Walsh introduces Boston racial equity fund, cabinet position
Boston Mayor Martin Walsh announced new attempts at reform a day after a contentious budget vote, creating a new cabinet position for “equity and inclusion,” and a fund and zoning amendment meant to help minorities.
Walsh said he’s adding the new “equity and inclusion” seat to his cabinet, and will soon appoint a chief of equity and inclusion to “bring together existing departments” that already have a focus on related issues, including the offices of Women’s Advancement, Immigrant Advancement, the Human Rights Commission and Resilience and Racial Equity.
“It will put an intentional focus on supporting communities of color and marginalized groups,” Walsh said of the new cabinet position.
The mayor’s office wouldn’t say how much the chief would be paid or if staffers would be hired for that person.
This comes after nearly a month of near-daily protests in Boston over treatment of minorities. The protests, spurred by several high-profile police killings of Black people, have sought to push politicians to make changes to better the fortunes of minorities, including calls to cut money to police departments and move it to other social services.
This comes a day after the City Council passed Walsh’s $3.61 billion budget by an unusually narrow 8-5 vote, in which the councilors in opposition sought to reject the budget for not making what they viewed as broad or deep enough reforms. Walsh, following the start of the protests, moved $12 million from the $60 million police overtime budget to other programs, but the councilors sought larger changes.
Walsh also said he’s creating a “racial equity fund” that seeks to raise money to give to local nonprofit organizations that support minorities in areas including economic development, education and public health. The fund has an initial goal of $10 million, and a longterm goal of $50 million.
This will be similar in concept to the Boston Resiliency Fund, which has raised more than $32 million in donations to funnel to local nonprofits to help people suffering from the health and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Walsh also said he plans to introduce a zoning amendment that would require new projects to lay out plans to cut down on displacement of people nearby. Walsh shouted out City Councilor Lydia Edwards, who has been pushing a zoning amendment with similar goals.
The mayor’s announcements were almost immediately pilloried by two city councilors who voted against the mayor’s budget, Andrea Campbell and Michelle Wu — who are also among the mayor’s most likely challengers for the race for his seat in 2021.
Wu said in a statement she sent around to media, “Philanthropy in moments of crisis is not a substitute for building resiliency and investing in equity.”
And Campbell tweeted that the fund could do some good, but, “One day after asking us to pass a budget that failed to address systemic racism and inequity, the Mayor thinks he’ll be let off the hook with this announcement.”
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2Vk469C
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