Over 250 Californians—local residents, academics, civil rights activists, faith-based leaders, community advocates, labor officials, and politicians—gathered in Sacramento at the end of August for a State of Black California Town Hall Meeting. The convening was the latest in a series of statewide dialogues with residents of African American communities throughout the state. Early meetings helped shape the priorities of the comprehensive State of Black California report that was released by the Legislative Black Caucus earlier in the year in Sacramento. Assembly Majority Leader Karen Bass and other legislative and community leaders shared data from the report, updated participants about important new bills to address the disparities outlined in State of Black California, and discussed the importance of advocacy both in the capital and in local communities.

The report builds on The State of Black Los Angeles, a document compiled by the United Way and the Los Angeles Urban League in 2005. The statewide report examines the economic and social status of African Americans in major cities including Oakland, San Jose, San Diego, and San Francisco; as well as in fast-growing regions like the Inland Empire. Researchers created an “equality index” to gauge how African Americans fare relative to whites, Latinos, and Asian Americans, both overall and in the specific categories of economics, housing, health, education, criminal justice, and civic participation; the report also compares these indicators from city to city. After highlighting racial disparities across all indicators (except civic participation, where African Americans were found to have broader engagement levels than whites), State of Black California offers legislative proposals to bridge these gaps and expand opportunity for people of color across the state.

At the Sacramento town hall, Assemblymember Bass spoke passionately about what inspired her to undertake the project and her commitment to improving the lives of black Californians; Michael Stoll of the University of California, Los Angeles gave an overview of the report’s stark data findings; and PolicyLink senior associate Mary Lee gave an overview of advocacy strategies that communities can use to make a difference. (PolicyLink provided background information on grassroots policy advocacy throughout the report writing process, and also helped connect the themes and release activities of State of Black California to the growing movement associated with the Covenant with Black America and Covenant in Action books.) The forum ended with a question and answer session where audience members shared descriptions of their own advocacy efforts on issues including education, health access, criminal justice, and community development. Presenters and participants alike agreed that despite the serious disparities presented by the report, the energy and excitement generated by the town hall demonstrated the tremendous potential for change.

To that end, the California Legislative Black Caucus is asking California voters to voice their support for several key bills inspired by the State of Black California; legislation on education, criminal justice, infant mortality, and employment is currently on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s desk. Click here for details and contact information for urging the governor to approve the bills.

As part of an in-depth examination of infrastructure issues in our country, and a follow-up to the release of Safety, Growth, and Equity: Infrastructure Policies that Promote Opportunity and Inclusion (which offers seven principles to guide infrastructure planning) PolicyLink has published two infrastructure issue briefs focused on school facilities and transportation. Safety, Growth, and Equity: School Facilities looks at how aging infrastructure and a growing population have led to a critical need to modernize old schools and address school construction and maintenance disparities in low-income communities; Safety, Growth, and Equity: Transportation explores equitable transportation policies and investments.

The briefs are part of a five-paper series that examines and highlights promising practices around the United States by looking at:

- community participation in policy and programming through local activism, coalition-building, and litigation;

- standards, measurement, and assessment;

- targeting resources to high-need areas;

- increasing funding overall; and efficient use of resources, including joint  use and creative reuse.

Everyone—especially people of color in low-income communities—should be able to benefit from new schools, better transportation systems, and the upkeep of parks and open spaces. Infrastructure improvements not only enhance a community, but can also provide opportunities for employment. PolicyLink believes that planning and funding infrastructure initiatives according to equitable development principles will make it possible to improve where people live as well as the opportunity for people to live, work, raise their families, and contribute to sustaining their communities.

The remaining three briefs in the infrastructure series, which will focus on parks and open spaces, technology, and water are due to be published later this year.

The most populous and bustling urban center in the United States might seem an unlikely inspiration for farming and food system discussions, but New York City is fast becoming an epicenter of activism for local, sustainable—and equitable—eating.

Both New York magazine and The New Yorker recently featured articles on urban agriculture and a burgeoning “locavore” movement. For the first time in its 22-year history, the Farm Aid concert came to New York City’s Randall’s Island, where concertgoers enjoyed headliners Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, and Neil Young; and learned more about sustainable agriculture and family farming. Numerous local groups, including the NYC Food Systems Network, sponsored forums and educational fairs in connection with Farm Aid. In December, Just Food will host Good Food Now!, a regional summit on food, farms, and community health. The conference agenda includes workshops and strategy sessions about climate change; school food; food advocacy; and the connections between racial justice, nutrition, food, and neighborhood health.

Policymakers are also getting involved and joining with researchers, business leaders, and community advocates to promote nutrition and improve access to healthy foods, especially in low-income communities and communities of color. The New York City Partnership for Food and Fitness received a $500,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to explore ways to promote healthy eating and physical activity. Led by several city agencies and nonprofit organizations including FoodChange, Transportation Alternatives, and Project for Public Spaces, the partnership is examining opportunities to improve nutrition and fitness through retailing, schools and similar youth settings, workplace and community contexts (like churches and civic organizations), and the built environment.

At a recent meeting of the partnership’s food retail task force, several community organizations spoke about their efforts to expand fresh produce offerings at the small stores and bodegas that serve many New York City neighborhoods that lack supermarkets. Representatives from the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene also described the agency’s Healthy Bodegas initiatives, which includes campaigns and technical assistance to encourage small stores to stock fresh fruits and vegetables and lower-fat dairy products. Capitalizing on New York City’s beloved network of Greenmarket farmers markets—as well as emerging grassroots markets like the South Bronx Community Market and Brooklyn’s East New York Farms—the Department of Health also launched a program that distributes $2 “Health Bucks” at district public health offices and offers $1 Health Bucks for every $5 worth of food stamps spent at a farmers market; the Health Bucks can be redeemed at participating Greenmarkets for fresh produce.

Building on this momentum, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer recently announced the members of the newly-formed New York State Council on Food Policy. The council, which includes representatives from state agencies, supermarkets, unions, and nonprofit organizations, will “work to establish new food policies for the state that will help ensure the availability of safe, fresh, nutritious and affordable food for all New Yorkers, especially low income individuals, senior citizens and children.”

Across the country, PolicyLink is continuing our healthy food advocacy: SB 48, the California bill that would help expand access to fresh foods in underserved communities, will move on from Assembly appropriations when the legislature resumes next year; and PolicyLink staff have also begun to examine additional strategies for bringing much-needed healthy food retail opportunities to New Orleans, where the Steps to a Healthier New Orleans initiative is already partnering with 13 corner stores to improve their fresh food stock as the city continues to rebuild from flooding and Hurricane Katrina.