The State of Minority- and Women- Owned ... - Cleveland.com

Anecdotal Evidence of Disparities in the City of Cleveland’s Market Area
C. Business Owner Interviews
To explore additional anecdotal evidence of possible discrimination against minorities and
women in the City of Cleveland’s market area, we conducted three group interviews. We met
with 110 minority and female business owners from a broad cross section of the industries from
which the City purchases construction services and goods, construction-related professional
services such as engineering and architecture, and other goods and services. 317 Firms ranged
from decades-old family-owned firms to new start-ups. Owners’ backgrounds included
individuals with extensive experience in their fields and entrepreneurs beginning their careers.
We sought to explore their experiences in seeking and performing prime contracts and
subcontracts with the City, other public agencies and in the private sector.
This effort gathered individual perspectives to augment the statistical information from the
business experience surveys. In general, interviewees’ individual experiences mirrored the
responses to the business experience surveys. We also elicited recommendations for
improvements to Cleveland’s current M/FBE and CSB Programs, described in Chapter X.
The following are summaries of the issues discussed. Quotations are indented, and are
representative of the views expressed by many participants. Some have been shortened for
readability.
1. Discriminatory Attitudes and Negative Perceptions of Competence
Many owners still experience discriminatory attitudes and behaviors. Minorities and women
repeatedly discussed their struggles with negative perceptions and attitudes of their capabilities
within their industries. The stereotypes about minorities’ and women’s of lack of competence
infect all aspects of their attempts to obtain contracts and subcontracts, and to be treated equally
in performing contract work. This was true across a very wide swath of industries.
If they see you as an MBE, that’s all you are.… [Which] happens is not only from the
prime standpoint but also the city or the agency standpoint. Because now the perception
is, we need him only on these projects [with goals].
If you mention MBE or if you mention minority business, it turned into a negative, it
turned into, I don’t want to hear this.… Especially with Barack Obama being in, it seems
like that perception now has become a, hey, we don’t want to hear that sort of stuff.
I’m reluctant to bid as a minority contractor because we do so much majority work. But
in the same token, you know, you got to have a chance.
317 48 non-M/FBE owners participated in the interviews, discussed in Chapter X containing the review of the City’s
M/FBE and CSB Programs, but provided no feedback about race- and gender-based barriers to the participation
of minorities and women.
NERA Economic Consulting 283