4. White House intends equitable inclusion of Black stakeholders

USDOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg joined a White House Black Stakeholders meeting on Dec. 10 to discuss equitable distribution of federal infrastructure support and how state-level implementation will engage Black business owners, workers, and communities.

Top of mind: The White House will begin to take these steps toward modernizing the DBE bidding process:

• Eliminate logistical barriers to entry.
• Promote accountability and flexibility at the state and municipal levels.
• Confront history of divisive infrastructure spending, like highway placements and build transportation that connects communities to their jobs and loved ones.
• Ensure contracts are unbundled and bidding process is transparent, with 20% DBE participation.
• Build a modern and inclusive information sharing system that facilitates conversations with current big players in the industry.

Also: A participant urged the administration and DOT to explicitly promote the net economic benefit of closing the Black wealth and accessibility gap using smart infrastructure planning.

The bottom line: In order to ensure the infrastructure plan confronts the history of divisive highway and city planning, state and local leaders will need to engage Black business owners and affected community members as they implement federal support.

Go deeper: How the infrastructure dollars can help reconnect communities.