The growth of Iowa’s minority population has brought with it a greater focus on the need to cultivate and support new and existing minority-owned businesses throughout the state.

Now, one industry group is taking an active approach in fostering minority-owned contracting companies through educational sessions, partnerships and training opportunities intended to provide these businesses with new work opportunities.

“There are a lot of minorities that are working on the (construction) jobs, but they aren’t necessarily the business owners,” said Jon Rosmann, chief financial officer of the State Public Policy Group, which worked with Polk County to launch the Minority Enterprise Construction Council last spring. “We saw this as an opportunity to not only strengthen existing businesses but also empower some of the workers to go ahead and establish a business of their own.”

The Minority Enterprise Construction Council offers free 16-week courses to groups of up to 20 minority contractors (women are among those eligible for participation). Now preparing to welcome its fourth group of minority contractors, all in the residential construction business, the council’s goal is to enhance its members’ business capacity and their ability to be competitive.

Rosmann said the first half of the course is focused on business start-up issues and the second is focused on business development and management. Topics include basic accounting, obtaining financing, building codes and permits and how to work with your lending partners.

Each three-hour session is divided between classroom instruction and discussions with local officials, such as county supervisors or city council members, intended to foster working relationships for future contracted projects.

Antonio Williams, who is African-American, spent several years in the construction business, first doing concrete work and then electrical work, before purchasing a few houses that he remodeled. He has since worked to start a contracting business with his brother and brother-in-law. He is one of about 13 contractors who took the council’s most recent course, which he said has given him information that has helped jump-start his business and opportunities to get his foot in the door.

“I know of many African-Americans who started businesses that never really got off the ground level,” he said. “This (program) tells them where to go and how to get things done.”

The State Public Policy Group launched the council with the intent that it would provide ongoing training and certification for current and past participants, all considered members of the council. A major certification effort has been through Polk County’s weatherization program, which provides weatherization services to low-income homeowners. The county is certifying several minority contractors, including Williams, in weatherization procedures so they are eligible to bid on county-sponsored weatherization projects. Polk County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Angela Connolly said the program opens doors to new projects for those minority contractors, though they are not given an edge over other contractors in the bidding process.

“My true intention was to start my business sometime in the next year,” Williams said. “But because of the opportunities they brought to the table, I was able to get into the weatherization portion sooner.”

Council organizers are also working with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Polk County Housing Trust Fund to develop a partnership that will present council members with opportunities to rehabilitate affordable housing units, a project the trust fund has worked on for several years with HUD, the city of Des Moines and its non-profit partners. It hopes a partnership with the council will provide an additional clearinghouse for eligible contractors for these rehabilitation projects.

“These are excellent jobs for the skills and capacity of our contractors,” Rosmann said. “The county, through the weatherization program and the housing trust fund, is driving this and making sure we get more minorities working for themselves.”

Sheila Lumley, executive director of the Polk County Housing Trust Fund, said her organization and the non-profits involved see it as an opportunity to expose minority contractors to the public and private sides of development and provide them with an additional avenue through which to obtain work.

“They may not be big enough to take on large projects, but they may have enough employees and enough of a threshold” to be able to take on home rehabilitation projects, Lumley said.

Ideally, Rosmann said, the minority-owned businesses that are prepared and ready for direct contracts are encouraged to take the plunge and develop relations directly with the Polk County Housing Trust Fund, the city of Des Moines, Polk County and other groups. For those who may need some additional assistance, the council will provide opportunities for them to submit bids as a larger, collective group of subcontractors.

“The council obviously doesn’t want to compete with the businesses we’ve been cultivating, so we need to be in contact to know which projects we’re bidding on,” he said. “We’re all in this to help each other.”