Calvin Payne, a third-generation Austin native, was working as a foreman for Ron Jones Electric in 2019. He was at a job site in Chicago when his customer approached him.
“You know you’re black, right?” he asked Payne. “You’re really good at your work. Become a contractor looking for [other] minority contractors.”
The comment stuck with Payne. He told his parents and brothers about it, and they began discussing what it would look like to become an electrical union contractor.
In 2021, Payne co-founded Simply E&C with his brothers as a Black-owned, local 134 union electrical contractor. He and his family wanted not only a better work-life balance for themselves, but also to address the lack of minority-owned electrical contracting businesses — though Payne said he didn’t initially help start Simply E&C to address that gap on the West Side.
“I didn’t necessarily think about affecting the area,” Payne said. “I was more thinking of, ‘Can I possibly do this?’”
But since starting Simply E&C, the contractor has been a part of numerous projects in the Austin neighborhood.
In addition to participating in several remodels and residential projects in Austin, as well as on the South Side of Chicago and north of the city, Simply E&C is helping with the electrical work on the Barack Obama Presidential Center’s library. Simply E&C is also subcontracted to work on Forty Acres Fresh Market, the grocery store being built at 5713 West Chicago Avenue.
To help land some of these projects, Simply E&C worked with Hire360, a nonprofit that helps connect minority businesses to jobs in trade industries, as well as invest capital and mentorships into those businesses.
“It’s easy to say, ‘I know how to put a piece of pipe in with wire,’ but the business side of it is a different beast,” said Payne, who’s worked as a union electrical engineer for over 18 years.
Hire360 helped Simply E&C get into the solar construction space, where the contractor signed its first multimillion-dollar contract for three, two-megawatt solar systems.
“If you’re thinking about it, it’s two football fields long [per] project of solar panels and electrical infrastructure,” Payne said.
Hire360 also helped Simply E&C get a line of credit with Allies for Community Business, its East Garfield Park-based funding partner. And on Feb. 12, Hire360 announced a $650,000 philanthropic commitment from JPMorgan Chase. Over the past three years, this brings the bank’s contributions to Hire360 to $1.85 million — which supports businesses like Simply E&C.
“This investment will play a pivotal role in advancing our mission to engage youth to consider the trades as a viable and inspiring career path,” said Jay Rowell, executive director of Hire360, in a statement.
“Hire360’s mission to promote business development and pre-apprenticeship workforce development is work at the community level that can be so impactful and transformational,” said Phylicia Manley, vice president of global philanthropy at JPMorgan Chase, in a statement. “This investment reflects our ongoing commitment to provide more access to opportunity and the chance to move up the economic ladder while strengthening the talent pipeline employers need to compete.”
“That helped us get us through all those projects that we had established,” Payne said about Hire360 and its funding sources.
And this year, Payne has many more projects on the docket, including the Laramie State Bank redevelopment project in Austin. He said he also hopes to be a part of the University of Chicago Medical hospital that will be built on Chicago’s South Side.
“We’re looking at a lot more bigger projects, looking at making us a household name and hiring individuals in the Austin community to work with us to help us grow,” Payne said.
