By Dan Dugger | June 18, 2008

Orlando, Fla. –Turner Construction, the Orlando Magic’s program manager for the community’s new Events Center, held a special commencement ceremony Tuesday, June 17 at the Citrus Bowl Varsity Club to honor more than 60 graduates of the company’s six-week School of Construction Management.

This program, taught by industry professionals, provides participants with broad-based knowledge on how to plan and construct projects using proven techniques for successful project management. The 39-year-old course aims to educate local minority and women businesses on a variety of topics ranging from marketing and development to workplace safety.

For nearly four decades, Hilton O. Smith has overseen The Turner School of Construction Management and through his years with Turner has helped to award over $20 billion in bids to thousands of minority and woman business enterprises. Smith, who currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Corporate and Community Affairs, offered insight to the graduates through his keynote address.

”To have seen this program rise from the ashes 39 years ago, to where it is tonight, means so much to me,” said Smith, in reference to the strides MWBE firms have taken. “When I started out with Turner [Construction], we got people in businesses who were minorities to pave sidewalks—and we thought it was a success. Now to look at the Black Enterprise Magazine the other day and see five construction companies on that list, that they all have done major joint ventures.”

While the free, 12-session course spanned only six weeks, the graduates gained immense amounts of wisdom.

“This is a priceless class, there is no money I could have paid for what I’ve been given,” said Regina Hill, owner of RR Jewel Constructors Inc. “I’ve been given a blueprint to take my company to the next level.”

Hill grew up in the Parramore Community, ironically in a house that sat where the Events Center is soon to be built and she views the Orlando Magic’s 20-year presence in The City Beautiful as an economic blessing.

“When the Amway Arena was built, I started working there as a server, and I was a welfare mother, so what the first arena gave me was a job and that’s what I see for the Parramore Community,” explained Hill. “Not just from a construction aspect, but the jobs and opportunities that are going to be presented because of the Events Center.”

In the coming months, MWBE firms will be able to exclusively bid on contracts as a result of the new Events Center.

“Me being a minority contractor and possibly getting the bids will create jobs for those in the Parramore Community,” explained Hill, who plans to return to her child-hood community to hire skilled laborers. “What you have with Parramore is a neighborhood that needed to be rejuvenated and that’s what I believe what the Events Center is bringing to that area—rejuvenation. The gloom and despair is so evident, but I see the Magic reaching out just last week and helping the New Image Youth Center, and that just did my heart justice. I shed tears at home because now I see the partnership, I see the Orlando Magic with their own dollars helping the community.”

The positive-economic impact is an effect that Orlando Magic Chief Operating Officer Alex Martins foreshadowed when the Events Center project was in its’ infancy.

“From the outset of the community venues process, we have stated that a new Events Center would be a driver of economic development and opportunity for local citizens and businesses,” said Martins. “The Orlando Magic recognizes the importance and long-term benefits of utilizing local Minority Business Enterprises and Women Business Enterprises in the development of an Events Center.”

Hill personifies the Orlando Magic’s commitment to growing the Central-Florida economy, principally for local minority and women-owned businesses through the vehicle of the Events Center.

A previous Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission report showed that building the three community venues (Events Center, Performing Arts Center, renovated Citrus Bowl) would provide 10,800 construction jobs and provide more than 7,500 jobs annually after completion. The total economic impact of the three community venues is $619 million annually and $9.8 billion over the next 30 years, according to the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission impact study.

Although the Events Center’s signature characteristic may be its 120-foot-tall glass tower to be constructed on the corner of Church St. and Hughey, an equally impressive feature of the forthcoming arena may be the cornerstone of sustained economic prosperity for local minority and women-owned businesses.