of $14.9 billion by 2022.
The group’s founding board members include:
- Mike Choutka, Chairman and CEO of Hensel Phelps.
- Lou Cornell, CEO of WSP USA.
- Diane Hoskins, co-CEO of Gensler.
- Stantec EVP and COO Stuart Lerner.
- Jonathan Moody, CEO of Moody Nolan.
- Clark Construction Group CEO Robert D. Moser, Jr.
- Michael Russell, CEO of HJ Russell.
- Former HOK President and CEO Bill Hellmuth, posthumously, following his death in April.
The group said it will create more opportunities for black people and businesses in the AEC field through partnerships with historically black colleges and universities, mentoring, training, professional development and coaching. To fund and achieve these goals, the group is planning a strong membership campaign. It has also been developed a set of recommended actions for their members to follow them.
While a growing number of billion-dollar projects include workforce participation goals for underrepresented populations, a common challenge for prime contractors is find certified minority or women-owned businesses in the communities where projects are built that also have the capacity to carry out the work in large jobs. AEC Unites seeks to reduce and bridge this gap.
A connection to the White House
The group also has the ear of the Biden administration, which has pushed to distribute more than $1.2 trillion in Jobs and Infrastructure Investment Act funding to underrepresented communities, particularly for people in of color who live in neighborhoods that have an impact.
Mitch Landrieu, former New Orleans mayor and President Joe Biden’s infrastructure coordinator, addressed the group during its initial meeting. He described an insight he had about the importance of diversity that he had while talking to a high school girl from Kentucky during his travels to push the administration’s infrastructure.
“He said here, talent is distributed equally, but opportunity is not,” Landrieu said. “That’s the best summary I can do for the 30 years of work I’ve done in government.”
He told the group’s founding members that its mission was integral to rebuilding the country’s infrastructure and aligned with the administration’s objectives.
“Diversity is a strength, not a weakness,” Landrieu said. “And to unite the country, to recover the soul of the country, we must have a project to work together. And that project will be rebuilding America.”
Different from Construction Inclusion Week
While other initiatives such as Construction sector inclusion week seek to expand overall diversity in the construction ranks: 87% of all workers in construction jobs are white; AEC Unites specifically targets black contractors.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, while Black workers represent 12.6% of the total workforce, they represent only 6.7% of all construction jobs.
“AEC Unites right now is primarily around black talent, and there’s a reason for that,” McKissack said during the event. “If you look at minorities in every way, women and black people always fall to the bottom. We’re always treated the worst. So we thought if we could fix it for black people, we could fix it for all people . So let’s start with the hardest part of diversity.”
Davoren, whose company was among the founding members of Construction Inclusion Week, said AEC Unites’ approach was different but also aligned with that initiative.
“Both are parallel missions for positive change,” Davoren said. “AEC Unites is kind of different in that it’s a group of people that we want to expand, specifically for black-owned businesses and specifically for black people.”
