How Airports And Anchor Institutions Grow Small Businesses

Equity Through Prime Contracting

Yessica Holguin 1:00

And finally, Casey Gerhardt, Vice President University Strategy, and External Affairs at Metro State University Denver. Let's hear what they have to say.

Phil Washington 1:22

It ties right into what we have been talking about for years. And that is leveling the playing field. That is looking out for small, women-owned, minority-owned businesses, historically underutilized businesses. Everything that you are doing meshes exactly with what we are thinking about in every agency that I've been a part of. So thank you for that. I do want to shout out our Den CEA folks. Where are they? Stephanie and others right here, Nancy, Davis, and others. They're doing great work for our Center of Equity and Excellence in Aviation. I want to shout out the Caterberg, wonderful. Absolutely outstanding. What you have been doing. And Rick Jacobs, my uh co-founder of the Equity and Infrastructure Project, he may not be here yet, but he's coming as well. He flew in from Los Angeles to be with us tonight. So the idea of increasing generational wealth, what Jarvis and his team are doing is something that is so important in the country. And I always like to say this is not a social program. This is an economic development program that we're talking about because as we promote historically underutilized businesses and small businesses, and not just promote them to be always subcontractors, but to elevate to prime contractors. What we have done in this space is put in RFPs that we want smaller businesses to be prime contractors. And so we have flipped the script from always subbing to actually promoting small businesses to primes. And this is increasing competition. We've got to get past what's happening even at the federal level, where there are no bid contracts t o build ballrooms and repair reflecting pools. We need to think about how we can increase the opportunities for small and minority and historically underutilized businesses. And that is what we have done. We did it at RTD, we did it in Los Angeles at an incredibly large scale, and we did it and are doing it at Denver International Airport. And so if you have a contract at the airport, can you raise

Airport Growth Means More Local Work

Phil Washington 4:15

your hand or add one? Alright, we've got to get more of that. We got to get more of that. I was talking a little bit earlier that the in the case of the airport, the traffic demand is increasing, not just at Denver International Airport. At the airport, this is an airport that was designed for 50 million annual passengers. Last year, the airport hit 82.4 million. And so we created this thing called Vision 100 to prepare the airport for 100 million annual passengers. That is double what it was designed for. And so when we say Vision 100, and actually Operation 2045 as well, that says in 2045, we're expecting to have forecasts for 120 million annual passengers. What that means is we have to build additional capacity to accommodate those bigger numbers. And so what that means for you, if you're a small business, that means more work for you. That means more revenue for you. That means that you can hire more people, hopefully from communities that have not been invested in, that you can bring folks on. People don't realize, and Jarvis talked about the Business Development Training Academy. People don't realize that we created also an ex-offender program.

Workforce Pathways And Second Chances

Phil Washington 5:55

We had ex-offenders that were just out from being incarcerated, working at the airport. And I had breakfast with them every quarter to talk to them about making sure that things were working out for them. All of these people, it's not just small businesses, all of these folks, including ex-offenders, including those that have made mistakes in their lives, they need employment. And as anchor institutions. So what are anchor institutions? Anchor Institution is the airport. It is Denver Water. It is Excel Energy. These are the anchor institutions that have been here for a long time. We need to make sure those anchor institutions

Anchor Institutions Make Equity Stick

Phil Washington 6:50

realize that they need to give opportunities to historically underutilized businesses. They need to make sure that they give opportunities to ex-offenders. They need to make sure that they provide opportunities for veteran-owned, women-owned minority businesses. And so we have tried to institutionalize these programs as best we can. Because we know that if we can institutionalize these programs, then it's going to be harder for people to stop these programs. And so that is our objective. One of the things, and Jarvis was there in San Francisco with us when we uh when he signed the pledge for the Center of Community Wealth. Um, we created something called the Equity and Infrastructure Project. And this equity and infrastructure

Equity And Infrastructure Pledge Explained

Phil Washington 7:45

project came out of the campaign of President Biden and Vice President Harris, the Biden Harris campaign. I was asked to lead the Biden Harris Policy Committee. Then after that, I led the Biden Harris Transition Committee for Transportation. And after the election, we thought, how can we take advantage of these various things that have, in the case of Justice 40 and in the case of the local hire program, how can we operationalize these things? So we started something called the Equity and Infrastructure Project. And this equity and infrastructure project is a pledge that we ask government agencies, public sector agencies, and private sector agencies to take this pledge to increase opportunities for small businesses, to improve and streamline payment programs, prompt payment programs for small businesses. As a small business, you can't afford to wait 60 days for your paycheck or the money for your work. And so we started with five public agencies on December 7th, 2021. Five pledge signers who said, look, Phil, Rick, John Pikari, who was the deputy secretary under President Obama for Transportation, we will sign this pledge, started with five agencies. Today we are at almost 110 agencies who have said we will look at programs and we will implement programs that create prime opportunities for small businesses. And so the Center of Community Wealth was there with us in San Francisco for a signing, I think that was in May or June. In June, Jarvis was there and signed the pledge. This pledge says all the things that I just mentioned that we will create opportunities for historically underutilized businesses. So that program is all over the country. I would encourage you to go to the website, equityandinfrastructure.org, and take a look at that website. Take a look at what we're doing around the country. Take a look at the opportunities that we have put out. Understand the pledge signers, I think it's almost 110. Understand the large public and private sector agencies that have committed to doing the things that I just mentioned. And then when you submit your RF, your response to an RFP, understand who has made that commitment and challenge them in your proposals to say, we know you signed the pledge, we know you committed to provide opportunities for historically underutilized businesses, and call

