Photo by Chris Schildt
Asali DeVan Ecclesiastes, Director of Strategic Neighborhood Development at the New Orleans Business Alliance, gave participants a tour of the Lafitte Greenway.

Six cities from around the South gathered in New Orleans on October 22-24 for the ninth convening of the Southern Cities Economic Inclusion initiative, hosted by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. City staff and community leaders from Asheville, Atlanta, Charlotte, Memphis, New Orleans, and Richmond met to strategize on how to create thriving, local economies grounded in racial equity – just and fair inclusion into society so that all can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential.

Participants drew inspiration from the host city, New Orleans. A walking tour took participants to the Lafitte Greenway and the Claiborne Corridor Cultural Innovation District, which is bringing entrepreneurs, murals, and cultural events together to revitalize a historically African American business district that was devastated by the construction of an elevated highway, I-10. The New Orleans Business Alliance – established as a public-private partnership to accelerate inclusive economic development in the city – shared their work to advance “Culture Equity Prosperity” through business supports and equitable economic development.

But challenges remain. Housing costs have risen dramatically in many low-income neighborhoods in New Orleans, driven by outside investment that many fear will be exasperated by the new federal Opportunity Zones tax incentive. At the same time, middle-class African American neighborhoods in New Orleans East struggle to attract investment in neighborhood-serving businesses. In response to these challenges, the city has passed stronger equitable development tools, such as a mandatory affordable housing inclusionary policy, and stronger clawback provisions when goals are not met.

A central theme of the convening was the need for equity leadership across city government, from frontline staff who provide vital services every day, to the Mayor and department leaders who must define success in terms of equity outcomes. To help institutionalize equity in city government, the group workshopped developing a new assessment tool that would allow cities to determine how well they are advancing economic inclusion strategies, including small business supports, equitable procurement and contracting, collecting data, and building new partnerships.

Pop-up gallery of art created in collaboration with artist Kate DeCiccio by youth in Richmond, VA.
(Photo Credit: Performing Statistics)

To truly achieve equitable public safety, we must reduce the harm of policing while building up the infrastructure we need to keep all communities — including communities of color — safe and thriving. Informed by our past efforts to advance community-centered policing, PolicyLink works to dismantle institutional barriers to police accountability by advocating for structures, policies, and assessments that increase police accountability and decrease criminalization and mass incarceration. We also advocate to rightsize the role of law enforcement by challenging untested assumptions about the value-add of law enforcement, working with community advocates to shift funding away from policing and jails to address the root causes of poverty and violence, and supporting community-led alternatives that can fulfill police functions in a safer, more effective way. 

Our close partnership with Performing Statistics was one example of our work toward advancing these priorities. Performing Statistics is a cultural organizing project promoting the perspectives of young people involved with the juvenile system to help reduce and improve interactions with police and to work towards police-free schools.

Performing Statistics was created in Richmond, VA in 2014 by artist Mark Strandquist in collaboration with ART 180 — a creative youth development nonprofit — and Legal Aid Justice Center. In July 2019, the project became independent and is now fiscally sponsored by Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs. Over the course of five years, the program has connected incarcerated youth with artists, advocates, and legal experts and the broader youth justice movement in Virginia.

(see images of the youth-created art from the Performance Statistics pop-up gallery)

Performing Statistics uses cultural organizing as a key strategy to destroy stereotypes, create counter-narratives, and disrupt the racism embedded in the juvenile justice system. The project targets three main systems: education, law enforcement, and juvenile justice, and it centers the perspectives of youth and families who are most impacted as experts on transforming those systems; dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline; and making communities just, safe, and whole.

With support from the Kresge Foundation, PolicyLink worked with Performing Statistics from 2016-2018, providing resource support and acting as a thought partner to move the needle on translating its youth-centered training of the Richmond Police Department into long-term, structural policy change, including proposing better data collection and reporting on interactions between police and youth by the Richmond Police Department. The ongoing training — provided to every officer in the department — combines empathy building, trauma-informed approaches, family perspectives, and avenues for police officers to identify ways to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline.

