Ensuring New Development Delivers Career Pathways to Workers in Disinvested Communities through Priority Hire

Why this investment?

Over a decade ago, community advocates in South Seattle, an area with large populations of people of color, noticed that public infrastructure projects were being built within their neighborhoods but did not include any members from their community working on the construction job sites. At the time, only six percent of workers on public projects were Seattle residents. These advocates formed a coalition and began pushing the City to ensure residents had access to jobs created through public investments. 

In January of 2015, the Seattle City Council passed legislation establishing a Priority Hire program requiring City construction projects over $5 million hire residents from economically distressed areas of Seattle and King County and apprentices who graduated from pre-apprenticeship programs to help residents access those jobs. In 2017, Priority Hire was expanded to include public-private partnership projects with significant investments from the City.

What is this investment

Seattle’s Priority Hire program aims to increase construction career opportunities for women, people of color, and economically distressed communities with the intention of increasing economic equity in the region. To realize this goal, Priority Hire recruits diverse workers, trains them, helps them get hired, and provides them with ongoing support throughout the process. Priority Hire is implemented through a Community Workforce Agreement (CWA), a partnership between the City and local labor unions. This agreement provides workers with access to construction jobs with good wages and benefits such as free career training, health care, and retirement plans. This works to ensure consistent working conditions while requiring the hiring of workers from priority zip codes. 

Every year, the City sets project-specific requirements for the percent of hours worked by Priority Hire workers on all covered projects; the goal is to reach 40 percent of labor hours performed by Priority Hire workers by 2025. 

To achieve this, the City requires contractors on covered projects to employ Priority Hire workers who live in economically distressed areas within Seattle’s city limits with the second priority being workers from economically distressed areas in King County. On public works contracts with an estimated cost of $1 million or more, the City also requires that no less than 15 percent and no more than 20 percent of the contract labor hours be performed by apprentices.

The Priority Hire program has supported 60 projects over its lifespan. Through 2023, Priority Hire workers who live in economically disenfranchised communities earned an estimated $46.9 million more than would have been earned without the implementation of Priority Hire.

Centering equity in the program

A 16-member Advisory Committee made up of contractors, labor union workers, training providers, and community organizers/organization members advises the City on the implementation and effectiveness of the program. The committee aims to ensure equitable program implementation, including identifying ways to recruit and retain people in apprenticeships from underserved communities. 

In addition to steering construction jobs towards communities with histories of disenfranchisement and racism, Priority Hire works to ensure construction sites are welcoming to residents by setting standards on construction sites and evaluating contractors based on their ability to meet them. As Anna Pavlik, the former Labor Equity Manager for the Purchasing and Contracting Department, describes “if you go onto a construction site, it’s not always the most welcoming environment… We have a lot of education work that goes into working towards contractors, trying to shift the culture of the industry via setting these requirements and having training associated with it.” 

Since Priority Hire’s enactment, long-standing structures of conduct and culture within labor unions and contracting companies have been persistent challenges for program implementation. Among unions, established policies around the admittance of apprentices and maintenance of union membership can make it difficult for new workers to join. For non-union contractors, challenges include ingrained business practices, a lack of focus on racial equity and inclusion, and limited understanding of Priority Hire’s goals. As many Priority Hire participants are not familiar with the field before coming into it, it can be challenging to acclimate into the industry, especially as it is white male dominated, and retention is a challenge. 

ARPA funds have enabled Priority Hire to expand contract partnerships with two programs to enhance mentorship and support for women of color apprentices. A dedication of $200,000 funds a partnership with the Cassandra Banks Foundation to pair these apprentices with experienced journey-level workers who are also women of color. Additionally, $134,320 was allocated to a mentorship contract with Puget Sound Electrical JATC, focusing on retaining electrical apprentices from economically distressed areas, women, and people of color. This program aims to improve teamwork, time management, communication, and job site safety, with plans to enroll 150 apprentices. These efforts align with Priority Hire's goal of securing stable jobs for women of color, who remain the most underrepresented group on construction sites.

Outcomes to date

With the increased development in the area, there has been a surge in demand for workers who live in these zip codes. In 2022, 36 percent of workers on Priority Hire sites were men of color, a 50 percent increase from before the implementation of the program. Women of color continue to be underrepresented in the industry, as they worked just two percent of Priority Hire project hours in 2022, though that is actually a 50 percent increase from when the program started. 

Based on work with the Priority Hire Advisory Committee, in 2024 the City will be analyzing changing demographics and economic conditions to produce an updated list of priority zip codes in 2024. Once the list is developed, the City will also be evaluating outreach to those communities—all to support equitable administration of the program.

Although representation of women, specifically women of color, remains lower than their male counterparts, Priority Hire continues to make intentional investments to support women in enrolling and staying in the program. While working with the Cassandra Banks Foundation, Priority Hire is tracking the outreach, enrollment, and retention of women of color in the mentorship program, and they are hopeful that the partnership will make a lasting impact.

Toward transformative change

Since Seattle’s Priority Hire program was launched, King County, the Port of Seattle, and Seattle Public Schools have implemented similar local hire programs targeting jobs to underinvested communities. In fact, King County invested $3 million in ARPA funds to expand Priority Hire in other cities throughout the County. Private developers have begun picking up this model as well, which Pavlik sees as a “ripple effect” of Priority Hire’s efforts and the effect that it is having on the construction industry in the region. 

Priority Hire hopes that their investments will lead to long-term outcomes and sustainability for providing well-paying employment for Seattle’s disenfranchised communities. The program aligns with Seattle’s Race and Social Justice Initiative of Leading with Race as Priority Hire commits to foster less disparity across economic, racial, and gendered lines. The work being done at Priority Hire ultimately aims to benefit not only workers and their families but also the overall underserved communities of Seattle. 

When suggesting practices for jurisdictions hoping to implement a similar program, those administering Seattle’s Priority Hire recommend striving for community partnerships, whether that is in relation to community investments in workforce development or Priority Hire implementation on construction projects. Tesfu explains that “making sure that you’re actually hearing from [the] community, making sure that they’re involved, and then making sure you’re being responsive at the end of the day. That is who we’re working for.”