State Center Community College District aims to hire more diverse contractors for satellite campus

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Work is underway to bring a new community college campus to southwest Fresno, but first, they need to find a contractor.

Construction is set to start soon on the new Fresno City College satellite campus, but the staff is working to diversify their contractors and suppliers.

Windell Pascascio is the president of Imperial Electric Service. They've won two projects with the district to date, which Pascascio says is a step in the right direction

"I think it's huge because it gives opportunities for other diversifying business owners or wannabe business owners to say, 'Hey Imperial Electric did it. We can do it too,'" said Pascascio.

Now they're one of the contractors in the running to work on the new campus.

"It's a very huge opportunity for us as a small diversified contractor to even be looked upon for a project like this," added Pascascio. "There's not a lot of us in the construction industry, so if I can break those barriers, I'm hoping we can break barriers down the road."

The State Center Community College District is looking for local construction-related businesses that may be minority-owned, woman-owned, or run by a veteran.

"I've always said it's not a one and done, this is just a springboard to get us farther along," said District Director of Facilities Planning George Cummings. "We're going to continue to accomplish outreach and reach out to subcontractors in the area."

They plan to award the bid in September and start construction at the end of that month with the new campus complete by June of 2022.

Any interested contractors can attend a virtual outreach workshop tomorrow at 4 p.m. Simply email puchasing@scccd.edu.