"Our work with the Richmond Police Department is a bit like triage versus surgery,” says Performing Statistics Project Director Trey Hartt. “We ultimately want a world without cops in schools, where young people are no longer criminalized the moment they step outside their door, but we also recognize that in the short-term cops aren't receiving any training on youth development, youth engagement, trauma-informed approaches, and the long-term impact on their decision to arrest. PolicyLink is helping us marry those two needs, so we don't lose sight of the long-term policy change goals."

PolicyLink also brought Performing Statistics into a cohort of arts and culture organizations focused on achieving policy change. The cohort met several times, including at a Design Dash focused on supporting Philadelphia’s Village of Arts and Humanities and at the PolicyLink Equity Summit in April 2018.

But the learning went both ways, with Performing Statistics modeling strategies that leveraged the relationship between arts, culture, and policy. For example, Performing Statistics unveiled a pop-up gallery of youth-created art and storytelling near the state capitol building for an audience of legislators. According to Performing Statistics Creative Director Mark Strandquist, “Story has the power to transform individuals and communities. Our work with teens in the system is about bringing decision-makers along the school-to-prison pipeline more proximate to the stories and ideas of young people who are most impacted by their decisions.”

Our work with Performing Statistics also reinforced the value of stories’ power to move hearts and minds. Dramatically shifting the narrative about policing will be necessary to dismantle institutional barriers to police accountability and to right-size the role of law enforcement. Inspired by Performing Statistics, PolicyLink is partnering with artists and people from communities most impacted by over-policing, surveillance, and police violence to shift public dollars from policing toward things that truly keep people safe: investment in basic resources, like food, education, housing, green jobs, and healthcare. 

Given its creative, community-centered, and ambitious approach, Performing Statistics will undoubtedly be successful going forward as it continues to expand its national presence and works to translate its police training into bold, structural impact aligned with PolicyLink goals: removing police from schools, dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline, and closing youth prisons.

For more information, please contact Anand Subramanian or Trey Hartt.

 

We applaud the California State Assembly for taking a historic step today in addressing California’s housing crisis. By passing the California Tenant Protection Act (AB 1482), California now leads other states in the nation in the fight against rent gouging and unscrupulous landlords who for too long have been able to evict renters without just cause. That stops with this legislation.

A resurgence of organizing by renters and housing justice organizations has resulted in new tenant protections in a growing number of cities across California. AB 1482 is the first major statewide expansion of tenant protections resulting from this growth in tenant voice and power.

While much work remains, we celebrate today’s victory.

We want to thank Assemblymembers David Chiu (D-San Francisco), Rob Bonta (D-Oakland), Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica), Timothy Grayson (D-Concord), Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland), and Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Los Angeles), as well as Senate President pro Tempore Tony Atkins (D-San Diego), Senator Robert Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys), and Governor Gavin Newsom. Their leadership has been invaluable and will ensure that millions of California renters enjoy greater housing stability.

Most importantly, we thank the countless renters and community members whose leadership, time, and experience were critical to securing this victory. 

A diverse and wide ranging coalition of over 157 organizations and associations – representing thousands of workers, renters, and businesses – worked hand in hand to ensure this legislation’s passage. The corporate real estate lobby in California and around the country is on notice: the majority of businesses now recognize that it is in their interest to join in support of their own employees, other renters and advocates to fight for affordable housing.

We look forward to building on this momentum to provide better housing security for the 17 million renters across California and to ultimately end the state’s housing crisis.

The Keep Families Home coalition sponsoring AB 1482 includes ACCE Action, Public Advocates, PICO California, PolicyLink, SEIU California, TechEquity Collaborative, and the Western Center on Law and Poverty.

Exciting news! We are on the verge of passing a new law, the California Tenant Protection Act (AB 1482),  in the California Assembly that will end rent gouging and stop landlords from evicting tenants without just cause. 
 
We are only a few votes shy of being able to pass this law over the next two weeks. Can you spare 30 seconds today to contact your assembly member and ask for their support? Corporate interests are trying to kill this legislation – and we need your voices to fight back. 
 
CLICK HERE for an easy tool that allows you to email key assembly members and will connect you directly to the right office, where you can leave a simple message expressing your support. It takes less than a minute! 

