Connecting The Dots: Southern California CDABP Quarterly Newsletter May 2018 | Page 4

A Message From The Administrator:

Ingrid Merriwether

With every fading anniversary of our organization since our founding in 1997, we continue to challenge the status quo in the manifestation of diversity and inclusivity within the broader insurance and risk management disciplines we engage in on a daily basis. Now, after 21 years of our fervent commitment to our philosophy of aligned risk management, we have more to be excited about in this arena than ever before!

Ingrid

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One of the more notable achievements we’ve recently been privileged to benefit from as a result of this paradigm shift is the recent adoption of our newly adopted Contractor Development Bonding Program (CDBP) by the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority, more commonly known as LA METRO. This program, which is designed to provide SBE, DBE and DVBE contractors with a broad range of technical assistance, training, and bonding support to help grow contracting capacity to compete and successfully complete Metro projects, further reinforces the demand of small and local participation on publicly funded projects.

We also had the distinct honor of hosting a welcome reception for Amber Meshack, as the newly appointed Division Director of Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) Business, Jobs & Social Responsibility Office. Together with more than a hundred business partners we all convened to welcome Amber who will oversee LAWA’s strategic plan to promote local, small and disadvantaged enterprise inclusion in the procurement process, and promote local hiring and workforce development job opportunities at LAWA.

Today’s contracting landscape is fertile for reaping the fruits of success for contractors of all sizes and backgrounds and together with our like-minded partners we are thrilled to advance our commitments in this endeavor!

Today, more public agency owners in the greater Southern CA region—and even across the country—are realizing the myriad of multiplicative benefits resulting from the advancements towards the adoption of diversity and inclusion in all of their contracting practices across their various procurement channels. In turn, this has stimulated significant interest in the various Contractor Development and Bonding Programs we administer throughout the state as more agencies are looking to replicate these services within their organizational offerings