More than 100 Pittsburgh stake holders including Mayor William Peduto were present Friday, Sept. 16 at the August Wilson Center to witness the unveiling of the Equitable Development: The Path to an All-In-Pittsburgh Report.
PolicyLink, Neighborhood Allies and Urban Innovation21 who convened Pittsburgh community leaders to create a shared definition of equitable development and craft an agenda to make it a reality orchestrated the report, which sets an equitable agenda for Pittsburgh. The report was designed to present a roadmap to put all of the region’s residents on track to reaching their potential. Officials are realizing that too many residents remain cut off from opportunity by poverty, structural racism, and discrimination.
Considered a city on the rise, Angela Glover Blackwell, PolicyLink president and CEO said Pittsburgh is the perfect place to start an All-In Cities initiative. “As the city successfully transforms its economy and sees a wave of new development, an equitable development strategy is essential to ensure that all neighborhoods and residents, including those of color, participate and benefit. Achieving full inclusion will lead to sustainable and shared prosperity.”
During the two-hour presentation and panel discussion Sarah Treuhaft, Director of Equitable Growth Initiatives at PolicyLink provided a sketch of the report. She defined Equitable development as a positive development strategy that ensures everyone participates in and benefits from the region’s economic transformation—especially low-income residents, communities of color, immigrants, and others at risk of being left behind. It requires an intentional focus on eliminating racial inequities and barriers, and making accountable and catalytic investments to assure that lower wealth residents; live in healthy, safe, opportunity rich neighborhoods that reflect their culture and are not displaced from them; connect too economic and ownership opportunities; and have voice and influence in the decisions that shape their neighborhoods.
Treuhaft also outlined a five-point agenda that the report identified as a way to put all of the region’s residents on track to reaching their potential. The points are: (1) to raise the bar for new development—growth must happen in a way that benefits and does not displace longtime lower-income residents and neighborhood entrepreneurs. (2) to make all neighborhoods healthy communities of opportunity—the region needs a comprehensive strategy to increase housing affordability and stability and to unlock opportunity in its highest poverty neighborhoods. (3) to expand employment and ownership opportunities—connecting lower-wealth residents too good, family-sustaining jobs and asset-building opportunities is critical to ensuring they participate in and contribute to the region’s resurgence. (4) to embed racial equity throughout Pittsburgh’s institutions and businesses—to eliminate wide racial inequities and uproot bias, the region’s institutions, organizations, and businesses need to adopt racial equity-focused approaches and (5) to build community power, voice, and capacity—high-capacity community-rooted organizations and multiracial, multisector coalitions are essential to advancing equitable development policies and practices over the long term.
The panel, moderated by Blackwell consisting of community leaders were Mayor Peduto, Daniel Lavelle, Pittsburgh City Councilman; Diana Bucco, President, The Buhl Foundation; Derrick Tillman, President & CEO, Bridging the Gap; Pam Connelly, Associate Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Inclusion, University of Pittsburgh; Fred Brown, President & CEO, Homewood Children’s Zone; Betty Cruz, Director, Change Agency and Greg Spencer, President & CEO, Randall Chemical Manufacturing Company.
Excited about the report Mayor Peduto said this is a great opportunity to make things right, it is a way to look back and learn from the mistakes of the past. “We have to be open and realize that in the past when we examined how we were going to grow this city that we did not design it for all. It was designed for some and others were basically put in a position where they were just part of the cost of economic growth. That does not have to be the model of the future,” he said. He pointed out that we now have some great blue prints to work with.
Tillman who is focused on rebuilding sustainable communities through residential and commercial development identifies mentorship as a key component to assisting the region’s underserved residents get on tract to reaching their potential.
Brown, with the mission to improve the lives of Homewood’s children and to reweave the fabric of the community in which they live is concerned about solutions. He said that a different way has to be created as to how we support and address the social phenomenal particularly in the way of funding and support. His suggests are to diversify funding in the way it targets more than just one particular approach; to put community empowerment in education and knowledge; streamlining mezzo and micro organizations for profit and nonprofits; to develop partnerships with mezzo organizations and institutions and governments and partnership not in transactions that really support policy developments that’s driven.
A derivative from the April 2015 p4 Panel of the Greater Pittsburgh Nonprofit Summit—P4 meaning People, Planet, Place and Performance—when Blackwell from Oakland, California raised the concern that there were no people of color included. “I challenged the attendees to come up with an inclusive plan,” she said pointing out that the conversations have to keep going.
With offices in California, New York and Washington, DC, PolicyLink is a national research and action institute advancing economic and social equity by Lifting Up What Works.
Both in Pittsburgh, Neighborhood Allies supports the people, organizations and partnerships committed to creating and maintaining thriving neighborhoods and Urban Innovation21 is a public-private partnership working to drive economic growth that is inclusive and equitable.
Ready to move forward, Presley Gillespie, Neighborhood Allies President said next steps should entail beginning to identify champions, which should include the public, government, institutions, philanthropists and private banks. “The time is now to drive economic prosperity for all, not just some,” he said. “This agenda’s recommendations are the culmination of many months spent engaging more than 200 local leaders.
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