For more information on how you can help protect renters and strengthen California communities, please find district factsheets and assemblymember contact information below:

• Assemblymember Al Murasutchi -- AD 66, Torance,Redondo Beach, Rancho Palos Verdes
  (916) 319-2066 or @AsmMuratsuchi
• Assemblymember Autumn Burke -- AD 62, Inglewood, Hawthorne, El Segundo:
  (916) 319-2062 or @AsmAutumnBurke
• Assemblymember Tom Daly -- AD 69, Anaheim, Santa Ana):
  (916) 319-2069
• Assemblymember Freddie Rodriguez -- AD 52, Ontario, Pomona, Chino:
  (916) 319-2052 or @AsmRodriguez52
• Assemblymember Blanca Rubio -- AD 48, Covina, Azusa, Baldwin Park:
  (916) 319-2048 or @AsmBlancaRubio
• Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia -- AD 56, Eastern Riverside County, Imperial County:
  (916) 319-2056 or @AsmEGarciaAD56
• Assemblymember Cristina Garcia -- AD 58, Bell Gardens, Norwalk, Pico Rivera:
  (916) 319-2058 or @AsmGarcia
• Assemblymember Ed Chau -- AD 49, Rosemead, Arcadia, South Pasadena:
  (916) 319-2049 or @AsmEdChau

Thanks for your help in fighting for more affordable rents and basic fairness for California renters.  

On Monday, surrounded by family members who have lost their loved ones to deadly police force, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law AB 392: The California Act to Save Lives, authored by Assemblymember Dr. Shirley Weber of San Diego.

This legislation is the result of years of courageous organizing by directly impacted families; and the Alliance for Boys and Men of Color and PolicyLink have been proud members of the #LetUsLive coalition, as co-sponsors and partners in this campaign to protect our communities from police violence.
 
Because of our collective efforts of the #LetUsLive coalition, California will go from having one of the deadliest use-of-force laws in the nation, to one of the most protective — saving countless lives.
 
This victory was made possible by leaders like Kori McCoy, who spoke at the signing ceremony and whose younger brother, Willie McCoy, was killed last February by six officers firing 55 shots in less than four seconds.
 
Kori noted: "The reality is, officers rarely face consequences, and families like mine are left to wonder who is policing the police. This law offers a ray of solace for my family and hope that it will spare other families from bearing this burden with us."
 
Now that AB 392 is the law, California is the ONLY state to combine the "necessary standard" with requirement that courts consider officers' conduct leading up to a use of deadly force in determining its legality. This commonsense change brings a glimmer of hope and the promise of greater accountability as we keep fighting to end the epidemic of police violence.
 
This is only the beginning. We recognize that we have much more work to do so all communities — particularly Black, Latinx, and Native American — can live with dignity and free from police violence.
 
That’s why the Alliance for Boys and Men of Color and PolicyLink will continue to organize to ensure the just implementation of AB 392 throughout California and advocate for community-led initiatives that invest in safety, not policing. Help us transform unjust systems and advance equity by signing up to take action with the Alliance for Boys and Men of Color.

For Willie McCoy, Myra Micalizio, Charlie Salinas, Oscar Grant, James De La Rosa, and all of the other loved ones whose lives were cut short, let us honor them with this victory and by continuing the fight.

Recently PolicyLink launched “We, the 100 Million”, a new equity research project and national tour geared towards highlighting the approximately 100 million people across the country who, every day, face an increasingly inequitable and evermore intractable collection of social, economic, legal, and cultural systems.

“We, the 100 Million” will entwine the spirit and motivation of various creative platforms with our National Equity Atlas data on changing demographics, racial inclusion, and the economic benefits of equity—in cities, regions, states, and nationwide.

In lifting up the lives, hopes, and aspirations of the one-in-three individuals living at or near poverty in the United States, we’re excited to announce our collaboration with celebrated poet, educator, actor, playwright, and activist A Scribe Called Quess?

