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Calling upon the City of Philadelphia to invest in a Black stimulus package for our neighborhoods, to include $500 million in capital investments for affordable housing and commercial corridors, in addition to operating investments in a Poverty Action Fund for rent subsidy, basic income, benefits access, and job training stipends; and further authorizing the Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on Commerce and Economic Development to hold hearings to consider the City’s Black stimulus.
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WHEREAS, In Philadelphia today, Black residents are about twice as likely to live in poverty as white residents. Our City’s rate of Black-owned businesses is about 2 percent. High-risk COVID-19 areas of the City are 42% Black, while low-risk communities are 17% Black. The leading cause of death among Black residents, age 15 to 34, is gun violence; and
WHEREAS, This month, City Council has a responsibility to pass a moral budget that secures Philadelphians’ right to safely raise our children in affordable, accessible housing among diverse, mixed-income neighborhoods where everyone shares access to good schools and good jobs; and
WHEREAS, In the 1990s, the City of Philadelphia leveraged billions of capital federal, state, and private investments to rebuild downtown hotels, shopping centers, and amenities, through porgrams including Section 108, a nationally-recognized model for borrowing against tomorrow’s federal entitlements to generate much-needed commerce and housing today; and
WHEREAS, In the 2020s, the City of Philadelphia shares a similar imperative to rebuild our neighborhoods through capital investments in affordable housing, commercial corridors, and other amenities, that will support Philadelphains who have suffered unprecedented need and disparity, in the wake of a COVID-19 crisis that has caused more than 100,000 residents to lose their jobs, and in the wake of an unprecedented movement to reinvest broken windows policing into a Black stimulus that provides real economic security for our neighbors; and
WHEREAS, At this time in our City’s history we must insure real opportunity for skills training, job opportunities and wealth creation by local residents, businesses and entrepreneurs. We can work with the School District of Philadelphia, Community Colleage of Philadelphia and our stakeholders to insure we are creating pipelines to family sustaining jobs; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That the City of Philadelphia is hereby called upon to invest capital and operating revenues in a Black stimulus. The City has an opportunity for a smart restart and reimagine our City and our neighborhoods. The African American, Latino, and other racial minority groups should not be furthered disenfranchised in our recovery.
FURTHER RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That the Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on Commerce and Economic Development are authorized to hold hearings to publicly consider details of the City’s Black stimulus.
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