Office of Civil Rights News
 Visitors to the Arden Hills North Metro Drivers Exam Station will notice some upgrades the next time they enter thanks to a training collaboration between MnDOT and the Department of Public Safety Driver and Vehicle Services (DVS) Division.
In August, MnDOT Office of Civil Rights held two 2-day trainings to help BIPOC-owned and women-owned small businesses learn about pavement striping and compete for work on MnDOT projects. Metro District staff partnered with small businesses Professional Engineering Services, Inc. and AMKA Safety, to teach other small business-owners and give them the opportunity to apply new pavement-striping skills while replacing crosswalks at the North Metro Exam Station. Metro District staff demonstrated equipment, answered questions, and assisted in removing existing pavement markings. MnDOT Office of Advancing Equity, another key collaborator, helped create the plans for the intersection improvements.
Pavement striping offers expansive opportunities for BIPOC-owned and women-owned small businesses. “Pavement marking is one of the few scalable needs faced by MNDOT and other agencies,” Eric Johnson explained. Johnson is the senior inspector for PE Services, one of the two small business collaborators that provided training. “The jobs can range in scope from individual intersections with relatively few lines and markings to full civil project striping projects requiring miles of lines and many varying symbols and markings to be applied. This quality allows contractors to build their experience and business at a pace not difficult to accommodate.
"Working with MnDOT in offering this class allowed us to move well beyond the scope of traditional MnDOT training. The hands-on approach was invaluable in helping students truly understand the requirements associated with successfully delivering a striping project.”
Gabe Briseno of Metro District said, “Participants were more than willing to learn and absorbed the knowledge well. They were eager to learn the use of equipment and excited for the next day. I really enjoyed being able to be a part of this training for small businesses and put MnDOT’s best foot forward.”
Training programs sponsored by MnDOT Office of Civil Rights assist BIPOC-owned, woman-owned, and veteran-owned businesses, as well as socially and economically disadvantaged business owners, to be competitive on MnDOT contracts and projects. Evidence shows that businesses within these categories of ownership experience disparities in contracting. These training programs exist to change this experience. Small business owners interested in participating in MnDOT equity-based programs must get formal certification. (Learn more about this at Become a certified small business.)
The North Metro Exam Station typically operates seven days per week, which makes it challenging to coordinate infrastructure improvements. To accommodate the trainings, the DVS Division rerouted their drivers’ exam course for the duration of the trainings so that MnDOT staff, training providers, and participants had a safe space to work. By partnering with the DVS Division, OCR was able to offer these hands-on trainings in a controlled, realistic setting while helping improve Department of Public Safety infrastructure.
DVS supervisor Jessica Cook said, “We really appreciated the opportunity to make the Arden DVS exam station look good. The work they did was great! I hope we can work with MnDOT again in the future.”
More information
For more information about MnDOT Small Business Hands-on Training programs, please visit www.mndot.gov/civilrights/small-business-hands-on-training.html
Photo caption: MnDOT pavement striping trainees learn how to make a crosswalk. Photo by Adam Marks
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