Duarte: The MTA’s Capital Plan is an investment in our local communities

Listen to this article

From sitting on delayed trains to hustling through crumbling stations, every New Yorker feels the need to invest in our transit system. But small business owners like me know something else, too: Investing in the MTA gives minority and women-owned enterprises a chance to thrive. With its 2025-2029 Capital Plan, the MTA has laid out intentions to deliver both.

The $68.4 billion plan will rely on small businesses from Brooklyn to Buffalo and everywhere in between to grant world-class transit improvements.

As a small business owner and MTA contractor, I’ve witnessed firsthand how public investment ripples through our economy, creating opportunities for businesses like mine. My business, Zion Contracting, began its partnership with the MTA in 2009, and our ongoing collaboration has transformed my company and employees. Thanks to our working relationship with the MTA, Zion Contracting has grown from small contracts to completing critical projects across the system, from station renovations to train yard infrastructure enhancements.

My business has expanded by over 4,000% in the 13 years I have worked with the MTA, allowing me to bring on more team members and offer workforce training. The most rewarding part has been seeing how partnership with government agencies has benefited my employees, all of whom live in MTA-served communities. Many have achieved milestones such as buying homes and sending their kids to college that were once implausible dreams. Without the commitment of agencies such as the MTA, businesses like mine would not have been able to expand our workforce, take on new specialties and create jobs for New Yorkers. This is a path forged by numerous minority-owned businesses, not just mine.

With the next Capital Plan, the MTA has released a vision to improve and expand New York City’s transit network, detailing much-needed investment in its infrastructure to ensure continued access to reliable, accessible and sustainable transit. Their plan will go beyond system upgrades. The projects funded by the Capital Plan will generate good-paying jobs that are essential for families to thrive in an increasingly unaffordable region.

Our work, from station painting and roof repairs to flood resilience and stormwater mitigation projects, is helping to facilitate smoother commutes throughout the MTA network. We’re confident that our contributions have helped the MTA modernize the system better, faster and more cost effectively. In fact, as the MTA’s 2023 Year in Review and 2024 Strategic Plan highlights, partnerships like these have led to significant savings of $300 million in capital program costs.

As a part of this Capital Plan, the MTA recently announced its commitment to award a historic investment of $7.5 billion in contracts to businesses such as mine. Earlier this year, the MTA signed the Equity in Infrastructure Project, committing to expanding eligible firms and awarding larger contracts to small businesses. The MTA has always been a leader in supporting MWBEs and awarded $813.5 million to these businesses in just the last year. As part of this, the agency has committed to expanding its Small Business Mentoring Program to include 350 new businesses over the next five years, providing mentoring and financial support and up to $400 million in contracts. My company participated and graduated from this program, and the assistance it provided was invaluable in the transformation, growth and success of our business.

These investments will do more than just help one business grow and thrive. They will nurture an entire industry of minority, women and veteran-owned business owners with the expertise needed to deliver a better, faster and more reliable transit system for years to come.

The next Capital Plan is more than just a chance to speed up our trains and clean up our stations. It’s a generational opportunity to support local economies and provide new opportunities for contractors across the region. Our leaders in Albany can seize this moment to fully fund this transformative, historic plan and create the much-needed pathways to economic prosperity across New York.

The future of our city and state’s economic health and the well-being of New Yorkers everywhere relies on it.

Hely Duarte is president and founder of Lynbrook-based Zion Contracting.