State-Of-Black-Oregon-2015

CASE STUDY 10GROWING ALL OF OREGONMaurice Rahming started out asan apprentice, then advanced tojourneyman, qualified to work acrossthe whole country. That was way back.Now he, along with his wife Ali O’Neill, ownsPortland’s biggest Black contracting firm—one ofthe top three Black businesses in Oregon. Annualsales have topped $14 million.At the height of the season, some 75 findwork with O’Neill Electric, and about 50 workpermanently throughout the year. Some 40 to45 percent of the O’Neill Electric employeesare minority. But that proportion is higheramong what Maurice calls his “core people,”the foremen, project managers and supers. TheO’Neill Electric superintendent on the PortlandTransit Bridge project, spanning the Willamette,is Latino. The company’s lead on the newPortland Community College SE campus is awoman. Another project manager is from Haiti.The company works with organizations likeConstructing Hope, Oregon Tradeswomen,Second Chances are for Everyone and Youth98