The Greater Detroit Building and Construction Trades Council, along with Detroit Public Schools and Barton Malow Co., were recipients of one of the 2000 GARDE Awards for work performed during the Detroit Public Schools Summer Emergency Maintenance Program.

The Gender and Race Diversification Excellence Award was established five years ago to recognize owners, contractors, labor organizations or individuals for achieving the best results in increasing the employment of women and minorities in organized construction.

"What you're doing is making a world of difference to people who don't have a clue as to what the GARDE Award is," said keynote speaker Helen Love, former Ford Motor Co. vice president in charge of diversity. "When you bring diverse people together you get a payoff in increased ideas and productivity."

Last summer, with the help of 130 students (all minorities, and 37 percent female), a $79.4 million effort took place to repair Detroit's schools during a 70-day period when school was out. Through the coordination of the building trades, 20 management teams with Barton Malow and the school district, the students were assigned a mentor to help take care of care of administrative activity and construction job assignments.

"What happened over the course of last summer is that the industry put its best foot forward for those 130 kids, and showed them what construction is all about," said Greater Detroit Building Trades Council Secretary-Treasurer Patrick Devlin. "They're the future of our industry."

Also winning a GARDE Awards was the collaborative effort by Hunt, Turner and White Construction management team, as well as a group of public and private organizations for exceeding the goals of minority participation during Comerica Park construction.

And, the City of Detroit won an award for gearing up its effort to meet its goal of employing 50 percent Detroit residents, 25 percent minorities, and 5 percent women in city-sponsored construction.

GARDE Award recipients included (l-r) Don Shalibo of Barton Malow, Patrick Devlin of the Greater Detroit Building Trades Council, and Nathaniel Taylor of Detroit Public Schools. Presenters of the award were John Hamilton of Operating Engineers 324 (labor), Roger Lane of Detroit Edison (owners) and Jim Walker of the Great Lakes Fabricators and Erectors Assoc. (contractors).