Bruce Alston, a declared candidate for the 2015 Democratic Primary for NJ Assembly (LD-31), announced that his community advocacy group, Urban Concerns, would be organizing an effort to form a “Minority Contractors Coalition in Jersey City.â€
Urban Concerns is currently forming a “Minority Contractors Coalition” with the sole purpose of uniting contractors, tradesman, and skilled laborers to begin the process of forming partnerships to bid on construction projects jointly throughout Hudson County.
We must be the builders as well as the rebuilders of our communities in Jersey City as well as Hudson County. The unity of this coalition will mandate that Urban Renewal Projects be granted to minority owned construction businesses that reside in our communities.
We can look around our city and see the work of construction companies who are not from here. We need to be the labor that is employed by our city and private developers to be part of the renewal of our community. We do not want to be confined to a particular ward of the city for development contracts. Our focus is to mandate an equal share of contracts to be designated to this coalition with the implementation of an Affirmative Action style awarding of contracts which are to be awarded to city tax-abated development, whether private or public.
We are asking all minority owned contractors, skilled laborers, and tradesman whether licensed or unlicensed to contact our office immediately – (201) 433-0259 – so we can arrange for membership into this coalition. We realize that there are procedures in place to ensure that tax abated buildings being constructed have a percentage of minority workers on a job site, however, we are seeking to build a coalition.
We want to be the General Contractors who are awarded these construction development contracts from the onset. We will no longer accept token jobs when we believe that we have the skills and resources to be the creator of jobs.
I feel it is important to note that the coalition will be void of politics, my candidacy for the NJ Assembly will not use this as a campaign tool, Urban Concerns mission is to advocate for the best interests of minority contractors in Jersey City.
Bruce Alston
Urban Concerns Community Organizer
