The California/Hawaii NAACP Conference recognized former Assemblyman Dr. Mike Davis at its recent conference held at the LAX Marriott Hotel.
Dr. Davis, who is currently finishing his term as President Pro Tem of the City of Los Angeles Board of Public Works, was first appointed by Mayor Eric Garcetti after completing his term in the California State Legislature. He was reappointed by Mayor Karen Bass for two years until she made her appointments to the board this November.
“When I came down from the state capitol to work in city government, I was lucky to be appointed to serve in a city in which I have spent my entire adult life working. I am grateful to Mayor Eric Garcetti and Mayor Karen Bass for their faith in me to serve to help impact the service delivery of the city’s Department of Public Works,” Davis said.
Having served as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer for the Department of Public Works as well, Dr. Davis led initiatives which increased inclusion in the Department and in the City of Los Angeles. He served as the Co-Chair of the HBCU Engineering Recruitment Committee where he worked with SEIU and IBEW to establish opportunities for many of our students who attend HBCUs to be recruited, interviewed, and hired, given the underrepresentation of African American Engineers in city government.
Also, he wrote a grant and was funded from the city’s Innovation Committee to establish a pilot program establishing an internship for HBCU students to work in engineering and financial services areas where African Americans are underrepresented in the city.
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Last year, the City of Los Angeles won the coveted “Corporate Diversity Award” from the National Society of Black Engineers Conference, held in Kansas City, Missouri, for the work done on the HBCU Engineering Recruitment Committee. Dr. Davis said it was one of the highlights of his tenure on the Board of Public Works to receive this award for the city at the national convention.
He was also instrumental in helping promote the city’s Community Level Contracting Program which was housed in the Bureau of Contract Administration and assists in increasing the opportunities for more small businesses to get work. Davis, who received his doctorate degree from the University of Southern California, wrote his dissertation on “Achieving Diversity on Local Publicly Funded Construction Projects in California: Knowledge, Motivation, and Organization Factors Influencing Prime Contractors in the Selection of Minority Subcontractors.”
Davis is an advocate for equity of service delivery in every community in Los Angeles, including Contract Administration, Sanitation, Street Lighting, Street Services, and Engineering.
“My goal has been to make sure our staff works effectively with Council Office staff to sustain infrastructure services for Los Angeles. The employment opportunities the city provides is crucial to the economics of the city and every community should be included. My work around diversity, equity and inclusion is to make sure every community has had equal protection by having an equal opportunity,” Davis professed.
“I am grateful to the NAACP for recognizing my work to include those who have been locked out and left out of the system of publicly funded programs. I have hope that public works employment opportunities will be a prominent part of the great homeless work Mayor Karen Bass is doing,” he revealed.
Davis advocated for the Workforce Equity Demonstration Project (WED), which also provides employment opportunities for underrepresented populations in the City of Los Angeles. The Department of Public Works committed to provide jobs for these participants who will have an opportunity for work after completion of the training program conducted by the union. He stressed that the effort would help level the playing field of those ready to work from underrepresented communities.
As the coordinator of the city’s African American Heritage Program, Davis worked closely with Our Author’s Study Club and the Office of the Mayor to present one of the premier Black History Month History Programs in the city of Los Angeles.
The celebration includes recognition of living legends such as the late Lou Gossett Jr., Angela Bassett, Dionne Warwick and Ice Cube. Hall of Fame recipients included U.S. Justice Consuelo Marshall, Supervisor Yvonne Burke, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, and CSUDH President James Parham.
Also, Davis spearheaded efforts to increase construction dollars awarded to Black-owned firms. “I implemented the practice to annually recognize those prime contractors who happened to hire everybody including African American firms in hopes that this will help move the culture of inclusion further along. I felt privileged to promote the city’s Community Level Contracting Program which reflected a desire to close the gap on those underrepresented small businesses in the city that get work,” shared Davis.
I am confident the Bureau of Contract Administration, which I served as the liaison to, will continue to ‘Inspect What We Expect’ in this city as far as inclusion of small businesses is concerned,” noted Davis.
“I discovered after years of leadership that recognizing the strength in others is what great leadership is all about. I thank the state NAACP for recognizing my work. In today’s environment we still have not arrived to where we want to be in achieving diversity, inclusion and equity . Some people want be invited to dance. But, I say we want to be able to dance as much as others are dancing. In other words, equity is our goal, ” Dr. Davis stated as he accepted the NAACP Advocacy Award.
