A banner flies across the street from Peoria city hall, prominently displaying a black officer of the police force. But inside city hall on Tues., residents of the African-American community told the city council there are not enough blacks on city-contracted job sites.
NAACP member Al Hooks says the contractors on 11 projects are not meeting the city’s own diversity guidelines.
"If I’m a private contractor coming into Peoria, I already know if I don’t have a diverse workforce, I’m going to have issues," Hook said. "So it’s not that the city directly controls them, but the city sets the environment, they set the foundation and currently we aren’t setting the foundation."
The projects, primarily street and sidewalk work, total more than 11-million dollars. Members of the Peoria chapter of the NAACP will meet with city manager Patrick Urich Thurs. to address the lack of minority representation on city contracts.
NAACP President Rev. Marvin Hightower says it’s not for a lack of minorities wanting those jobs.
"We’ve been doing it for four years and we’re discovering we have the qualified pool," he said. "We have discovered there are minorities that are interested in the trades and are willing to do the work and wanting to get in and we’re still not getting in."