Access to water-related jobs and contracts for all in the Milwaukee water sector remains an ongoing challenge, according to this new report, Public Procurement and Contracting in Milwaukee's Water Sector co-produced by Center for Neighborhood Technology and Milwaukee Water Commons. 

Good-faith efforts to share opportunities to work for and do business with Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District and the City of Milwaukee could be expanded to become even more effective, we found. 

There's growing demand for water infrastructure workers and significant potential for new business development from increased infrastructure investment. In this report, we:

• Survey the local landscape of business certification and workforce development policies in Milwaukee, including considerations of what may happen under the new Trump administration.
• Present perspectives from local utilities, city staff, workforce development organizations, water industry contractors, procurement specialists, advocates, and others, based on 25 interviews.
• Summarize several other cities' policies and strategies supporting small and minority contractors.

We hope this report serves as a catalyst for conversations on policy reform in Milwaukee and beyond.

The lead author on this report was Ryan Scherzinger, AICP. The Mott Foundation and Kresge Foundation provided support for this project.