Obama Wants Stimulus Projects To Hire More Minorities, Women

Dallas, TX – The Obama administration’s recent announcement urging the nation’s governors to work harder to ensure that minorities, women and low-income workers missing out on business opportunities and jobs under the stimulus bill received praise from the New America Alliance (NAA) leadership.

“We applaud the Obama administration for supporting a more direct and deliberate approach for access to resources for minority business enterprise training and education in order to participate in stimulus funded transportation infrastructure improvement projects. This is our opportunity to re-invest in the human capital needed to support national economic growth” said John C.Guerra, Jr., President and CEO of NAA. “It’s important that the current administration support the forms of capital most critical to Latino progress – economic capital, political capital, and human capital.”

Although the current stimulus bill places no state requirements to formalize a process to track and report workforce diversity including training and education, some states agreed to use stimulus funds to train low-income residents in construction work in order to increase their minority labor participation. “Just as leaders and managers within most organizations have been incorporating diversity policies into every aspect of their organization’s functions and purpose, we believe government leaders should take active roles in implementing best practices in order to achieve diversity in workforce, spending, and hiring practices as they relate to the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act stimulus spending initiatives.” Said Carlos Loumiet, Chairman of NAA. “This is a good step forward and we’ll continue to encourage both national and state leaders to implement these programs.”

Focusing on economic prosperity for all American Latinos, the NAA membership strives to open opportunities for Latino-owned firms and individuals to ensure that Latinos participate in building the economic vitality of our nation.

The New America Alliance (NAA) is a 501 (c) (6) organization. For more information go to www.naaonline.org