Title
Resolution authorizing and directing the Mayor to establish a joint Pittsburgh Recovery Task Force consisting of representatives of the Office of the Mayor, President of Council, President Pro-Tempore and Chairman, Committee on Finance and Law, City Council, to oversee make recommendations as to the distribution of funds allocated to the City of Pittsburgh pursuant to the American Recovery Plan Act of 2021, Public Law 117-2 (“ARPA”).
Body
WHEREAS, on December 23, 2019, the Honorable William M. Peduto, Mayor of the City of Pittsburgh, signed into law Resolution Number 843 of 2019, declaring racism a “public health crisis” in the City of Pittsburgh, a Home Rule municipality and political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; and,
WHEREAS, the City of Pittsburgh recognizes the history of racism in our country and how it has led to many current-day disparities in education, health and safety, job attainment, income and wealth, housing and healthcare, disproportionate incarceration rates for people of color and other pernicious systems of injustice. The City further recognizes the existence White privilege, meaning the systemic advantages that white people have relative to non-white people; and,
WHEREAS, here in Pittsburgh, a pervasive sense exists that there are “Two Pittsburghs”: one which grows more prosperous with each passing day and the other, cut off from opportunity by poverty, structural racism and discrimination; and,
WHEREAS, the City of Pittsburgh Gender Equity Commission’s "Pittsburgh's Inequality Across Gender and Race" report concludes that Pittsburgh’s Black residents could move to almost any other U.S. city of comparable size and have a better quality of life; and,
WHEREAS, one of the major the consequences of Pittsburgh’s institutional racism and discriminatory practices is predominately Black, segregated communities of concentrated intergenerational poverty which shapes everything from higher crime rates to limited social mobility for those residents -and especially their children; and,
WHEREAS, the challenges of poor Black communities-including worse health outcomes, higher crime rates, failing schools, and fewer job opportunities-make it that much harder for individuals and families to escape poverty and often perpetuate and entrench poverty across generations; and,
WHEREAS, these negative factors affecting Black communities and their residents also negatively impact the regions they inhabit and the ability of those metropolitan areas to grow in inclusive and sustainable ways; and,
WHEREAS, City of Pittsburgh recognizes the need to examine seemingly neutral policies and practices to determine whether they are contributing to racial inequity and, where needed, change or eliminate the policy or practice as the city has a long history of decision and policy making that has resulted in classist and racist outcomes; and,
WHEREAS, the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath has the potential to disproportionately disaffect Black Pittsburghers and their communities, according to the social determinants of health; and,
WHEREAS, data recently released by the National Equity Atlas show that racial inequality comes at a great cost to the city and the region: Pittsburgh’s economic output would be nearly $5 billion dollars higher every year without the clear racial inequities in income; and,
WHEREAS, Pittsburgh’s racial, economic and geographic inequities are no mere moral challenge, but an existential threat to the city’s long-term resilience and prosperity; and,
WHEREAS, the government of the City of Pittsburgh has a legal and a moral obligation to ensure that its’ services are provided to the residents in the most equitable way possible; and,
WHEREAS, requiring the City and the heads of government units and departments to submit reports detailing how their budgetary decisions and operational decisions and policies either further the goal of equity in the provision of government services and in government-sponsored or government-assisted activities or fall short of this critical requirement is a fundamental and necessary means of ensuring that the City lives up to its’ legal obligations to its’ residents; and,
WHEREAS, the Council of the City of Pittsburgh finds it in the public interest and a public purpose worthy of the expenditure of the public moneys of the City that each Department and unit of City government provide to it and the public regular information detailing the goals set to achieve equity in government and regular updates on their progress in meeting those goals.
WHEREAS, in 2019 the City of Pittsburgh implemented equity standards and requirements for all departments and units of City government.
WHEREAS, Covid has had a devastating effect on the United States, and it has disproportionately impacted Black Americans. According to the CDC, Black Americans are 1.4 times more likely to contract Covid-19, 3.7 times more likely to be hospitalized by Covid-19, and 2.8 times more likely to die from Covid-19 than their White counterparts. It is thought that this is due to underlying comorbidities among Black Americans as well as increased exposure due to a disproportionate number of Black Americans working in essential occupations, where they are overworked and underpaid.
WHEREAS, the City of Pittsburgh will receive approximately $354 million dollars over the next two years from the federal government as part of the American Recovery Plan Act (“ARPA”), Public Law 117-2.
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PITTSBURGH AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. The Council of the City of Pittsburgh hereby authorizes the Mayor to establish a joint Pittsburgh Recovery Task Force consisting of representatives of the Office of the Mayor, President of Council, President Pro-Tempore and Chairman, Committee on Finance and Law, City Council, to oversee make recommendations as to the distribution of funds allocated to the City of Pittsburgh pursuant to the American Recovery Plan Act of 2021, Public Law 117-2 (“ARPA”).
Section 2. The Pittsburgh Recovery Task Force shall use a racial equity lens in the budgeting and expenditure of monies received pursuant to the American Recovery Plan Act funding.
Section 3. The Pittsburgh Recovery Task Force shall create the Equity First Spending Plan detailing the methods ARPA funding will use to reduce racial inequities in the City caused by decades of institutional racism.
Section 4. The Equity First Spending Plan shall not include funds used to ensure the City’s five (5) year plan, including salaries and the general fund balance, but shall report out the amount restricted for these purposes.
Section 5. The Pittsburgh Recovery Task Force shall utilize the Black Pittsburgh Matters Strategic Investment Principles to formulate the Equity First Spending Plan.
Section 6. The Black Pittsburgh Matters Strategic Investment Principles are designed to increase funding to Black people, Black organizations and Black businesses in Black Communities. These principles are as follows:
1. Prioritize investments in community-based violence and crime prevention, intervention and reintegration programming while simultaneously reforming policing and criminal justice policies and practices;
2. Prioritize investments in community and economic development projects in Black communities;
3. Prioritize investments in capacity-building of local community-based and faith-based organizations in Black communities providing them with sufficient funding;
4. Prioritize investments that results in stakeholder collaboration and resource coordination in Black communities.
5. Prioritize investments in workforce development, minority entrepreneurship, minority-owned businesses that build and/or rehabilitate housing with minority contractors established in or serving in Black communities.