M/WBE Spotlight: The Wilkinz Group

Mr. Dwayne Wilkins grew up knowing he wanted to create opportunities for businesses and residents of New Jersey. His grandfather was one of the first African American police officers in Montclair, and his grandmother led efforts to enforce compliance with affirmative action in the construction industry. They also played a prominent role in the community and civic life of Essex County—together, these two influences taught him the power of politics from a young age. But while civic duty was part of his upbringing, he did not consider the potential for offshore wind to provide the opportunities he sought for his state until 2022.

A string of events and his extreme curiosity led Mr. Wilkins to the offshore wind industry. As Operations Manager at a small carpentry firm in Newark, Wilkins was eager to help the minority-owned business scale up. Attending a luncheon, he heard leaders from New Jersey’s Governor to Newark’s mayor detail the opportunities for businesses in Atlantic City. A few days later, he received an email from the NJ Economic Development Authority highlighting business opportunities in Atlantic City, specifically in offshore wind. The rest is history.

Within a few months, General Electric selected Mr. Wilkins to attend the Business Network for Offshore Wind’s annual IPF conference in Atlantic City. He had started his own firm—The Wilkinz Group, a Newark-based consulting firm focused on business development and community engagement in underserved communities in NJ. In 2023 he returned to IPF, this time leading a panel.

As Mr. Wilkins sees it, the offshore wind industry provides a “soup of opportunity”: bringing together developers, government agencies, and small businesses who can support these major projects. The industry will need the support of local businesses and their workforces, and cities like Newark are primed to provide exactly the inputs required. Wilkins, a lifelong Newark resident, is keenly aware of all that his state and city have to offer. From colleges like Rutgers and NJ Institute of Technology; to the busiest seaport in the country; to a rich cultural diversity across each neighborhood, Wilkins stands poised to stir this soup and serve up opportunities in Newark and beyond.

When asked about what success looks like for his business, Wilkins barely pauses. For him, it looks like helping other people and creating a healthy ecosystem for the next generation so that they grow up seeing opportunities like those available in the renewable energy sector. Longer term, his dream is even more specific: imagine a rich grandpa sitting on a porch (surely in NJ) and sharing his connections, opportunities, and knowledge with anyone who stops by to ask for help.

At the end of the day, Mr. Wilkins is a connector. As he continues to teach business owners and locals about opportunities to join the emerging offshore wind industry, he will inevitably reach his goal of helping others through the opportunities he opens up. Learn more about Wilkins and his work at thewilkinzgroup.com.

Maine Governor’s Energy Office releases its Offshore Wind Roadmap

Portland, Maine, USA, downtown city skyline at dusk. Photo by Sean Pavone.

Last month, Maine’s Governor’s Energy Office released its Offshore Wind Roadmap, which will serve as the state’s guiding document for offshore wind strategy over the coming decade. The publication results from 18 months of public process led by an advisory committee comprising State agencies and energy, economic, fisheries, wildlife, science, and environmental leaders. A federal Economic Development Administration (EDA) grant supported this work.

Karp Strategies, under the leadership of Xodus and in partnership with VHB and BW Research Partners, contributed to this work by conducting a supply chain and workforce analysis. The goal of this analysis was to determine the ecosystem of offshore wind-related businesses across the state, as well as the challenges and opportunities they face. From this analysis, Karp Strategies recommended policies that help existing Maine businesses overcome barriers to entry as they relate to the offshore wind supply chain. Specifically, we highlighted opportunities and best practices for recruiting new offshore wind-related companies to Maine and helped develop tools to build partnerships between developers and local suppliers that focus on supporting the growth of small and M/W/DBE businesses, workforce development pipelines, and local economic development.

As offshore wind continues to develop in the United States, similar roadmaps will become essential to responsible, effective, and sustainable economic development. Presently, individual developers are responsible for submitting plans for locally sourcing employees and materials for their projects. A state-authored guide on bolstering these supply chains would serve to benefit both developers by easing “look local first” challenges, as well as invite more businesses into an industry from which they might otherwise feel excluded.

