In the News: As NYCHA Rolls Out PACT Plan to Fund Repairs, Resident Engagement is Key

Engaging residents in meaningful dialogue is critical to NYCHA's ability to restructure and rebuild, according to Karp Strategies’ Alexandra Sutherland-Brown in a recent op-ed for City Limits. Ali argues that the future of NYCHA hinges on building trust between its staff and residents. Check out the op-ed to learn about the agency’s initiative to secure financing from private partners to address infrastructure needs and why it’s critical to put NYCHA residents in the driver’s seat of the process.

The Hope Gardens NYCHA development in Bushwick. Image by Adi Talwar

This article originally appeared in City Limits on January 8, 2021.

As NYCHA Rolls Out PACT Plan to Fund Repairs, Resident Engagement is Key

By Ali Sutherland-Brown

Despite the unprecedented challenges COVID added to our ability to reform NYCHA, there are signs we might be starting to make progress in restoring our already beleaguered public housing system. From federal receivership to experiments with private intervention and systemically rethinking its organizational structure, the agency has taken steps toward effective innovation during this year of ongoing crisis.

Yet it is no exaggeration to say NYCHA’s future hinges on bridging the gap of trust that has grown between its staff and residents. The agency itself acknowledges this credibility gap in its new Transformation Plan. Decades of unaddressed tenant complaints—broken elevators, mold, lack of mid-winter heat—have taken their toll.

To restructure and rebuild effectively, the agency must center the process on resident outreach that meaningfully informs tenants and bases planning on their feedback. A critical case in point is the ongoing controversy over NYCHA’s Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) initiative, which enables the agency to secure financing from private partners to address urgent infrastructure repairs by converting NYCHA campuses to Section 8 housing. PACT has proven successful at updating public housing infrastructure while ensuring strict tenant rights, but NYCHA residents remain understandably wary of the program as a potential mechanism of displacement. Into this breach, as NYCHA plans to redevelop a third of its portfolio through PACT, the agency has taken an important step: releasing a Request For Proposals (RFP) for a $10 million program of resident engagement specifically to guarantee the careful implementation of a solution that could make the difference between stabilizing its financial crisis or deepening its conditions of unlivable disrepair. The success of that engagement is going to make or break PACT, which could make or break NYCHA’s ability to address its staggering capital needs.

Because let’s be clear: at present New Yorkers in public housing face two equally unappealing options: they can protest PACT conversions, as many are doing, which means their buildings may sink deeper into unlivable conditions—or they can place their faith in a landlord that has done little to earn it over the past several decades, which many are doing only after an exhaustive study of the options available to them.

The agency’s Transformation Plan articulates a renewed commitment to establishing a ‘culture of service’ that will rebuild trust in the context of addressing immediate concerns, like the daily upkeep of living conditions. But that goal, though this goes unstated, is really the foundation for more sweeping measures to set NYCHA on a path to success over the next decade.

Effective community engagement—outreach that doesn’t just passively solicit feedback, but proactively educates residents and makes their input the backbone of decision-making—isn’t something NYCHA needs to do because it sounds nice or as lip service to equity and inclusion. Engagement is the foundation for reversing a historical backlog of distrust that is stalling the agency’s current efforts not only to restore its portfolio to a state of good repair but reinvent itself in a way that better serves tenants in the future.

The good news is we know what effective engagement looks like and the results it can produce.

For example, our team at Karp Strategies, a community-minded urban planning consultancy, led research on behalf of Enterprise Community Partners for NYCHA’s program evaluation of PACT at the Ocean Bay Apartments complex in Queens. This evaluation offered strong and clear recommendations for NYCHA’s further rollout of the program. Our goal in speaking with residents wasn’t simply to check an obligatory box but rather to make sure community concerns were addressed in real time. Through focus groups and interviews we ensured the transition to Section 8 housing was working for current tenants. This is the kind of partnership that builds trust and enables innovative solutions.

Too often resident relations are either treated as a siloed concern or subtly acknowledged as the basis for success amid a wave of urgent restructuring priorities. That’s simply not going to cut it for NYCHA on PACT—which, unlike the federal funding that never comes at the time or scale we need it, is an actionable solution we can implement effectively right now.

Let’s seize this transition period as the opportunity to put NYCHA residents in the driver’s seat in shaping a brighter future for public housing in New York.

Ali Sutherland-Brown is a Director at Karp Strategies, a New York City-based WBE-certified urban planning consultancy.

In the News: More City, State Contract Work Needed With Firms Owned By Minorities, Women

Cali Williams recently spoke about public-private partnerships and MWBE procurements during Commercial Observer’s Public Project’s Forum. She was joined by public sector leaders Michael J. Garner, Timothy J. Pullen, Yousef S., and Lillian Valenti. Read about the insights captured in their conversation in an article from Commercial Observor.

This article originally appeared in Commercial Observer on November 18, 2020

Left to Right, Top to Bottom: Yousef Salama of Turner & Townsend, Michael Garner of MTA, Lillian Valenti of Port Authority, Timothy Pullen of Port Authority, Cali Williams of Karp Strategies. Image: Commercial Observer

By Rebecca Baird-Remba

It’s hard out there for minority- and women-owned business enterprises trying to gain a foothold in the construction industry — especially during a pandemic.

During Commercial Observer’s forum “Public Projects: Navigating MWBE Participation, PPP, and Other Public Works Procurement Programs” last week, administrators from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, and the state dormitory agency, along with a City Council member and the head of a minority-owned contracting business, discussed how the city and state could pave the way for more minority- and women-owned businesses in the development world.

“MWBEs are often excluded from projects because they are subject to regulations that are built in ways to work against them, and that’s a problem because we need diverse voices at every step of the decision-making process,” said Cali Williams, a principal at urban design consulting firm Karp Strategies, during a panel discussion with moderator Yousef Salama of Turner & Townsend. She noted that only 10 percent of city government contracts go to MWBE companies.

“At the end of the day, MWBEs don’t get the support to correct these disadvantages because they are systematically blocked from accruing the experience that is required to win the [request for proposal],” Williams said.

Public agencies that handle the lion’s share of the state construction contracts claim they have made significant strides in awarding contracts to MWBEs and training them to compete against larger firms. Rick Cotton, executive director of the Port Authority, pointed out in his keynote that the agency had awarded $1.45 billion in contracts to minority- and women-owned firms at LaGuardia Airport, which is being completely redeveloped at a cost of $8 billion. Similarly, the authority has awarded $400 million to MWBEs at Newark Liberty International Airport, which is getting a brand-new, $3 billion Terminal One with “iconic” food and retail options, Cotton said.

Lillian Valenti, chief procurement officer at the Port Authority, touted the agency’s coaching program for the principals of MWBE architecture and engineering firms as “first of its kind.” The teams will even compete against each other and be awarded a scope of work.

Valenti added that the authority’s revenues had declined so dramatically during the pandemic that it was forced, for the first time, to ask for $3 billion in federal aid.

Other transit agency executives said that when companies bid on projects in person, they need to bring their MWBE employees.

“Bring your MWBE team to the oral presentation,” said Michael Garner, chief diversity officer for the MTA. “We had a major RFP for [Occupational Safety and Health Administration] services, and one firm failed to bring the MWBE team. And I had to question them, and they said they were not aware they were required to. They came back to me and said, ‘Your question sent shockwaves through the insurance industry.’”

Tim Pullen, manager for alternative project delivery at the Port Authority, said that the agency makes sure respondents to its RFPs understand that 30 percent of their project teams — across design, construction and development — are minority- and women-owned businesses.

Speakers on the second panel, moderated by Turner Construction’s Janice Haughton, were even more blunt about the uphill battle that minority contractors face in the world of public construction.

“The city and state spent close to $1.5 billion [on contracts during the pandemic], and there were very few minority or MWBEs,” said Nayan Parikh, a civil engineer from India who started his own construction firm, Ashnu International, 22 years ago. “Various projects were done, and every time I called them, I was told that there were no minorities called.”

Janice Haughton of Turner Construction, Councilman Ben Kallos, Michael Clay of Dasny, Nayan Parikh Of Ashnu International, and James Murphy of Turner & Townsend. Image: Commercial Observer

Parikh explained that he had built his business with the help of a construction mentor program for MWBEs at the New York City School Construction Authority in 2006.

“Without that program, I wouldn’t be sitting here being a successful contractor or a successful businessman,” said Parikh. “That program gives you work, money, and it gives you technical know-how. Now MTA, DDC and various agencies are doing the same program.”

He added, however, that once a female or minority business owner finishes the program, they are suddenly working with and competing against large contracting firms for city and state construction jobs.

“The larger general contractors will do everything they can to make sure you fail, so they can go back and tell the developer, ‘This is not working,’” said Parikh.

Debundling larger contracts — which involves allowing smaller firms to bid for pieces of them — and bringing MWBE firms together as teams on public projects could help both minority- and women-owned businesses in the construction world, noted James Murphy of Turner & Townsend.

Michael Clay, senior director for procurement at the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, explained that he has tried to close the opportunity gap for MWBE contractors at his agency by building a program that gives them access to the performance bonds and capital that they need to bid on larger jobs. The program also helps provide payments to subcontractors and suppliers, including payments to unionized subcontractors, under a project labor agreement.

Upper East Side City Councilmember Ben Kallos, who chairs the council’s contracts committee, said that he has been pushing for ways to streamline the city’s RFP process and increase MWBE participation. He wants to allow business owners to respond to city contracts without having to jump through certain hoops each time, such as having to notarize a document that specifies that they don’t do business with Iran. (“You should be able to just do it once, and then send us an update if you start doing business with Iran,” he added.)

