When identifying success stories from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA), Vice President Joe Biden’s Recovery Office recently turned its attention to South Boston and Suffolk Construction’s Old Colony Redevelopment project.

And for good reason.

Originally built in 1940, Old Colony is the largest, and one of the most seriously distressed properties in the Boston Housing Authority’s portfolio.

Old Colony consists of more than 16 acres and 873 apartments in 22 three-story, brick walk-up buildings. After receiving ARRA funding, the Boston Housing Authority (BHA) selected Beacon Communities to undertake the redevelopment of what is now known as Phase One of Old Colony.

Suffolk is managing the demolition and new construction that will transform Old Colony into one of the most advanced and sustainable housing developments in the country. The project was designed by The Architectural Team in Chelsea, using green-building and energy efficient measures.

During a very challenging economic period, using more than $22 million in ARRA funding, Beacon Communities was able to structure and execute a complex financing plan that includes federal stimulus funding, state and federal low income housing tax credits, city funding, and other state resources. In fact, it is one of the largest capital projects funded by ARRA, and is one of the most successful stimulus stories to come out of the past year.

But the real story behind this project is not the buildings or the funding used to improve them. The most compelling Old Colony story is about people – the talented workforce and minority- and women-owned enterprises that are taking active roles in transforming the area into the envy of public housing nationwide.

Local Jobs

The City of Boston, MassHousing, BHA, and the Commonwealth, through the Department of Housing and Community Development, had very ambitious goals for minority, women, Boston residents, and Section 3 workforce participation on the Old Colony project. They also had high expectations around minority-, women-, and locally-owned business enterprise participation. From the very beginning, Suffolk’s project team aimed to exceed everyone’s expectations on workforce and W/MBE participation by developing a three-pronged strategy very early in the process:

Community partnerships: After winning the project, the Suffolk team immediately reached out to MassHousing, BHA, Massachusetts Municipal Association (MMA), Massachusetts Minority Contractor Association, and other state, city, and neighborhood agencies to schedule in-person meetings to educate them about the project and allow them to become involved in the planning process. The outreach to the community was intense, and strong relationships were formed that eventually allowed us to involve more local people and establish a spirit of open communication and collaboration once the project began.

Proactive local recruiting: After creating energy and excitement about the project with local community organizations, we began leveraging those strong relationships to identify qualified tradesmen and women from the Old Colony development and its surrounding neighborhoods. We found more than a few qualified, talented local workers who were collecting unemployment benefits at the time, but were thrilled to get back to work and have an opportunity to work on a project that would have a positive, long-standing impact on their professional and personal lives.

Training for the future: We used the Old Colony project as an opportunity to train these local workers so they would have opportunities to work on future projects in Boston. Suffolk has developed specific training programs, conducted in our own Roxbury-based Training Center, to educate local trade workers on ways to structure their operations so they can work more effectively with Suffolk on large, complicated projects. As part of these training sessions, workers are also introduced to local union representatives so they can take the initial steps toward eventual union membership. Through a partnership with the BHA, Suffolk is also introducing workers to the “Building Pathways” pre-apprenticeship program, which provides a free seven-week program designed to prepare qualified local applicants for an apprenticeship in the building trades.

Exceeding Goals

Our approach has been extremely successful. We were able to meet our workforce goals for women, Boston residents, and Section 3 residents for a majority of the trades, and we far exceeded the minority workforce goal of 25 percent, with a minority participation rate of 38 percent. MassHousing’s original goal for minority-owned enterprise participation on the Old Colony project was 20 percent. We have exceeded that goal by reaching an impressive 34.5 percent. The same holds true for women-owned enterprises, with our 24 percent participation rate far exceeding MassHousing’s original goal of 5 percent.

Just as important as these impressive numbers, the entire team has succeeded in delivering the highest quality workmanship on this project, and the client is thrilled with our progress.

The Old Colony redevelopment is a story of how the Recovery Act is making a positive impact on housing in Boston. It is also a story about the transformation of an entire community, and the creation of a sustainable housing development that will be the model for environmentally-friendly housing developments.

But most importantly, it is a story about creating jobs and providing local workers the unique opportunity to demonstrate their talents and take part in a rejuvenation that will have a lasting impact for generations.

David Adams is vice president of commercial operations at Suffolk Construction Co.