Programs tackle structural racism

Print More

Although they may have different capacities, two new initiatives—one across multiple cities and one centered in Rochester—take aim at the issue of structural racism in various fields including economics, public health and education.

The newest program is the expansion of Rochester into the Closing the Gaps Network, an initiative by financial and foundational collaborative Living Cities intended to eliminate racial disparities in income and wealth.

The network, which began in October 2020, gives participants access to cross-city learning opportunities and technical assistance providers, facilitators, resources, and connections to other networks of practitioners working to create equitable impact. Previous actionable initiatives for the network have included inclusive procurement, guaranteed income payments and sales taxes that support inclusive economic development.

“The equitable strategies that the Closing the Gaps Network will implement have been shown to create billions of dollars in economic activity for city and regional economies,” says Joe Scantlebury, Living Cities president and CEO. “By applying a racial equity analysis to how their city operates across private, philanthropic and public sectors, the Closing the Gaps members will provide tangible benefits for residents of color while also improving economic opportunities for all.”

The network includes 20 other cities besides Rochester, stretching from New Haven, Conn., to Sacramento, Calif. Rochester is the first city in New York to be added to the network.

Rochester has its share of racial inequalities. For example, during the census, the State of New York Mortgage Agency identifies areas of “chronic economic distress” that may have poor housing stock conditions or require a high need for owner-financing.The latest data from SONYMA shows the target areas in Rochester tend to have a high percentage of  people of color.

In its next phase, members of the network will design equitable strategies to support the closing of income and wealth gaps in their cities. This will include establishing interventions that support the increase of homeownership rates among people of color, as well as entrepreneurship rates.

On the flip side, a different program also aimed at structural racism, sees its roots in the city itself.

The same day–March 8– that the city announced its membership in the network, Rochester Mayor Malik Evans joined with the Black Agenda Group to remind the community to sign the “Racism is a Public Health Crisis” pledge and to introduce the Implementation Tool, an online form that prompts organizations to adopt anti-racist policies.

The “Racism is a Public Health Crisis” campaign began in May 2020 by the Black Agenda Group to take the issue of racial health disparities from a conversation to a push for action. History shows that people of color face unfair disadvantages in many aspects of life, access to adequate health care.

“For too long, historical exclusive systems of access for some and not for others have plagued our city and country with the results of poverty, violence, bad health and poor quality education,” says Hanif Abdul-Wahid of the Black Agenda Group. “It has left too many Black, Brown and underserved communities to suffer and struggle. Now is the time to work on eradicating exclusive systems to more inclusive systems.”

This issue of public health for people of color is even more present since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The latest data from the state Department of Health reveals that Black people are suffering deaths from the disease at much greater rates than other racial categories. While the average for all of Monroe County was just over 100 deaths per 100,000 people, Black people were more than double that figure at 248 deaths per 100,000.

“The issue of racial health disparities has been a conversation for too long,” Evans says. “How can we create safe, stable neighborhoods if 40 percent of our population is underserved and unable to rely on a health system created to keep them healthy? We can’t.”

Jacob Schermerhorn is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer.

The Beacon welcomes comments from readers who adhere to our comment policy including use of their full, real name.

5 thoughts on “Programs tackle structural racism

  1. Thank you for calling attention to structural racism issues in Rochester and describing how Rochester is responding by joining this collective effort. This is an encouraging piece of news! If we could get all the like-minded people of different organizations aligned with all their resources we could address multiple areas of structural racism at once with an overall action plan and teamwork with each sub-group sharing its expertise, e.g., if we had an interracial mega-sub-group partnership organized around equity in health care in this community I do believe we could reduce/eliminate this kind of problem.

    • “….calling attention to structural racism issues in Rochester???” You’re kidding — right??? I mean are you NOT aware that people have been “calling attention to structural racism issues in Rochester” literally for MANY DECADES >>> https://www.mosaicmethods.org/biracial-partnerships.html

      “…how Rochester is responding by joining this collective effort???” What??? “Rochester is responding,” or the SAME, USUAL SUSPECTS ARE RESPONDING??? The latter does NOT = “Rochester.”

      As it relates to “addressing multiple areas of structural racism at once with an overall action plan and teamwork with each sub-group sharing its expertise…”— HAVEN’T YOU HERAD THAT THE CITY OF ROCHESTER AND COUNTY OF MONROE SUPPOSEDLY EMBARKED UPON AN “UNPRECEDENTED” JOINT EFFORT TO DO EXACTLY THAT ALMOST TWO YEARS AGO >>>

      https://13wham.com/news/local/massive-report-outlines-local-systemic-racism-and-inequalities-makes-recommendations

      CLEARLY, THEY ARE NOT SERIOUS!!!

  2. Darn __ exactly how many fronts will be opened to so-called “take aim at the issue of structural racism” in Rochester and Monroe County??? What exactly is this __ a case of the-more-the-merrier-money-grabs, or should it be centered around the long-standing, chronic need for strategic, laser-like-focused coordination and collaboration??? My latter question is actually rhetorical. I think we all know the answer. Here in modern-day-slave-town-U.S.A. folks, especially those who are powerful, keep decrying “silos” __ while at the same time creating, participating in, and operating out of them (more and more) — https://www.facebook.com/CityofRochesterNY/videos/359118922759264 .

    Please note that “education” is ALWAYS thrown into the improvement-mix, but rarely, if ever, are there any specifics as to how they intend to help significantly, measurably, and permanently improve literally one of the worst public education systems in the entire, thoroughly racist, white-supremacist-based nation-state: https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/local/communities/time-to-educate/stories/2018/06/06/worst-public-schools-america-rochester-ny-rcsd-kodak-park-school-41/550929002/ .

    AS IT RELATES TO DECISIVELY ADDRESSING INDIVIDUAL, INSTITUTIONAL, AND STRUCTURAL RACISM IN THE ROCHESTER CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT AND BEYOND, WHAT IS TO BE DONE??? WITH REGARD TO STARTING POINTS, SEE THE LINKS BELOW. ALL ELSE IS MERELY RHETORIC AND NOISE — PERIOD.

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1luStxBMz6N40ssZ7uQZIssKoBWcT3Ke9/view

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/13C4wj-W2PmMrC0v_6CH3UAhinZNWhQNb/view?fbclid=IwAR1YGV1VjFU9u0RhfTvkrL3clTQY0Bun7SdJd9q3-i962jHGUiGKyAd0Chc

    https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/greenrochester/pages/1/attachments/original/1614048303/REAL_Racial_Equity_Action_Plan_11-25-19-compiled.pdf?1614048303

  3. We don’t have structural racism but instead a country of structural civil rights. It sounds like the author has bought into the BLM propaganda. The founders of BLM were not shy about being students of Marxism. Marxists have a tendency to divide society into conflicting groups. The result is disharmony.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *