New MoDOT division helps minorities nab construction jobs

A new division created by the Missouri Department of Transportation is charged with helping a specific group of businesses get involved with state construction jobs.

Named External Civil Rights, the division serves minority-owned, women-owned and disadvantaged businesses and oversees MoDOT's affirmative action, equal opportunity and nondiscrimination programs, according to a news release. Those programs previously were housed within another MoDOT division, but the change will expand outreach and partnership programs.

"Creating this new division allows us to place an even greater emphasis on increasing the number of minority, female and economically disadvantaged individuals working on state transportation projects," said Lester Woods Jr., the division's director, in the release. "This will help us deliver better results when it comes to ensuring a diverse work force on our projects."

One goal for the division is to develop more pre-apprentice and on-the-job training programs for socially and economically disadvantaged people on two large MoDOT projects: the Interstate 64 reconstruction in St. Louis, and reconstruction on Interstate 29/35 and a new Missouri River bridge near downtown Kansas City.

A sister division, MoDOT's Equal Opportunity and Diversity Division, works to recruit and retain women and minorities as part of the agency's work force, the release said.