Grand Rapids Community Foundation

Why "sticking to your guns" is important!

December 10^th, 2008

I have a card on my bulletin board in my office showing a huge boulder with a person sitting on top with 3 others standing at its base. The quote that accompanies the picture is from Thomas Jefferson: "On matters of style, swim with the current, on matters of principle, stand like a rock." Rather fitting for me! If you can't live and breathe by your principles then what do you have anyway I say? Such was the case when we started our journey this past year with the purchase and renovation of our 100+ year "new" home for the Grand Rapids Community Foundation. One of the key things I was not going compromise on was assuring that we hired minority owned firms and a work force that was diverse. We did this deliberately and it demonstrates our commitment to inclusion! Fryling Construction through Curt Mulder, our Project Manager, took this seriously as we frankly would not budge on this. We were told by many people that we were really not going to make our goal of 25% minority subcontractors and that we were being too idealistic. Phooey! We were also told by many knowledgeable people that when the contractor told us that the project would be completed by the end of September that we should add about three months to that target date! To that I also say Phooey! The building was done on time and to the point re: minority subcontractors ---> we surpassed the 25% goal and reached 28%! Hats off to Curt and everyone at Fryling! They were super to work with and incredibly patient with us! Okay - here's the reason why principles are important! Richard Ortega the President of Alternative Mechanical, along with his business partner Kevin Fahl, wrote me a great letter thanking us for our commitment as their firm is one of the minority subcontractors and they did a great job with the plumbing! Here's an excerpt of his letter: "I am writing to thank you on behalf of Alternative Mechanical. Because of the efforts of the Grand Rapids Community Foundation to include diversity on your recent construction project we were allowed to participate in the installation of plumbing on your beautiful facility. Diversity and inclusion have been the success story of Alternative Mechanical. My partner Kevin Fahl and I started a company in 2004 with a commitment to train and mentor women and minorities in skilled trade. Because of your commitment and outreach efforts we have been able to train tradesmen such as:" and Dick listed the surnames of a number of workers along with their racial identity. He ended the letter by saying: "Thank you for your commitment from my partner Kevin Fahl and the staff of Alternative Mechanical." What a great firm and what great leaders! Last week we hosted a celebratory and thank you reception for all the vendors and subcontractors. Everyone was so appreciative of our commitment and one gentleman came up to me with his eyes tearing up thanking us for giving them a chance. That's what it is all about! Thank you to all of you! Our community is a stronger and better place because of the hard and quality work you do!