City’s new ‘ERA’ confronts historic racism, plots path to betterment

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Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren says she intends to not just confront, but also reverse, the effects historic racism and institutional inequality have had on the city as she plots a course for post-pandemic economic recovery.

Her Equity & Recovery Agenda (ERA) acknowledges that “Rochester’s most pressing challenges —  including  poverty, crime and educational disparity — are the direct result of polices and laws that have perpetuated the unfair and unequal treatment of minorities,” the city said in a news release.

Warren introduced the ERA on Thursday evening on the city’s website and social media pages. The ERA contains 11 initiatives all designed to confront what the city says are the “four issues that reveal the greatest manifestations of racism and inequality: Housing, Crime, Jobs and Education.”

“We must act now to address these disparities, and make sure the Rochester that emerges from the pandemic finally delivers the equity our citizens deserve,” Warren wrote in the posted document. “We must seize this opportunity to confront the lasting effects of slavery, legal segregation as well as institutionalized racism and structural inequality. We must recognize that this is the time for a new era of equity and recovery.”

In her opening letter in the ERA document, Warren said “opportunities are not a finite resource.” She added that her “greatest source of optimism for the success of the Equity and Recovery Agenda is the true source of its power: the people of Rochester, our community’s greatest asset.

“Historic change doesn’t happen without great effort by the people who direct that change. Applying the hard-won lessons of those who came before us, the ERA agenda puts the power of change into the hands of our people by giving them access to opportunities.”

Among the initiatives:

» Establish a Housing First Trust Fund.

Because too many city families must allot a disproportionate percentage of income to housing costs, the the creation of a self-perpetuating fund will direct revenue toward programs that promote home ownership and prevent the catastrophic consequences of evictions. The city says the fund “would combine resources from the government, education and the private sectors to stabilize the area’s housing market and help families establish sustainable housing budgets.”

» Create an emergency fund to prevent families from falling into poverty.

Micro grants of up to $2,000 would help individuals and families ensure that temporary financial setbacks, such as unforeseen medical expenses, lost work time or vehicle repairs, don’t become life-changing events.

The city intends to take an innovative approach to funding the grants with initiatives such as a tax on legalized marijuana sales and revenue agreements with nonprofit organizations.

» Establish an Office of Neighborhood Safety to use a “whole city” approach to reducing violence.

The new office would coordinate and dedicate resources from several departments, including police and recreation and human services.

» Continue reform of the police department.

Reform began in the wake of the death of Daniel Prude from injuries suffered while in police custody, and changes will continue with a police-residency requirement and the creation of an office of crisis intervention services.

“Nothing we do will restore Mr. Prude’s life, but we can apply the difficult lessons learned to prevent future tragedies,” Warren wrote in the document.

» Make every elementary school a neighborhood community school.

This is a renewed call for the city, Rochester City School District, Monroe County and other entities to “ensure the full range of community school services are available at every district school.

» Leverage investments in infrastructure to expand employment for city residents.

Warren intends to ramp up the city’s minority and women owned business (MWBE) public works procurement goals while continuing to spend on road, building and other infrastructure improvements. Since the last increase of the goals, the city increased its MWBE contracts by 300 percent, to $27 million, the city said.

“These higher procurement goals will ensure that we help more Black and Brown families build wealth and ultimately lift up our entire community,” the mayor wrote.

There also will be a push for trade unions to recruit and train more minority workers.

» Create a New Americans Advisory Council.

The council will improve communication with the communities to improve the delivery of city services. Warren has named Bijaya Khadka, an advocate for local refugee communities, to serve as the founding chair.

Also in the ERA:

» Providing a living wage for health care workers, the “valuing those who are caring for us and our loved ones” initiative.

» Creating RocCity HomeGrown, an expansion of urban farming to creating entrepreneurs and fight food deserts.

» Establishing an Arts Equity Fund, with the money coming by directing 1 percent of all capital project investments. The fund would commission local artists to create public art that “promotes equity and inspires empathy and understanding.”

» Continuing to move forward.

“My work, and our shared work, in achieving the ERA is just beginning,” Warren wrote. “Yet, when we look back at where we started and what we have already achieved, it is clear that we can succeed. To do so, we will need to embrace the spirit of Rochester that has allowed us to reimagine and recreate ourselves since the beginnings of our great city.”

You can find the entire ERA here.

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