The University of Chicago is committed to using its role as an anchor institution to support diverse businesses and create employment opportunities for women and minority workers, especially Chicago residents. To reflect its commitment to business diversity, in 2017 the University raised its construction project contracting goals for minority- and women-owned business participation to 35 percent and 6 percent, respectively, and for construction workers who live in the city of Chicago to 40 percent. These ambitious goals remain among the highest in the City of Chicago.
The University of Chicago Inclusive Construction Initiative (ICI) is a joint effort between the Office of Civic Engagement, Procurement Services, Facilities Services, and UChicago Medicine to ensure on-campus construction projects reflect the diversity of UChicago’s surrounding communities and that construction-related contracting and employment opportunities are extended to minorities, women, and Chicago residents, including those from the South Side.
The Fiscal Year 2023 Inclusive Construction Initiative annual report—which covers projects advanced between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023—demonstrates exciting progress across multiple facets of that work. Between FY17 and FY23, the University increased its contracting with minority-owned firms from 25 percent to 32 percent on capital projects of $2 million and larger, tremendous growth for a large institution over that period of time. We’ve also generated strong growth in contracting with women-owned firms at almost 11 percent, nearly doubling our goal of 6 percent in FY23.
In addition to significantly surpassing our WBE goals across capital projects, we made notable strides in increasing women workers employed on our projects. We reached 6.38 percent women laborer hours against a 5 percent goal in FY23, and though we’re still working to grow our women journey worker and apprentice hours, we are thrilled that so many women laborers have had the opportunity to put their skills to good use through our recent project portfolio.
During FY23 we also began incorporating formal language in all major project contracts going forward that requires contractors to provide mentorship and cover the costs associated with pre-apprenticeship programs for local workers. It is our hope that through successful completion of this mentorship and training, South Siders will build vital trade skills necessary to grow and advance as members of construction worksite teams.
