The Missouri Department of Transportation announced this week that they would commit a chunk of the budget for the upcoming Highway 40 expansion project to training minority workers.
This marks important progress for the St. Louis-based organizations Metropolitan Congregations United and the United Congregations of Metro East, who have been working with MoDOT for months to ensure that more local workers have access to construction jobs in St. Louis.
“MoDOT has made a commitment to utilize up to one-half of 1 percent of the I-64 federal dollars toward contractor incentives and training programs,” said Lester Woods, MoDOT external civil rights administrator, at a press conference Monday. While that doesn’t sound like much, the project’s budget is $535 million-so 0.5 percent works out to about $2.5 million, which will be spent over the four-year duration of construction.
This means that apprentice construction students at places like the Construction Prep Center and Youth Build, St. Louis will have new opportunities to develop a career in St. Louis.
The announcement is the product of months of discussion between MoDOT and MCU, which combined with UCM for this project. Members and supporters of MCU, an interdenominational, multi-racial community organization of religious congregations in the St. Louis metropolitan area, traveled to Jefferson City, Mo., in January to lobby MoDOT on behalf of minority workers in St. Louis.
They wanted MoDOT to make a commitment to hiring local workers for construction projects-and impending projects like the Highway 40 expansion and the Missouri River Bridge construction made MCU’s work particularly urgent. Construction on Highway 40 is expected to start in January 2007, according to a report in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
MCU earned the support of many different parties in St. Louis, including Mayor Francis Slay, state representative Yaphett El-Amin and some Saint Louis University students, teachers and priests, who attended a meeting in December at which MCU’s plan was discussed.
Slay was present for the Monday announcement, which was given at Turtle Park, overlooking the highway whose reconstruction will create thousands of jobs for local workers.
“It’s a shame that projects are completed by people from somewhere else, when our own citizens are unemployed . It’s more than a social justice issue-it’s good business,” Slay said of MoDOT’s decision to accept some of MCU’s demands.
MCU representatives and supporters expressed excitement about the announcement, but continually stressed that their work is not finished. MCU also wants to see a commitment from MoDOT to decrease the disparity in the workforce.
“We are looking for that new day to truly dawn on the St. Louis community,” El-Amin said on Monday.
She said that minorities comprise 14 percent of the workforce at present, and MCU is pushing to increase that number to 30 percent. This is part of MCU’s workforce development platform that MoDOT has yet to address formally.
“The battle is yet to be won,” El-Amin said.
But Monday’s announcement marks progress for MCU, whose goal is to create a better life for all St. Louis area residents.
The Highway 40 expansion project will affect 12 miles of 64/40, from Spoede Road in Frontenac to Sarah Street in St. Louis. The expected completion date is October 2010.
