RACINE, Wis. — For the first time since their new data center in Mount Pleasant was announced, Microsoft met with the public for an informational meeting on Thursday afternoon.
Dozens of representatives from the company answered questions from community members and companies in the area. Racine County Executive, Jonathan Delagrave, was also there.
“Hearing directly from Microsoft about what the plans are, what this means for Racine County, and what this means for Microsoft is really important,” Delagrave said.
A priority for residents included making sure the company will hire diverse voices that represent the community. Saray Hernandez is a Multicultural Client Engagement Manager for Domina Consulting. She works closely with Racine County to assess how companies achieve inclusion goals.
”If there’s a multi-million dollar project in our community, then our community should be positively impacted by that,” Hernandez said.
The tech giant’s move to Mount Pleasant also raised concerns for some residents like Alfonso Gardener. He said he was let down by Foxconn, another tech company in the area.
In 2017, Foxconn committed to creating 13,000 manufacturing jobs. Their employment today, with less than 1,500 people, is a fraction of their initial promise.
"Too many projects come here that don’t include Black and Brown people, so I’m here to make sure Microsoft includes us,” Gardener explained.
Microsoft said their $1 billion center will bring in 200 jobs in the first phase.
Delagrave said the meeting’s goal was to provide transparency to concerned community members. Showing off a detailed plan, Microsoft also highlighted the ways they are getting involved with the community.
One of the projects the company is working on involves Root-Pike Win, a nonprofit restoring the watersheds in the area. Microsoft reached out to help them clean a local creek.
“We’ve had a number of meetings with them. They love the idea of taking this landscape, making it better, and being a part of the community. That’s why this partnership is so awesome,” Dave Giordano, Executive Director of Root-Pike Win, said.
The company is trying to get approval for the plan so they can break ground as early as this summer.
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