He also hopes to increase the city’s target for awarding contracts to MWBEs, which is currently set at 30 percent of contracts for 2021.

“We had a hearing on [personal protective equipment] procurement, and we only hit 14 percent for MWBE participation, which was embarrassing,” said Kallos. “We had to get PPE from China, and that’s not where we want to be.”

In the News: Offshore Wind Could Help Our Economy Boom Again

What does a green economic recovery entail? In an op-ed in NJ.com, Rebecca Karp and Jen Becker make the case for centering offshore wind at heart of recovery. They discuss the need for an interstate approach to workforce development, employment, and MWBE procurement in order to support a new green industry that can stimulate inclusive economic growth.

Offshore Wind Could Help Our Economy Boom Again

This article originally appeared on NJ.com on November 13, 2020

Offshore wind has real potential to become not only the foundation of 21st-century renewable energy in the United States but a key driver of inclusive economic development now and for decades to come, say Rebecca Karp, CEO of Karp Strategies, and Jen Becker, a principal at the firm.

By Rebecca Karp and Jen Becker

With the federal government poised to be more supportive of the tri-state region than it has in the past, conversations around our regional economic recovery are finally able to begin in earnest, and there’s a lot of talk about a green recovery. There should be. This idea is critical for our future: we should use the greening of our region to create jobs, reduce our use of finite resources, and lead the way globally toward a more sustainable future.

There is one industry that must be central to this discussion: offshore wind. It has real potential to become not only the foundation of 21st-century renewable energy in the United States but a key driver of inclusive economic development now and for decades to come.

Govs. Phil Murphy and Andrew Cuomo have started a friendly rivalry to lead the race for offshore wind, but making meaningful inroads in this industry will require more than individual state by state efforts. To build both the social and physical infrastructure for an ecosystem that works for the offshore wind industry as a whole — developers, communities, and the new green workforce that we’ll need to cultivate to realize this future — what we need is interstate collaboration.

A regional approach is essential if we are to nurture the equitable growth of a new industry; position New Jerseyans and New Yorkers for the thousands of jobs in the pipeline; effectively assess and improve the supply chain to generate localized production and access; evaluate the landside opportunities for port and infrastructure development and ensure that local communities see an authentic upside.

States will need to collaborate with developers to create an equitable foundation for the growth of offshore wind so our region is more resilient post-COVID-19 than before the crisis.

To lay that foundation we need to do two things: first, establish an unprecedented regional green workforce development program, and second, ensure that we take this unique opportunity to affirm our commitment to diversity in a powerful new sector and the participation of minority and women-owned small businesses in building our offshore wind ecosystem.

We often rely on the statistic that offshore wind will generate 80,000 domestic jobs as it becomes the power source for millions of homes. But who will those jobs be for?

People must be able to see themselves in these positions. That is going to require widespread education and outreach to share accessible information about what offshore wind is and is not, and critically, training people for the jobs to come.

Many people still do not understand the job creation opportunities that will stem from this industry. For those who do, there is an image in the public consciousness of an offshore wind job either being in the water or behind a desk: manual labor or reserved for engineers. That’s far from the full picture. Offshore wind holds the promise for employment at every level and skill set, from procurement and administration to assembly and maintenance — a new green industry to stimulate our regional economy.

We should incentivize educational institutions from the Carolinas to Maine to create job training programs; not just graduate degrees at Columbia and Princeton but community college and high school programs that can train people in the development and maintenance of offshore wind systems.

In developing a nascent industry with as much promise as offshore wind, we also have a unique opportunity to prove our region’s commitment to diversity and Minority and women business-owned enterprise (MWBE) hiring so we rebuild our economy stronger and with justice at the forefront.

There are top-of-the-line MWBE firms ready and willing to do this work; governments and developers should prioritize them, looking outside state lines and sharing favored contractors to identify the best firms for the job.

Especially as we recover from COVID-19 and this recession, an extinction event for small- and minority-owned businesses, the earliest stages of the offshore wind industry must provide an economic adrenaline shot straight to the communities most in need: the small businesses that with every additional dollar used to hire more and reinvest locally.

This isn’t just about small businesses, though. We must ensure people of color are included in key leadership positions: on the development side, in public agencies, in community and advocacy groups. Communities of color are often the ones that bear the brunt of disruption wrought by large infrastructure projects, but offshore wind presents an opportunity to prioritize investments that advance community-centered goals and directly deliver jobs and training benefits to people who are too often excluded from the development process.

We cannot solve our greatest challenges alone; this past year has put a finer point on that. From COVID to climate change, we must address existential threats together.

The upshot is that offshore wind collaboration will yield a massive uplift for our entire region, leadership in a new industry for the 21st century that will yield jobs and inclusive economic growth for generations.

Now is the time to seize this opportunity. Our recovery depends on it.

Rebecca Karp is CEO of Karp Strategies, an NYC-based WBE urban planning consultancy. Jen Becker is a principal of the firm in charge of offshore wind initiatives.