Infrastructure Investment Must Benefit Communities Devastated by Pandemic
NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE TO BIDEN ADMINISTRATION: INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT MUST BENEFIT COMMUNITIES THAT HAVE BORNE THE BRUNT OF THE PANDEMIC’S ECONOMIC DEVASTATION
NEW YORK (March 31, 2021) -- The National Urban League today presented federal officials with a set of provisions that must be included in President Biden’s infrastructure investment plan to create opportunities for pandemic-ravaged communities and minority-owned businesses.
“The National Urban League is committed to ensuring African Americans and other underserved communities stand to benefit from the employment and economic opportunities that may be brought about by new investments in our nation’s infrastructure,” National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial wrote in a letter to the officials. “Moreover, National Urban League is also is committed to ensuring minority-owned businesses have fair and equitable access to the business side of infrastructure investment plan.”
To that end, Morial presented the following provisions to be included in the plan:
- Explicit inclusion and meaningful participation of minority business enterprises (MBEs), with an emphasis on the creation of a diverse supply chain that includes diverse groups in the procurement plans for infrastructure improvements and expansions.
- A specific commitment to fund workforce development through job training, pre-apprenticeships, and related approaches, including Registered Apprenticeships within the telecommunications and technology sectors.
- The inclusion of community facilities such as schools, parks, libraries and neighborhood centers.
- Local hire provisions, under which at least 20% of the workers on a project are made up of workers from the local community.
- The inclusion of metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) in the decision-making process to fund projects.
- Promotion of inclusive and equitable energy policies that ensure communities of color have access to unpolluted and healthy environments.
- Closure of critical broadband gaps in Black and low-income communities with requirements that the FCC reexamine network performance standards, pinpoint areas without any broadband network, eliminate restrictions that disqualify providers who could deliver service quickly and efficiently and allocate subsidies as necessary to increase access.
Morial further noted that national intermediary organizations such as the National Urban League can play an integral role in helping scale the federal government’s effort to serve target populations.
“As such, any legislation that provides for competitive grants in infrastructure job training must include national intermediaries as eligible entities,” he wrote.
The letter, which requests a conference call to discuss the National Urban League’s infrastructure priority, was sent to National Economic Council Director Brian Deese, Council of Economic Advisors Chair Celia Rouse, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Domestic Policy Council Director Susan Rice, and the Majority and Minority Leaders of the House and Senate.
The National Urban League is a historic civil rights organization dedicated to economic empowerment in order to elevate the standard of living in historically underserved urban communities. The National Urban League spearheads the efforts of its 90 local affiliates through the development of programs, public policy research and advocacy, providing direct services that impact and improve the lives of more than 2 million people annually nationwide. Visit www.nul.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram: @NatUrbanLeague.