Chicago City Council September 21, 2022
Referred to the Committee on Economic, Capital, and Technology Development
RESOLUTION CALLING ON THE CITY OF CHICAGO TO TAKE THE EQUITY IN INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT PLEDGE
WHEREAS, Historically, unequal infrastructure investment has led to connection and economic growth for White middle-class neighborhoods, and furthered segregation and access to opportunity for Black and Brown neighborhoods; and
WHEREAS, The Chicago metropolitan area is home to the third largest economy in the Nation, and also, one of the cities with the most significant income variation across its communities—a likely result of complex, institutionality isolated, and aged infrastructure; and
WHEREAS, As the City of Chicago (City) takes steps to ameliorate historical wrongs with programs like "INVEST South/West", recent efforts to redress Black and Brown neighborhoods remain largely insufficient; and
WHEREAS, The federal government is the world's largest purchaser of goods and services, according to the United States Small Business Administration, they only awarded minority-owned small businesses 9% of the approximate $665 billion spent on procurement contracts in 2020; and
WHEREAS, As local government acquires billions of federal infrastructure dollars, this is the City's unique and life-changing moment to ensure equitable construction and investment in suppliers historically excluded from procurement contracts; and
WHEREAS, In 2021, Phillip Washington (CEO of Denver International Airport), John Porcari (former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Transportation), and several others, founded the Equity in Infrastructure Project (EIP)—an initiative focused on improving contractual opportunities that produce wealth in underserved communities by leveraging infrastructure spending; and
WHEREAS, One of the first partners to take the EIP pledge was the Chicago Transit Authority-the Nation's second-largest public transportation system; and
WHEREAS, The City should follow its sister agency and others across the country by taking the EIP pledge as an additional commitment to increase opportunity for underserved communities and minority contracts by decreasing observed wealth and harmful disparities impacting quality of life as a result of being excluded from large infrastructure developments; and, now, therefore
Gilbert Villegas Alderman, 36th Ward
BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the Members ofthe City Council gathered here on this 21st Day of September 2022, call on the Mayor and the City of Chicago, including its Sister Agencies, to collectively take the "Equity in Infrastructure Project" pledge as an active commitment to infrastructure equity, repair, and procurement opportunities for historically underserved communities and disinvested minority-owned small businesses.
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