Minority Firms Top $1 Billion in Quake Work Via Program

Minority business aided by a federally funded program have received more than $1 billion dollars in earthquake-related work in the 18 months since the Northridge temblor struck, city officials said Monday.

The $1.1 billion translates to the creation of about 21,000 jobs and is nearly triple the goal set by the public-private partnership program, according to officials at the city’s Office of Economic Development.

“From a 6.8-magnitude tragedy comes a $1.1-billion triumph,” Mayor Richard Riordan said.

No detailed estimates for the total amount of repair work contracted in the greater Los Angeles area are available but the Federal Emergency Management Agency funneled an estimated $12 billion into the area since the quake.

The partnership, known as the Minority Business Opportunity Committee Program, has operated as a clearinghouse of information on public and private contracts and has referred work to more than 10,000 minority and women-run businesses since January, 1994, according to city officials.

The partnership was created with funding from the U. S. Department of Commerce and was formed only weeks before the Jan. 17, 1994, quake to help increase the number of minority and women-owned businesses operating in the greater Los Angeles area.

But the program was expanded in June, 1994, in part as a response to criticism from minority leaders that city and federal officials had not done enough to refer reconstruction work to minority contractors after the 1992 riots.

In a prepared statement, Joan Parrott-Fonseca, director of the federal Minority Business Development Agency, called the partnership a “model program for the nation.”

“It’s the best of its class, without exception,” she said.

Councilman Richard Alarcon, who represents parts of the northeast San Fernando Valley, said the partnership “has been doing a great job,” but he said he is still not satisfied that enough of the earthquake repair work has been contracted to Los Angeles-based businesses.

He said studies show that less than half of the city contracts for earthquake repair work go to businesses within the city of Los Angeles.

The partnership began with three staff members and a $200,000 budget, half of which was paid by the city and half by the U. S. Department of Commerce. To focus on providing minority businesses with earthquake repair work, the program was expanded to six staff members and three marketing consultants and a $800,000 budget.

The partnership provides minority businesses with information on upcoming bids and contracts by such agencies as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, state Department of Transportation and the city Department of Airports, said Diane Castano Sallee, director of the program.

For instance, about 40% of the earthquake repair work conducted for Caltrans used minority-owned businesses and most of those businesses were referred through the Minority Business Opportunity Committee Program, Sallee said.

Also, the partnership has signed agreements with nearly 20 public agencies and private firms to increase their use of minority businesses. These businesses include Bechtel Civil Corp., Kaiser Permanente, Pacific Bell and the Postal Service.

The partnership has also helped businesses obtain funding and certification that proves the firms are owned by women or members of minority groups.

On June 30, funding for the partnership’s earthquake program ran out. The partnership will use new federal funding to focus on helping minority businesses that will suffer from the proposed closure of the naval shipyard in Long Beach.