SUPPORTING LOCAL HIRING & LOCAL PROCUREMENT OF GOODS & SERVICES A NEW NATIONAL MODEL FOR INVESTMENT

WHEREAS, on February 26, 2013, Mayor Frank G. Jackson of the City of Cleveland signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), creating the foundation for a public-private partnership with key business, civic, labor, and trade organizations that can serve as a national model; and

WHEREAS, public-private partnerships are working to grow local economies by serving as a model for economic growth through training, jobs creation, and contracting opportunities for local residents and businesses; and

WHEREAS, investment of federal tax dollars for all construction related projects should stimulate local economies by ensuring equitable job opportunities for all citizens and creating economic sustainability in the regions where the public investment is taking place; and

WHEREAS, allowing local government decision making authority when communities receive funding from the federal government and various federal agencies is the best way of utilizing public-private partnerships; and

WHEREAS, this historic new federal guidelines will assist in driving investment in local communities in a way that creates direct benefits for local residents and businesses by increasing pre-apprentice and apprenticeship training opportunities, connecting qualified local residents with good job opportunities by adopting First Source Hiring, increasing the utilization of minority, female, and small locally owned business enterprises (MBE/FBE/SBE), and convening a committee to monitor progress,

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT The United States Conference of Mayors Affirms its Support for:

a.       Making local hiring and local procurement of goods and services the new national model for how we invest critical federal government spending; and

b.      Clear and specific legislative language regarding the hiring of local residents and encouraging the procurement of local goods and services; and

c.       Ensuring that local communities are required to receive the opportunity to participate on public sector funded construction projects is the best way to create thousands of American construction-related jobs.