Portland x LatinoBuilt

Our team in Portland is working closely with the nonprofit organization LatinoBuilt to support and empower their members, including trade contractors and other growing industry firms led by members of the Latinx community.

“We invited a number of LatinoBuilt’s member firms to participate in smaller, customized sessions of the Turner School of Construction Management,” said Katelyn McIntyre, who serves as both procurement coordinator and community and citizenship coordinator for the Portland office – a unique dual role that positions her incredibly well to spearhead an initiative like this one. “We wanted to reach new, underrepresented businesses for our own recruitment and bid process, but also to help address the inequities in our industry and to connect qualified contractors with opportunities we know will help them advance and grow,” she added.

Together with a group of her colleagues, including Turner School session instructors, Katelyn helped develop a shorter session timeline and a more conversational and interactive approach to the curriculum. “The first class we sat down and established that it wasn’t a lecture series but an ongoing exchange,” she said. “We recognized that they were all taking time out of busy schedules to be there and wanted to respect their time by focusing on the skills they needed. So the first thing we did was ask them for input,” added Katelyn. “We also made sure we had Spanish-speaking instructors at every session to make everyone more comfortable and help facilitate that more conversational style.”

Katelyn noted that in addition to helping Turner folks build working, professional relationships with the LatinoBuilt member contractors, the Turner School sessions also helped those contractors get to know each other. “In our first session we had about 25 people from 15 different firms, some of whom were older and more experienced but many of whom were relatively new to the industry,” she explained. “We were excited to see them sharing knowledge and stories with each other, too. That kind of professional network building can make such a big difference for small firms.”

Among other key topics, the sessions covered the subcontractor prequalification process for Turner, a process Katelyn describes as intensive. “It is rigorous and we are upfront with them about that. But with our approach, we are not just evaluating whether they’re the right fit for us. We are also determining whether a given job is the right fit for them,” she said. “We want to make sure they have the capacity to succeed! In many cases, these are small firms and we don’t want them to bite off more than they can chew. We want to develop ongoing partnerships with them and we can’t do that if they default, for example. So the process is involved because we are really invested in their success.”

The first two sessions of the LatinoBuilt Turner School partnership included more than 40 people from 25 firms, of which eight have already made it through the prequalification process and onto Turner bid lists. “We have been really pleased with the success of the effort and we’ve already got meetings on the books to discuss what the program is going to look like this year,” said Katelyn.