By: Undria Wilson
A Black-owned construction company in Flint, Michigan will be a key role in restoring water and hope to the city after its devastating water crisis.
According to atlantablackstar.com, W.T. Stevens Construction is a minority business enterprise owned by a woman. The company employs over 25 full and part time workers and has been awarded a contract to handle over 18,00 lead corroded pipelines in the city.
The firm is one of four to be awarded contracts, but is the only Black-owned company to receive a multi-million dollar service deal.
The city of Flint suffered a contamination crisis after a state-appointed emergency manager switched the city’s water source from Detroit’s water to the contaminated Flint River, causing toxic lead to leak into the drinking water. Thousands of men, women and children became sick after they were unknowingly exposed to the lead-tainted water for months before the state notified them of the crisis.
It’s been three years since the switch, but many of the city’s residents are still forced to rely on bottled and/or filtered water for drinking, cooking and bathing.
“This is home for me and my family, and I was not going to sit back and do nothing as a person or as a businessman,” project manager Jeff Grayer told the magazine. “This is the biggest project our company has ever done and as a result of the water line contract, our gross revenues have increased by about 70 percent.”
Grayer, a former NBA player with the Milwaukee Bucks and Golden State Warriors, works alongside his wife, Rhonda, who heads the company as vice president. The family firm has been in business for 25 years, carrying on the work and legacy of Rhonda Grayer’s father, who the company is named after.
In March 2017, a federal magistrate approved a $97-million settlement mandating that the city replace thousands of contaminated lead pipes. Jeff Grayer said almost 800 waterlines have been replaced so far and 6,000 are expected to be replaced by the end of the year.
More than $250 million in private and federal funds have since been earmarked to help Flint recover from the man-made crisis.
Let’s all pray this situation is handled efficiently! God Bless Flint Residents!
