Title
Resolution establishing the All-In Cities Investment Fund.
(Post Agenda and Public Hearing held 12/5/19)
Body
Whereas, the City’s Gender Equity Commission’s report, titled, “Pittsburgh’s Inequality Across Gender and Race”, found that Pittsburgh’s African-American residents could move to almost any other U.S. city of comparable size and enjoy a better quality of life; and,
Whereas, this is due to how deeply systemic racism is embedded in the culture, the fabric and the infrastructure and residential patterns of the City of Pittsburgh; and,
Whereas, in Pittsburgh, a century long history of intentional decisions has locked most of Pittsburgh’s African-American residents in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty lacking any real opportunity, where the overwhelming majority of Pittsburgh’s African-American residents live; and,
Whereas, these neighborhoods, explicitly the result of racial discrimination, create conditions for their African-American residents that lead to disproportionate and intergenerational poverty and their suffering from chronic diseases, lowered lifespans and premature death; and,
Whereas, African-American women suffer higher rates of maternal mortality, poverty, lower rates of college readiness and lower rates of employment; and,
Whereas, African-American men face higher rates of occupational segregation, homicide, cancer and cardiovascular diseases; and,
Whereas, African Americans have made significant contributions to the arts legacy of Pittsburgh, yet their contributions often go unacknowledged, while the systemic and structural racism in Pittsburgh has led many African American artists to leave the city in search of more equitable environments where they can flourish and be recognized; and,
Whereas, these inequitable conditions, concentrated so heavily and so squarely upon a single group of the City’s residents and in specific neighborhoods, has created both an economic and a public health crisis; and,
Whereas, nothing short of the collective mobilization of all of the City’s resources and strategies holds any hope of resolving these crises; and,
Whereas, the time for half-measures must come to an end; and,
Whereas, the City is committed to implement the recommendations of the Pittsburgh Black Elected Officials Coalition’s (PBEOC) facilitated the Pittsburgh Peace and Justice Initiative (P&JI). The P&JI recommendations covers six (6) key civic areas Public Safety, Affordable Housing, Family Outcomes, Business and Organizational Development, Education and Employment identified by the PBEOC as critical to the future of the African American’s Americans in the region.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PITTSBURGH AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Council of the City of Pittsburgh does hereby establish the City of Pittsburgh All-In Cities Investment Fund.
SECTION 2. The Directors of Finance, the Office of Management and Budget and the City Controller are hereby authorized to establish an All-In Cities Investment Fund in cooperation with the Poise Foundation, Pittsburgh’s only African American Foundation pursuant to § 161.02A(8).
SECTION 3. The Purpose of the All-In Investment Fund is to invest in development projects and entrepreneurial activities consistent with that advance the recommendations from PolicyLink’s “Equitable Development: The Path to an All-in Pittsburgh.”
SECTION 4. The Mayor with the approval of City Council will appoint an advisory committee, that includes community representation, to evaluate All-in Cities Investment Fund proposals.
SECTION 5. The Poise Foundation shall be authorize to solicit, collect and disburse funds for the All-In Cities Investment Fund.
SECTION 6. The Poise Foundation, on behalf of the All-In Cities Investment Fund shall provide an annual financial report to the Mayor, City Council and the City Controller, as well as an annual report to the public which shall list the projects and activities supported by the All-In Investment Fund and a description of how each of the funded projects and activities advance PolicyLink’s All-In recommendations.
SECTION 7. City Council finds the establishment of the All-In Cities Investment Fund, its associated programs, activities and expenditures to be necessary and valid public purposes for which City moneys monies shall be expended.