Thomas Breen photo
Protesters at a Black Lives Matter march in June.
The Board of Alders unanimously adopted nearly 50 recommendations seeking to recognize and undo the negative health impacts caused by systemic racism against Black, Native American, Asian, and Latino residents.
Local legislators took that vote Tuesday night during the latest bimonthly meeting of the full Board of Alders. The virtual meeting was held online via Zoom and YouTube Live.
The vote marked the culmination of six months of work by the Racism as a Public Health Issue Working Group — a research body that the Board of Alders created last summer after formally declaring racism a public health crisis in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd and nationwide Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality.
Zoom
Tuesday night’s virtual Board of Alders meeting.
On Tuesday night, the alders adopted an eight-page report bearing 49 different recommendations first published by the working group earlier this year.
Some of those recommendations include ensuring Covid-19 testing for all New Haven Public Schools student and staff, changing the name of the city’s Affirmative Action Commission to the Commission on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and then funding that commission at $75,000 a year in the city budget to pay for a permanent staff member, and expanding the city’s health department’s “Health in All Policies” program and assessing Yale New Haven Hospital’s Community Benefit requirements “to ensure funds are strategically flowing into Black and Brown communities.”
Westville Alder Darryl Brackeen, Jr.
“It literally took us hundreds of years to get us to this point to undo systemic racism in our city,” said Westville Alder and Health and Human Services Committee Chair Darryl Brackeen, Jr., who introduced the racism as a public health crisis local legislation last summer.
He said the recommendations included in the report represent a starting point for what should be a sustained city response to and community conversation about the lasting public health impact of racism.
While 20 municipalities across Connecticut have declared racism a public health crisis, as have 99 cities, 72 counties, and four state nationwide according to CT Mirror, Brackeen said that Tuesday night’s local vote to adopt the working group’s report makes New Haven “the first major small city to legislate such a detailed platform” on this issue. “This is history.”
He also said that all of the recommendations that include a “fiscal note” — that is, that would cost money to implement — don’t necessarily have to be funded out of the city budget. “There are opportunities to fund these items through various outside funding mechanisms without impacting residents of our city.”
Click here to read the report in full. Other recommendations put forth in the report include:
• The Affirmative Action Commission (which the report recommends should be changed to the Commission on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) should report annually on the state of racism as it relates to health and health equity in New Haven.
• The city should implement justice, equity, diversity and inclusion training for city staff.
• The city should ensure that Covid-19 vaccination outreach, education, and distribution are prioritized in communities of color.
• The alders should support a plan to pilot the Community Crisis Team charged with responding to mental health crises, substance use issues, and/or homelessness related issues.
• The city should collaborate with partners to address stigma in Black and Brown communities related to mental health services.
• The city should advocate for federal and state efforts to expand cash assistance under Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF.)
Well, at least Ald Brackeen didn't claim to be taking a hammer to racism this time. As for the rest of this history making declaration, there he goes again with unsubstantiated claims of grandeur.