The Cleveland Guardians: Empowering Small Businesses and Building a Stronger Community
In spring of 2022, the Cleveland Guardians selected Mortenson to serve as Construction Manager at Risk for renovations to Progressive Field. The partnership largely focuses on maximizing small and local business enterprise participation for the renovation projects – initiatives that both Mortenson and the Guardians strongly prioritize.
“What’s great about the Guardians is how hands-on they are with community empowerment,” says Lynn Littlejohn, retired Vice President of Community Empowerment at Mortenson. “The actions they’re taking for education and outreach span beyond benefitting the project and are focused on supporting the greater Cleveland community in the long run.”
As part of the selection process, the Guardians insisted on a partnership – at the leadership level – with one or more small, local and/or disadvantaged construction companies. Mortenson subsequently chose Independence Construction and The AKA Team to be Associate Construction Managers. This approach fostered collaboration with Cleveland-based companies that understand the benefits and challenges of workforce participation when building out a project.
“We are honored to work with the Guardians to carry out the shared vision for the future of Progressive Field,” says Logan Gerken, Vice President and General Manager for Mortenson. “Together, we have been focused on finding the right local collaborators and optimizing the impact of this project on Cleveland-area communities.”
It takes a shared vision and a team effort to make impactful change, and the Cleveland Guardians project has produced a winning playbook.
The Benefits of a Review Group
Before the project even led off, the Cleveland Guardians got to work establishing a Community Review Group consisting of council members, community members, and representatives from the Guardians and Mortenson to oversee small and disadvantaged business participation and a workforce development program. The review group meets quarterly to review progress on these initiatives and share updates on everything happening with the project.
“The idea behind the Community Review Group is to have a broad group of people who are largely unaffiliated with the project provide us feedback and best practices based on their experiences within the region,” says Neil Weiss, Executive Vice President, Chief Information Officer and Civic Relations for the Cleveland Guardians. “What’s more, participants spread information from our project to their networks, supporting one of our goals of providing a blueprint for future projects."
Staying Connected to Key Leaders
Littlejohn says, “The Guardians’ overall philosophy is centered around utilizing the project to make a difference in the community. They’re intentional in creating touch points with council members and other city leaders to develop a strategy that helps advance community – both businesses and residents.”
“We’ve worked hard to stay in close contact with key government and civic officials, so they can provide feedback and help tell our story to others. This is especially important in their understanding of how money is being spent, what has worked and what hasn’t. The back-and-forth conversation can help improve programs and community impact in the future,” says Weiss.
Educating and Empowering Small Businesses and Individuals
Educational sessions open to any business in the community provide advice on how to prepare a bid, get certified for specific work, and other important topics not always available to small business owners.
Business consultancy APB & Associates was brought in as part of the Project Management Advisory team to host workshops to help educate on things like capability statements, estimating, how to find micro-loans, mentor-protege relationships and more. “The majority of attendees won't even work on our project, but if they learn from these workshops (that only exist because of our project), then hopefully they can grow and win work on the next job,” says Weiss.
On the workforce development side, the review group organizes career fairs to inform community members of work and apprenticeship opportunities. “We’ve worked hard to use this platform as a basis for community work, even if it does not tie directly to the construction,” says Weiss. “APB have been instrumental in turning our aspirations into reality and we wouldn’t be able to make forward progress without them.”
One such example is the Grand Slam Job Fair, where the Guardians partner with Cleveland city council members to host events across wards, bringing in construction and trade teams to help build awareness around career opportunities in these fields. Removing barriers to access is a critical part of increasing opportunities for businesses and community members. Holding sessions throughout Cleveland meant people didn’t have to drive long distances or could use public transportation. “They really focus on accessibility and convenience for the sessions and career fairs,” added Littlejohn. “Instead of hosting them during working hours, everything was scheduled on evenings and weekends, so people didn’t have to miss work to participate.”
Gaining New Perspectives
“Awareness is key. I’m always amazed at how few people understand what a Community Benefits Plan is or how one works but reference it because it’s the right thing to do. It's all about education and building awareness of the problem we are trying to help solve in a small – but hopefully impactful – way. For example, I learned on this project that one of the biggest reasons that small, local, disadvantaged firms don't often bid packages is that they can't afford to float capital or payroll for a long time until the CM pays them. If they have to wait three months to be paid, they can't support their company and employees, so they won’t even bother to bid. We have focused on shortening the pay cycle as much as possible. While this isn't rocket science, it does require persistence,” Weiss says.