Over the next year, Quess? – a National Poetry Slam Champion and 2017 Urban League Courage Award recipient -- will be working with the National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and communities across the country as part of the “We, the 100 Million” to incorporate art, story circles, poetry workshops, and Theater of the Oppressed techniques into the way we support grassroots equity advocates and campaigns.

Watch video of A Scribe Called Quess? here!

At PolicyLink, we believe that art and culture are essential to creating a just and fair society. Together creative platforms and data inspire us to move beyond generations of limited opportunity and towards finally achieving equity for all.

We are excited to share more details of this partnership and national tour in the coming months. Stay tuned!    

“Successful parks are markers of healthy communities: children play; families spend time together; people of all ages exercise and relax; and the environment adds to the beauty, security, and economic value of the neighborhood. On the other hand, neglected, dangerous, poorly maintained, or badly designed parks and recreation facilities have the opposite effect: families and young children stay away, illicit activities proliferate, and the property becomes a threatening or discouraging eyesore. To remain community assets, parks and recreation facilities need adequate budgets, good management, and a strong connection with residents.”

Since PolicyLink wrote those words in 2006, parks equity has become more widely understood as a core component of good city-building policies and practices. During 2019 Infrastructure Week, we should celebrate that awareness but double down on our commitment to achieve more tangible results. The case for community parks and trails as drivers of economic growth and rising property values has been repeatedly and effectively made and signature projects such as the Atlanta Beltline and the New York High Line have shown how places can be revitalized through the smart activation of green space. But with the growth bonuses from parks have come sharp questions about who gets to live near them and enjoy their benefits, as gentrification and displacement concerns have become more urgent in many cities. The essential role of parks in creating conditions that advance health and well-being has similarly been well documented.  Children, youth, and adults of all ages need easy access to places to exercise, play, gather as a community and seek respite from the stress of daily life. Here too, though the equity challenges remain, as parks not favored by wealthy donors are often chronically underfunded, which undercuts operations and maintenance as well as acquisitions.

Progress towards parks equity can be found in the arena of public policies, as local governments have explored new models for financing, from new twists on familiar taxes, bonds and fees, to new guidance for conservancies and public-private partnerships, to more innovative methods for capturing the value of adjacent development or establishing land trusts. Each of these mechanisms can be assessed with respect to who bears the financial burden, who benefits, and who makes the decisions. Cities should adopt the more equitable paths to new funding and allocation of resources, and states and the federal government should encourage and incentivize the right choices with their bond and grant program. [The Urban Institute is exploring strategies for investing in equitable parks for City Parks Alliance, and a report will be released later in 2019].

The most exciting frontier for parks equity might be at the level of individual projects where local organizations have built or revitalized parks in low-income communities by incorporating arts and cultural strategies into their approach. For example, Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico, is a place of powerful cultural and spiritual resilience. The Zuni nation has survived hundreds of years of systematic oppression and disempowerment while maintaining cultural and linguistic integrity. In the past few years, the Zuni Youth Enrichment Project (ZYEP) has worked with partners to offer youth programs that emphasize the importance of Zuni language acquisition, traditional agriculture practices, Pueblo art forms, traditional songs and dances, culturally significant sites, oral storytelling, and connection to the elders. These culturally enriching activities are designed to promote physical activity, improve nutrition, and provide a safe space where Zuni youth can connect to positive role models. Recently, ZYEP used philanthropic resources from ArtPlace America to build a new park and community center. They were advised by a committee of six Zuni artists who were partners through every phase of the park’s development. The artists acted as mediators, organizers (introducing staff to new community partners), designers who worked with the architects, and even builders who constructed parts of the park. Because of the artists’ cultural and creative lens, the park has wrapped the resilience of Zuni cultural traditions around present and future Zuni generations.

In Philadelphia, the Fairmount Park Conservancy believes that parks have the potential to serve as the city’s great connector and equalizer, and as catalysts for positive change. As a champion for the city’s public parks and recreation system, the organization’s mission and work has evolved beyond fundraising to becoming a collaborative leader and partner, focusing more strategically on planning, project management, program development, and community engagement. FPC used support from ArtPlace to utilize the arts to strengthen the organization’s mission and values. By forging new partnerships with artists and cultural producers, they worked with residents of the Strawberry Mansion area to illustrate their neighborhood history and opened up a previously unfamiliar historic house as a welcoming center for community performances and exhibits. The Conservancy became better equipped to tap into critical community voices to ensure that current and future planning and decision-making processes for new park investments are truly collaborative.