Why Infrastructure Work Keeps Coming

Phil Washington 11:15

them on that. Dan is one of them. Call them on that. And so I encourage you to do that. I'll close with this. There are going to be incredible opportunities in the infrastructure space. I don't think there is any other area or any other sector that impacts more people than infrastructure. Maybe healthcare. Maybe healthcare. But when I talk about infrastructure, I'm not just talking about transportation. I'm talking about infrastructure in general. Water, sidewalks, roads, transit, aviation. This is all infrastructure. There is no other sector, I think, that impacts more people than infrastructure. We will always need someone to repair infrastructure. We will need someone to build infrastructure. We see wars all over the world that is destroying infrastructure that needs to be repaired. We see climate change that is tearing up infrastructure all over the world. We will always need infrastructure. What we do need to do a better job of is to make sure we extend those opportunities to historically underutilized businesses as we think about this. So I appreciate everyone being there. I appreciate Jarvis you giving me the opportunity to say a few things. It's wonderful. I am retired. I decided to take a couple of months off before I jump back into game in some capacity because there's too much to do to actually be retired. You know what I mean? It's too much to do in all of our areas. I think about the military. I spent a lot of time in the military. I don't like what's happening. I don't like the politicization of the military. I think about the young troops that are out there right now and what they're thinking about. And I spent 25 years. We got Terrell here that's still in. Hey, bless you, my son, right there. But I just want to encourage all of you to keep up the fight and let's keep up the infrastructure fight. Congratulations to all the award recipients tonight, and we'll see you around the industry.

Jervis DiCicco 13:47

So we're going to recognize some organizations and some people that have done an amazing job helping provide those

Hard Hat Awards And Buying Local

Jervis DiCicco 13:55

opportunities. It is better to buy locally, it drives down costs, creates competition. More importantly, it revitalizes historically underutilized businesses and neighborhoods. It builds community wealth. But it's not easy. It's better. It's the right thing to do, but it's not easy. It shouldn't be a surprise who our first hard hat award goes to. I couldn't say enough during the introduction for Mr. Washington. We've talked a lot about the equity and infrastructure project tonight. It's a coalition of 104 plus public. For all the work that you've done, Phil, at the airport, at RTD, at LA Metro, we'd love to honor you with this hard hat award.

Phil Washington 14:43

Well, just thank you so much. Um the EIP, as I mentioned earlier, uh is an incredible effort, a national effort. One of our co-chairs is here, uh Rick Jacobs, who's trying to take the picture right there, uh, who flew in here from Los Angeles uh as well. So on behalf of Rick and the other co-chairs, Dorvell Carter, the former head of the Chicago Transit Authority in Chicago, um, and John Fakari, uh the former deputy transportation uh secretary under President Obama. Uh the four uh of us started this. Uh and uh as I mentioned, Jervis signed that pledge uh in June in San Francisco, but thank you so much, and I appreciate everything that everyone in here does. I appreciate what the Center of Community Wealth does as well. So thank you so much.

Jervis DiCicco 15:50

Our next awardee. How do we give opportunity? What's the most important component in creating better opportunities for these amazing local businesses? Well, the answer to that really comes down to social capital, it's relationship capital. And no one has done that in a bigger way for CCW than Denver Public Schools. Yes, give them a round of applause. Yes, Denver Public Schools provides our Building with Entrepreneurs and Skilled Trades program a financial sponsorship. Yes, Jenny, let's give Jenny a round of applause, please. Helps coordinate the spaces that we use to teach recessions and where we hold our graduation. Um, but the most important thing that DPS does is Merrigan puts pressure on the prime contractors that they work with to use our local, small, historically unutilized businesses. And that is the most important part of this equation is getting the buyers to buy from these businesses. So for those reasons, Murrigan Kalani, please come on up here.

Murugan Palani 17:08

Thank you, Jervis. I originally had a 10-minute speech, but I'm gonna food a coma technically with all the amazing food we had. So I just want to thank the Center for Community Wealth, thank my amazing team for that make it all happen. I'm just the pretty face that takes credit for all their hard work, so thank you so much. Um one thing I do want to thank is our Denver uh voters. We wouldn't be able to provide this opportunity if it wasn't for our 2024 bond. It was a $975 million bond, and we're happy to say at least 24% of that will go to local women and minority-owned businesses. So thank you.

