Minority hiring goals on target for Vikings stadium construction, state says

With construction of the new Vikings stadium well underway, the state agency overseeing building it says it's exceeding minority inclusion goals.

The 2012 law authorizing the stadium requires workforce goals of 32 percent minorities and 6 percent women. The Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority says those numbers stand at 36 and 10 percent based on the number of hours worked so far.

Sherry Pierce is an African-American woman who's starting as a welder at the stadium site next week. She says she's had other job opportunities in the area, but is proud to be working on such a high profile project.

"It'll be part of history. The Metrodome is gone and to have something brand new downtown as something that I feel is a part of my community, that I can actually walk to because I live over north. Oh yeah!" she said.

Alex Tittle, the stadium project's equity director, says attracting and keeping qualified minority workers will continue to be a challenge as the project moves ahead.

"Normally, a project this size at this pace, you don't see the people who are new to the industry. So getting the right number of minorities on the project to do a purposeful or commercially useful function on the project is going to be the hardest thing," he said.

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