These stories from Zuni and Philadelphia are featured in the December 2018 issue of Parks and Recreation, the National Recreation and Park Association magazine.

At PolicyLink, we know that smart, targeted, equitable investments in infrastructure can have a transformative impact on low-income communities and communities of color. That’s why we are excited to join infrastructure advocates throughout the nation, for National Infrastructure Week—a time to collectively garner more public awareness and advocacy to support increased investments in infrastructure.

This week we will be posting a new blog each weekday exploring infrastructure equity. We encourage you to share our blog posts with your network and follow the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #Build4Equity and  #BuildForTomorrow -- the official infrastruture week hashtag.

Five Recommendations to Create Equitable Infrastructure Investments

Infrastructure can provide transformative benefits to communities, but the story of infrastructure in the United States has often been devastating for Indigenous people, people of color, and low-income communities. From the transcontinental railroads that destroyed native lives and accelerated European occupation, to the demolition of entire communities in the mid-20^th century spurred by urban renewal and freeway expansion, to the ongoing pattern of locating pollution generating infrastructure and industry in neighborhoods that are home to low-income people and people of color, to the persistent lack of investment that has left millions of people in urban and rural communities without safe drinking water, sidewalks, parks, or other critical infrastructure—for too many people, infrastructure has been an oppressive force. A way to consolidate wealth and power for some while reinforcing racial and economic exclusion.

Today, we have an opportunity to change this. Our infrastructure is in serious need of attention. Growing populations, resource-intensive development patterns, new technology requirements of a rapidly changing economy, and several decades of underinvestment have combined to create a huge backlog of infrastructure projects all over the country—in urban, suburban, and rural areas. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, we have to spend an additional $500 billion a year between now and 2040 in order to close our infrastructure gap. This backlog combined with the clear evidence that our existing infrastructure is not serving the communities who will soon constitute the majority, and the growing impacts of climate change, creates an opportunity for us to step out of our past and radically reimagine how we plan for, build, and maintain our infrastructure systems.

Here are five recommendations that can set us in the right direction:

• Serve underinvested communities without pushing out existing residents. Rectifying decades of disinvestment in communities of color and low-income neighborhoods is critical, but making these investments without protecting residents from displacement will only exacerbate harm. The benefits of infrastructure investments should be targeted to those with the greatest need and should be combined with strategies to ensure that residents can stay in their communities.

• Improve the environmental health and quality of life for residents of disinvested places. Climate change demands transformation in every aspect of our lives. As we tackle the next generation of infrastructure that will allow us to both slowdown climate change and prepare for its impacts, we have an opportunity to substantially improve the health and quality of life for residents of disinvested places. From electrification of our goods movement infrastructure, to redesigning our neighborhoods for multi-modal mobility, our transition to clean energy can provide a host of co-benefits to communities.

• Be equitably owned, financed, and funded. How infrastructure projects are owned, financed, and funded, affects whether they advance or impede equity. Ownership and financing should be structured to put greater power in low-income communities and communities of color and should ensure that project benefits actually make it to them.

• Create good jobs and business opportunities for local residents. While infrastructure investments can facilitate a host of physical improvements in a community, they can also provide workforce development opportunities, jobs, and new business opportunities. Making sure that these economic benefits are accessible to a broad cross section of local residents, including individuals with barriers to employment, will ensure that our infrastructure investments contribute to a future of shared prosperity.

• Include residents in decision-making at every step. Achieving equity requires shared decision-making that is rooted in transparency and a commitment to changing inequitable policies and practices. Bringing communities into all stages of infrastructure planning and implementation allows for community knowledge and priorities to shape decisions and ultimately leads to better projects and outcomes.

Over the next four days we will explore these recommendations further and will join our partners from around the country to reimagine infrastructure so that we can #Build4Equity and #BuildForTomorrow.