Jervis DiCicco 17:44

Thank you. I told you about the project that really excites me this year to really jumpstart this procurement work. It's examining local spend and looking at its impact and then finding the local historically underutilized businesses that could replace the national chains that are currently being used. Well, it so happens that MSU Denver is doing this work. MSU Denver has a new framework coming out, and pillar three is on building the local economy and encouraging local procurement engagement. They're providing education and resourcing and resources to their purchasing managers, again, using their relationship and social capital within that institution. Uh and then they're most importantly, they're measuring spend in dollars and in percentage of contracts that go to local vendors and local businesses, and that's the beginning of progress. So I'm gonna be honest, I don't know who is here from MSU Denver tonight. Oh, come on up.

Kaycee Gerhart 18:52

Thanks everyone. My name is Casey Gerhart, and I lead strategy and external affairs for MSU Denver. I'm joined up here by Suzanne St. Lawrence, who's one of our office managers that drives the procurement decisions in our office on the day today. I'm also joined by Elizabeth as well as one of our student employees, Andrea, who are all part of the collective team that live into this work every day. I'm really proud that our university generates about a billion dollars in annual economic impact, supporting over 7,000 jobs across the state. And that work doesn't happen by accident, as you all know. It's really driven by a vision anchored in our strategic plan, in the day-to-day decisions that this team and all of our colleagues are invested in every single day. And so we are proud of our partnership with CCW. We're very grateful to be recognized in this way, and we look forward to continuing to working with all of you in service to being an economic catalyst for our city. Thank you.

Community Wealth As A Health Driver

Jervis DiCicco 19:46

One more. Intermountain Health has been a really strong partner of CCW for a long time. And like a lot of other institutions, Intermountain Health is facing some tumult in Colorado right now. And uh actually we we had a rehearsal for this event, and we invited Chuck to the rehearsal, and he couldn't make it. And the reason he couldn't make it is because he was fighting for community dollars in meetings that are taking place right now as the budgets get slashed. And that's exactly the kind of leader that we need right now to stand up for, again, not just what's right, but what's good, what's better for Intermountain Health, for its customers, for its neighborhoods. Intermountain Health has done a lot of things for CCW, but most recently they sponsored our Back Office Boost program. And Back Office Boost is an amazing program where we're providing heavily subsidized services to our CCW clients. Up to 90% of the cost of things like accounting and bookkeeping, marketing, legal, all the things that you may be an amazing chef, but maybe your strong suit is bookkeeping. Well, if you can't do that, you can't turn into a profitable generational business. And so we sincerely appreciate Intermountain Health stepping up to the plate and helping fund some of those operational pieces that help these businesses be successful, but for more than that, for their continued support of community and their their ongoing uh partnership with CCW. Chuck Gall, please come home for me for wow, thank you.

Chuck Ault 21:30

Um this is an honor, and um I think because there's a couple of health organizations in the room, I want to put a little different lens on this work than we've heard about tonight. Um, and so this goes to you, Kaiser, and you, Common Spirit. Um I've been doing community health work for 35 years, and I know sort of where we put our money and and the impact that it makes, and dollar for dollar. Influencing the conditions around community wealth influences health. And as organizations concerned with health, that is a place to not be overlooked alongside cardiovascular testing and diabetes testing. Because when you impact those wealth metrics, you're simultaneously impacting all of that stuff that keeps people healthy. So I appreciate this. I love the work of CCW and Caterers. Amazing. I'm so full.

Jervis DiCicco 22:41

Thank you all so much for taking some of your precious time to join us this evening. I hope you enjoyed everything. And tie that back to the power of buying locally and all the amazing things that that can do for Denver and our communities and our people.

Resources And Closing Thanks

Jervis DiCicco 22:55

Thank you so much.

Yessica Holguin 22:57

Thank you for tuning in today. For more information on Center for Community Wealth and how you can build an economy that works for all, including local purchasing, our free services for entrepreneurs, small businesses, cooperatives, community-owned and benefiting real estate projects. Please visit our website, communitywealth.org, or find us on social media, CCW Denver, on Instagram and Facebook, and CCWB on LinkedIn.

Julie Jackson 23:23

The Wealth We Build is produced by Center for Community Wealth and hosted by Jessica Ogin. This episode was directed, produced, and edited by Julie Jackson. Music and graphics by Motion Array with theme song Fly a Trip by Diego Martinez. Special thanks to Patrick Jackson and Elena Vascunes. And Center for Community Wealth Board of Directors, Asia Dorsey, Kay Von Kalatbari Limaki, C. Jeff Shanahan. For more information, visit our website, CommunityWealth.org, filmed and recorded at Denver Community Media. All rights reserved.

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