(DailyAnswer.org) – The New York Port Authority has led an initiative to reserve part of the JFK airport’s renovation project for businesses owned by ethnic minorities and women.
Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul celebrated the project’s “record involvement” of women- and minority-owned businesses. The movement ensures that $2.3 billion of the estimated $19 billion will be inaccessible to businesses owned by white males. Instead the $2.3 billion in renovation contracts will go to MWBEs, or minority- and women-owned business enterprises. The initiative falls under Hochul’s aim to increase the number of partnerships between the state and MWBEs. A total of 680 MWBEs have received contracts so far in connection to the project.
According to the city comptroller’s office, in 2021 New York City gave 3.8% of the city’s contract funds to MWBEs, and 84% of New York’s MWBE firms lacked access to city spending. Hochul celebrated the state reaching its goal of 30% MWBEs in the 2021 fiscal year, and following the city’s underperformance in comparison, Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams vowed to grow the program. By February 2022, according to the comptroller’s report, NYC was still struggling to reach this goal, with less than 2% of city contract spending going to Latino- and Black-owned businesses in the 2022 fiscal year. Only 5% of new purchase orders and city contracts in the same period went to MWBEs.
Comptroller Brad Lander found in February 2024 that the numbers fell “woefully short” of their goal, with only 20% of businesses owned by women and ethnic minorities having secured a purchase order, contract or approved subcontract in the city. Hochul said in a statement that the city is still committed to giving travelers the best experience that will be ensured by the inclusion of local MWBEs.
Port Authority Chairman Kevin O’Toole described the airport’s redevelopment as a “game changer” for MWBE firms. The Port Authority has also been working with Queens-based businesses, roughly 100 of which received $950 million in contracts linked to the airport. Some of these businesses could be owned by white men so white-owned businesses may not have been excluded outright from the redevelopment program as a whole. The Port Authority’s website states that it has a “progressive” initiative relating to diversity and inclusion aiming to increase the involvement of MWBEs. The agency also aims to have 20% of its contract partners owned by ethnic minorities and another 10% owned by women by 2030.
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