The practice of "Pass Throughs" is common and legal but unethical. It undermines the ability for real companies to build real capacity.   The Cincinnati NAACP has previously raised this as an issue for the BANKS project siting one of the BANKS concrete contracts as an example.  The Cincinnati NAACP encourages the Media, City, County, CPS, Businesses and Community to expose and help remedy the use of the unethical practice of "Pass Throughs" to misleadingly inflate minority inclusion.  "This practice is shameful," Smitherman says.

Recent and past articles regarding this issue as it relates to the Cincinnati BANKS and other projects:

91.7 WVXU Article: (5/6/10): Officials reviewing whether Banks concrete contract was SBE worthy

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Cincinnati NAACP ARTICLES/POSTINGS:

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(4/22/10): Winburn Letter Regarding Pass Through Businesses in Cinti SBE Program

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(4/17/10): Banks Project Inflating Minority Inclusion Numbers Also

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(4/8/10): "Pass Throughs" Undermine Minority Inclusion