For 25 years, Adrian Mobley worked as a respiratory therapist in Chicago hospitals. He started his own business in 2014 to offer CPR and workplace safety training. In 2020, he expanded into new territory: construction.
His Englewood business has grown from three employees to about 35. Many are union members who earn nearly $50 an hour.
Mobley’s entry into construction was fueled by $2.1 billion from the Chicago Transit Authority. Red and purple modernization project., which will run through 2025. He learned about the roles of subcontractors through outreach sessions with the CTA and Walsh-Fluor, the project’s prime contractor. In 2020, it was awarded a $4.5 million subcontract. to manage traffic flow and safety at CTA construction sites for the project.
The first phase of the agency’s most expensive project ever involves upgrading nearly 10 miles of North Side tracks and stations using federal and local funds. More major CTA projects are planned, including extending the Red Line to 130th Street.
A common concern about large construction projects is that the island industry often excludes small companies, especially those run by minorities and women. But Mobley’s start in government construction work was part of a long-term effort to level the playing field.
Her company is one of 119 minority- and women-owned businesses working on the modernization project, part of the CTA’s goal of awarding 20% of the project’s contracts to “disadvantaged business enterprises.” Of them, 54 are working with the CTA for the first time, as is Mobley’s company. Overall, minorities make up nearly 53% of the project’s workforce, according to the CTA.
The U.S. Department of Transportation defines DBEs as small, for-profit businesses in which socially and economically disadvantaged individuals own at least a 51% interest and control the management and daily business operations. African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, Pacific and Subcontinental Asian Americans, women, and other groups fall into that category.
A DBE’s annual gross income must be less than $23.98 million and the owner’s net worth cannot exceed $1.32 million, according to the department.
Government contract spurs expansion
Mobley employees range in age from 23 to 58 years old. Most come from underserved areas on the South Side and West Side. The creation of good-paying jobs with benefits, pensions and health insurance has had a “phenomenal impact,” according to Mobley, who said people of all ages need good jobs, ones that help “keep them from doing something they probably don’t want to do.” do”. .”
Her contract has led her to expand into non-CTA fencing and caulking installation projects and air safety and wellness training.
Despite the nationwide labor shortage, Mobley said it wasn’t difficult to find workers.
“People always call me asking for work,” he said.
The 52-year-old businesswoman has also hired her two adult daughters. One works as an office manager and the other as a foreman.
The Red and Purple Modernization project gets federal funding, so the CTA has to follow its regulations aimed at reducing discrimination in federally supported infrastructure projects.
There are more than 2,000 certified DBEs in Illinois, established since the Department of Transportation started the program in 1980.
The Red Purple retrofit project “had a lot of people who could participate,” said attorney Colette Holt, of Colette Holt & Associates in Texas, who has conducted studies of DBE programs in large infrastructure projects in Illinois and elsewhere. “Chicago is one of the country’s black business meccas. “It has a good group of black, Latino and female contractors.”
While Holt has not analyzed the project, he led a 2019 study on the CTA DBE Programs and said the agency is known for its “excellent” DBE programs and “regarded as a model by other large transit agencies in the U.S.”
Dissemination and training
“We established processes so that small businesses not only win contracts but succeed and grow,” said JuanPablo Pietro, CTA director of diversity programs and DBE liaison officer.
For example, Pietro said Walsh-Fluor broke down contracts into manageable sizes so small businesses could bid on them, which involves more administrative work but allows small businesses to enter the field.
Subcontracts involve traditional construction work, such as electrical, carpentry and concrete, as well as non-traditional work, such as inspections, website design and traffic management, areas in which DBEs are not typically involved.
CTA’s small business development team hosts training, outreach and networking events and reaches out to organizations such as the Hispanic American Construction Industry Association, Black Contractor Owners and Executives, and the Federation of Women Contractors.
Mobley learned about CTA projects through lunches at Walsh’s downtown offices. The CTA also held outreach sessions at universities around the city and in local communities to help small businesses bid on contracts, she recalled.
Katelyn Roberts, diversity and inclusion manager at Walsh-Fluor, said she “aggressively” applied for DBE, emailing and calling certified small businesses and following up with calls to guide them through the offers.
Pietro said one challenge is preparing small businesses for all the paperwork and oversight they will have to deal with in government jobs.
Perhaps the biggest challenge is access to capital. Many small businesses face difficulty obtaining loans from traditional banks or can only obtain them at higher interest rates. According to Holt, construction companies have even more difficulties.
“Lenders are very scared of construction companies in general,” Holt said. “There’s a lot of risk. Things can go wrong pretty easily. And being a small, disadvantaged company makes it harder to get money.”
The CTA has helped connect them with lenders that focus on small businesses, such as nonprofits and government programs. Despite the additional financial pressures they faced during the pandemic, none of the DBEs that won RPM contracts have closed, Pietro said.
Despite challenges accessing capital, “these are small businesses doing great work,” Roberts said.
One measure Walsh-Fluor has taken to help is establishing flexible payment terms for subcontractors “to promote financial stability and cash flow,” according to Roberts.
DBEs may also need more technical and clerical support. Mobley received guidance from Walsh’s project managers and diversity liaisons on how to set up a better billing system and learn how to use Excel.
“I had never done this kind of work,” said Mobley, who credits Walsh for guiding her on industry best practices. “They didn’t leave me alone. “Everyone was approachable.”
Mobley said he didn’t foresee working in construction, joining unions and handing out helmets to employees, but he is thriving in that role and hopes to work on future CTA projects.
“I wasn’t in the industry, but I was able to go out and excel,” Mobley said. “With the right guidance, small, black and minority-owned businesses can do great work. If Adrian can do it, anyone can do it.”