To all my DEI friends, Thinking about our meeting last week, I wanted to pass on some of my thoughts or maybe I will call them my wishes/goals/ideas/hopes for DEI movement in 2024. Here they be: Help to foster the type of welcoming jobsite culture that we talk about so frequently by raising the awareness and the importance of the term “EQUITY.” I would love to see more of a “helpful” and “mentoring” attitude to making sure the MWBE firms that…
N Looking back on the year that will soon come to a close, I feel good about what we were able to accomplish together in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion arena through PEOPLE and WBEDC. Delmar Divine came into our lives and provided us with a home for our work. TableTop discussions were born and gave us a reason to gather, mix, get to know each other and to learn a little bit about business ways in this ever-changing industry. …
Whatever happened to PEOPLE meetings–those great gatherings of MWBE firms and majority owned firms mixed in with city, county, and industry professionals of every sort? The answer is simple, they were washed away by the great pandemic flood of 2020. What was not washed away though was the need for such gatherings. Come join me and the diversity representatives from the major GC’s/CM’s/Owners/City/Country in our first PEOPLE meeting since the early days of pre-pandemic 2020. This grand re-opening of PEOPLE…
In these post pandemic times, I have decided to focus my PEOPLE meetings on smaller groups, which I am calling TableTop Discussions. The meetings will be held at the new and beautifully furnished Delmar DivINe complex located at 5501 Delmar. Yes, located on the north side of Delmar. My meetings will involve discussions of selected business topics and will be offered free of charge to the minority contracting community and all who wish to attend. My goal is to bring…
DEI thoughts by Ron Unterreiner of PEOPLE of Construction For all of us working in this segment of the industry we call Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), the recent article involving management of HBD Company (now known as RHBD Company) was a swift kick in our collective sides. This is not a story any of us want to read on the front page of the Post and it certainly raises the question once again as to whether this concept of MINORITY PARTICIPATION is…
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to PEOPLE Join many in the industry as we celebrate the eighth anniversary of PEOPLE on Tuesday, March 8, 4:00 to 5:30. The meeting will be virtual, hosted by Steve Lewis of AGCMO via ZOOM and that link is included below. I will resend this link the day before the meeting for all those like me that tend to lose these things in a maze of emails. The PEOPLE agenda is quite simple—we just want to get the minority…
Where did equity come from and when and how did it slip into the title smack dab in the middle of Diversity and Inclusion? What is equity anyway, does anybody know for sure? Is equity a twin sister/brother to equality or is it a distant cousin? Or perhaps unrelated? In my upcoming presentation to the Emerging Leaders class of SIUE, I explored this idea and concept of equity. As I begin my exploration of this strange word, I pondered this…
Diversity and Inclusion Perspective from a Trade Subcontractor By: PEOPLE of Construction In contemplating this perfect “jobsite culture” we have been reading about, I pondered the diversity situation from the perspective of a trade sub-contractor. As I think about it, the prime trade sub, asked to mentor and guide and assist a minority sub, is carrying the heavy load of diversity and inclusion on major projects. Here are some thoughts we need to consider in our consideration of BEST PRACTICES:…
Diversity/Inclusion Best Practices As proposed by Ron Unterreiner, PEOPLE of Construction On projects where diversity and inclusion are required or heavily requested by the owner, the following details a list of BEST PRACTICES to follow to assure that success is achieved by all participants in the process. All participants to be defined as the owner, the general contractor or construction manager, the trade subcontractor, the minority contractor (MBE/WBE) working as prime or working as second tier, the third-tier minority contractor,…
Twenty twenty-one is about to hit the history books and although not the year I was hoping for in terms of making giant strides in the world of DEI, we did return to a bit of normalcy in our personal and business lives–or did we? I always end the year thinking back and wondering if we are going backwards, standing in place or possibly inching forward a bit–again as relates to diversity, equity and inclusion in our beloved industry of…