SPOKANE, Wash. – The Spokane Alliance, alongside City Councilmembers Paul Dillon and Zack Zappone, are backing the “Public Dollars for Public Benefit Ordinance” to ensure city funds allocated for public infrastructure benefit the local workforce and community.
The ordinance was discussed at a press conference Monday, focusing on its potential impact on low-income and underrepresented communities. The goal is to encourage contractors to hire apprentices and prioritize a diverse workforce for public works projects.
This initiative aims to create more opportunities for individuals from diverse backgrounds, ensuring that public investments contribute positively to the community’s growth.
The following is more information on the Public Dollars Public Investment, Public Benefit campaign from Spokane Alliance:
Good jobs have been a priority for the Spokane Alliance since our founding. Currently, the Jobs Team is focused on ensuring that all Public Works projects in the Spokane region create benefits for the whole community.
The Jobs Team is negotiating with a number of public agencies in Spokane to agree to a set of shared values that supports construction workers and their families. The Team is asking these agencies to use this set of values when they bid on jobs and select contractors. The proposed contract language would encourage contractors to:
guarantee a minimum set of worker benefits to all workers including full family health care and retirement plansuse apprentices to provide job training opportunitieshire a diverse workforce including women, veterans, and people of color.
We work to build a strong and healthy community by:
Supporting aspirations and well-being of our families and our employersCreating opportunity for our children to work and play and stay in SpokaneParticipating in the training of the workforce of tomorrowStrengthening the promise of the “helmets to hard hats” strategy to provide employment for veteransEnsuring equal opportunity and access for those seeking to develop job skillsCreating and building an environment that improves the health of our families, our workforce, and our community
