Economics

Congressional Black Caucus Takes Tech Initiative to Silicon Valley

Published

11 years ago

August 5, 2015

Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Chairman G. K. Butterfield (NC-01), Rep. Barbara Lee (CA-13) and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08), all members of the CBC Diversity Task Force visited Silicon Valley this week, Aug. 2-4, to meet with executives at the country’s foremost technology companies and organizations as part of the CBC TECH 2020 initiative.

Launched in May, CBC TECH 2020 is a five-year plan developed by the CBC to address the underrepresentation of African Americans within the technology industry.

“Our goal for this trip is to encourage and partner with these organizations to implement a diversity plan that will place more African Americans in the tech pipeline,” said Rep. Butterfield.

“This will potentially lead to a wide range of opportunities, from student internships to positions on the boards of tech companies,” he said. “Building a coalition of leaders from the public and private sectors ensures greater diversity and full representation of African Americans at every level of tech by 2020.”

“This visit is another step toward opening doors of opportunity for African Americans in the booming tech sector,” said Congresswoman Lee. “Increasing diversity and inclusion within the tech sector is not only a moral imperative, it is good for business and vital to continue economic growth.”

“The technology sector will increasingly be at the forefront of our country’s continued growth and prosperity,” said Rep. Jeffries. “In this regard, it is important to make sure that all Americans have an opportunity to participate in the innovation economy.”

As part of the TECH 2020 plan, the CBC has outlined diversity principles, best practices, and resources for African American students and entrepreneurs and introduced legislation focused on increasing STEAM education.

During the trip, members will a number of companies, including Apple, Bloomberg, Google, Intel, Kapor, Pandora and SAP.

Bloomberg hosted a press conference at its San Francisco office to discuss the CBC’s technology initiatives and the delegation’s work in Silicon Valley.

Judith Williams, Global Diversity and Inclusion Programs Manager represented Google. She said that Google has a robust K-12 investment in early education. Google hopes to rectify four factors that hold people back from reaching their potential.

“There is no encouragement in the work place. No one there looks like them. They don’t think they can succeed, and they don’t think they can change the world,” Williams said.

Congressman Butterfield said, “The current focus in Congress is for less education, and a push to shift the responsibility for education to the states. There is less money,” he said.

“We are fighting the same battles we fought before. We must make sure that the ‘unconscious biases’ don’t become institutionalized in organizations,” said Congresswoman Lee.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

Fin a la segregación en restaurantes de Oakland, dicen Activistas

Don't Miss

Councilmembers Reluctantly Pass Stop Gap WIB Budget

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Activism

At the event, 16 entities signed the EIP pledge, vowing to take steps to increase public contracting opportunities in their spheres for small and historically underutilized businesses. The pledge signees included Hub International, the Port of San Francisco, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, California High-Speed Rail Authority, the Port of Oakland, Robert Graham of Webcor Builders, Holder Construction, the Weitz Company, Sky Blue Builders, Hornblower, Swinerton, Luster National, Talson Solutions, Center for Community Wealth Building, and the Construction Contractors Alliance.

Published

1 week ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Toks Omishakin, secretary of the California State Transportation Agency, was one of the speakers at the event. Photo by Shellee Fisher Photography and Design.

By Calvin Naito, Special to The Post

On June 4, a national nonprofit named the Equity in Infrastructure Project (EIP) – which aims to increase public construction contracting opportunities for small and historically underutilized businesses – held a day-long event in downtown San Francisco to rally supporters and build momentum to its cause.

It was attended by more than 100 individuals from public agencies, private firms, and other organizations committed to increasing contracting opportunities with governmental agencies, thereby creating more competition and lowering public costs.

The EIP event was held the Hyatt Regency San Francisco in conjunction with BuildIT, which aims to increase contracting opportunities for LGBT-owned businesses.

At the event, 16 entities signed the EIP pledge, vowing to take steps to increase public contracting opportunities in their spheres for small and historically underutilized businesses.

The pledge signees included Hub International, the Port of San Francisco, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, California High-Speed Rail Authority, the Port of Oakland, Robert Graham of Webcor Builders, Holder Construction, the Weitz Company, Sky Blue Builders, Hornblower, Swinerton, Luster National, Talson Solutions, Center for Community Wealth Building, and the Construction Contractors Alliance.

Following the workshop, BuildIT hosted a VIP evening reception honoring EIP, whose principals – Phil Washington, John Procari, and Rick Jacobs – accepted the award.

The event also set in motion the coalition’s efforts to implement recommendations from EIP’s “Procurement for Prosperity: A Playbook.”

The Playbook is a practical guide for public agency leaders and procurement and contracting practitioners to grow the capacity of small and first-time contractors, strengthen competition, and deliver better value for taxpayers.

Toks Omishakin, Secretary of the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA), a long-time EIP supporter, also told attendees, “This is about commitment. This has been a life’s work. This is a tailwind moment.”

The event’s presenting sponsor was Hub International, one of the largest insurance brokerages in the nation, which was joined by partners Travelers Insurance and the State Compensation Insurance Fund.

After the pledge-signing ceremony, attendees participated in a workshop in which they examined the policies, practices, and programs needed to meet EIP goals, learned from practitioners, and identified next steps toward utilizing the Playbook.

Ingrid Meriwether, formerly of Merriwether & Williams Insurance Services (MWIS) and current president of Hub International’s Aligned Risk Management, MWIS, described the hard-fought lessons she and her MWIS team have learned over the last three decades administering contractor development programs (CDPs) for the City and County of San Francisco, Alameda County, City of Los Angeles, LA Metro, and other municipalities.

The CDPs help small and local construction firms win public infrastructure contracts with these government agencies. The program provides bonding assistance, contract financing, technical support, training, and other services to underrepresented businesses funded by public agencies who seek greater contracting participation with these firms.

Merriwether said programs like these “break down systemic barriers, create greater fairness, and save taxpayers money by enabling more competition. The contractor development programs have, cumulatively, over two decades, helped contractors access over $1 billion in bonding, supporting over $380 million in awarded contracts, and maintaining a loss ratio 250 times lower than the industry average – while saving participating municipalities more than $27 million in contracting costs as a result of enabling more competition.”

Rick Jacobs, EIP co-founder and co-chair urged attendees make plans to meet again in the near future “to continue building on this work, share progress on organizational commitments, and discuss how we can collectively advance the goals of the EIP pledge.”

For more information on the EIP and to access a copy of the Playbook, go online to https://equityininfrastructure.org/

Calvin Naito is communications manager for Equity in Infrastructure Project.