Similar to Maine, many other states consider offshore wind a major opportunity to grow their economy and foster innovation. These opportunities create a need for new guidelines, either regulatory or not that provide mechanisms for legislators and developers alike to ensure benefits are made for and provided to community members in the vicinity of an offshore wind project. As these supply chains and related systems are built out, the radius of benefits should expand in a way that eventually benefits states that might not have direct access to offshore wind. This could take the form of centralized manufacturing in middle America or training offshore workers in states that don’t have as many lease areas so developers can contract them in other states.

As the offshore wind industry grows in the Northeast and throughout the country, the need for suppliers and workforce members will rise in tandem with the amount of new offshore wind projects. To be ready for these new demands and to enable states to take advantage of related economic benefits, there is a pressing need for more studies like Maine’s Offshore Wind Roadmap to equip stakeholders to seize offshore wind opportunities when they present themselves.

New Bedford State Pier Redevelopment Moves Forward

New Bedford Harbor

In December 2022, MassDevelopment announced its official recommendation of Taber’s Wharf Partners to redevelop the New Bedford State Pier in New Bedford, Massachusetts. This recommendation follows a competitive RFP process held in 2022. It draws on suggestions from a site and feasibility analysis conducted in 2020 by Karl F. Seidman Consulting Services in collaboration with Karp Strategies and Jacobs Engineering Group.

Karp Strategies’ economic development practice centers on developing strategies that are forward-thinking, actionable, and based on a nuanced understanding of the local community, market, and historical conditions. We are thrilled to see our economic development work contribute to the advancement of reinvestment plans for this important facility.

The New Bedford State Pier is an 8.5-acre waterfront site adjacent to New Bedford’s downtown. Its current uses include docking for fishing vessels, a busy passenger ferry terminal, some break-bulk cargo, marine support services, and government offices. Despite this activity, the State Pier remains underutilized relative to its capacity.

Karp Strategies first began our work at the New Bedford State Pier in 2016, collaborating with Karl F. Seidman Consulting Services and Urban Focus LLC to provide a fiscal and operations analysis of four State Piers across Massachusetts. This analysis supported future policy and use decisions made by MassDevelopment, the Commonwealth’s economic development agency, and the Massachusetts Seaport Economic Council (SEC). Following the analysis and delivery of a comprehensive final report, MassDevelopment took over operations and management of the New Bedford State Pier in 2017 and began repositioning this working waterfront for future economic development opportunities.

In 2020, MassDevelopment sought a deeper use analysis specific to the New Bedford State Pier in order to activate expanded maritime and industrial operations and increase revenue. Building off our initial 2016 work, Karp Strategies analyzed the State Pier’s current uses and five possible future revenue generation opportunities to inform and drive a comprehensive economic development strategy. Our team evaluated the project context by conducting a planning and baseline analysis, examining existing area economic and demographic conditions, and assessing community assets and needs. This research informed a full analysis of the feasibility of locating offshore wind support services on the State Pier, including extensive research and stakeholder interviews examining the offshore wind supply chain, timeline, workforce impacts, and development risks.

The redevelopment proposal and agreement between Taber’s Wharf Partners and MassDevelopment draws on the findings from this analysis and marks a significant step forward in building a thriving economic development ecosystem moored to the State Pier. The proposed redevelopment will include offshore wind support services, seafood auction and processing, street-side retail and restaurants, and other marine industrial activities—uses informed by Karp Strategies’ feasibility analysis. The two parties have entered a Provisional Designated Developer Agreement, and redevelopment planning will begin this year.

Through our community and economic development practice, Karp Strategies works closely with clients like MassDevelopment to analyze, develop, and implement community and economic development strategies, policies, and strategic plans. We believe in establishing diverse and inclusive workforces, tapping into the critical role of small and minority-owned businesses in project supply chains, and sustainably leveraging and retrofitting existing assets—including piers like New Bedford—to meet the needs of the 21st-century economy.

Read the full press release about the New Bedford State Pier partnership below.

https://www.massdevelopment.com/news/step-toward-development-at-state-pier/