December 28, 2009

Cincinnati NAACP

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The Cincinnati Public School Board has failed the African American Community.  The School Board promised that African American contractors would get 30% of the work in building Cincinnati Public Schools.  The School Board is scheduled to spend $1 billion in the total construction of new Cincinnati Public Schools. The School Board is 50% finished.  The Chair of Economic Development of the Cincinnati NAACP, Jim Clingman, has reported that he was unable to identify $14 million or 2% of the total spend to date going to African American contractors.  The 2% is based off the $700 million that has currently been spent to build Cincinnati Public Schools and excludes any money going to consultants.  "These numbers reflect the economic apartheid in Cincinnati.  CPS has paid over $7 million to DAG, TYS, and African American consultants to deliver inclusion.  It is safe to say they have all failed," Cincinnati NAACP President Christopher Smitherman says.

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After reviewing the CPS construction financials the Cincinnati NAACP had a meeting with two Cincinnati School Board Members.  The School Board Members were shocked by the data that was provided.  "It looks like Turner has been "hooking up" its friends with $623 million in contracts while 70% of the children that attend Cincinnati Public Schools are African American," Smitherman says.  The Cincinnati NAACP requested that all job sites be stopped until African American contractors were brought to the table. The Cincinnati NAACP thanks Bolton and Nelms for meeting with the Cincinnati NAACP leadership.  If the School Board is serious about including African Americans they will take radical actions to stop the economic apartheid in their organization.  The final $300 million could be directed to African American contractors to meet the goals promised by the CPS Board.