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MACDC urges approval of amendments that would make a good bill even better

July 27th, 2020 by

MACDC Applauds House Economic Development Bill

Legislation would support small businesses, promote affordable and equitable housing development and protect tenants

MACDC urges approval of amendments that would make a good bill even better

On Friday, July 24, the House Ways & Means Committee released its version of H. 4879, An Act Enabling partnerships for growth, also known as the Economic Development bill.  MACDC strongly supports the bill which was originally filed by Governor Baker and was made stronger by House Leadership.  The bill – scheduled for a full vote of the House on Monday – includes several provisions that are particularly important to MACDC and its members: 

  • Authorizes capital funding for critical programs, such as
    • $35 million in capital authorization for CDFIs and CDCs that lend to small businesses
    • $15 million for a micro business matching grant program
    • $30 million for a forgivable loan program for small businesses
    • $40 million to support neighborhood stabilization by revitalizing underutilized properties into active commercial space, housing, green or civic space
    • $10 million to a new Rural and Small-Town Development Fund
    • Additional funding for green and smart growth housing development
  • Triples the Housing Development Incentive Program from $10 Million to $30 Million annually
  • Increases the state housing tax credit from $20 Million to $40 Million annually
  • Provides new language to protect tenants from eviction (after the moratorium ends) by requiring landlords to engage in good faith mediation before evicting a tenant impacted by COVID-19
  • Includes the Housing Choices legislation filed by Governor Baker that would reduce the threshold for approving smart growth housing from two-thirds to a simple majority.

This is a very good bill, but we have a chance to make it even better.

MACDC urges representatives to co-sponsor and support: 

  • Amendment #9 (Rep. Honan) to enact the City of Boston’s Home Rule petition to strengthen its Inclusionary Development and Linkage programs (for more info read this letter);
  • Amendment #82 (Rep Santiago) for a right to counsel pilot program (for more info read this fact sheet);
  • Amendment #269 (Rep Cullinane) to create a Tenant Opportunity to Purchase program (for more info read this article);
  • Amendments #382 and #384 (Rep. Donahue) to fund the MA Food Trust. Amendment #382 authorizes an additional $7 Million for the MFTP over the next 5 years, and #384 continues the authorization of unreleased funds from 2016, which is $3 Million, for a total authorization is $10 Million (For more info go to MA Food funded projects);
  • We are also opposed to any amendments to weaken or modify Housing Choices.

Small Business Advocacy Begins to Bear Fruit

July 23rd, 2020 by Joe Kriesberg

The moment that Governor Baker and governors across the country announced health emergencies in March that required most businesses to close, it was clear that micro- and small-businesses would be particularly vulnerable to long term-financial harm.  We also knew that it would hit particularly hard on businesses owned by Black people, immigrants, people of color, and other historically disadvantaged communities that have less accumulated wealth, smaller margins, and often have customers who are the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

To mitigate the harm, MACDC immediately issued a call on March 23 for a $150 million Small Business Relief and Recovery package that included a request for $30 million in grants for small businesses. A few weeks later on April 22, a coalition of 79 community organizations issued the same set of policy recommendations as we began to see that the federal Payroll Protection Program (PPP) – enacted by Congress in late March – was not going to serve many of the businesses in our communities.

The need for such grant funding has become increasingly clear as the Program has been implemented and the economic crisis has deepened and lengthened.  It is now abundantly clear that the economic recovery will be long and slow and that most small businesses simply cannot take on more debt.  These businesses were impacted by the government’s appropriate need to protect the entire community from the virus – and we believe the entire community has an obligation to help these business owners survive.

Thankfully, after four months of advocacy, we are beginning to see grant funding rolled out to small businesses across the state.  In the first few months, it was mostly cities creating grant programs with federal CDBG dollars provided by Congress as part of the CARES Act.  Boston, Worcester, Springfield, Northampton, Cambridge and many other cities rolled out programs, generally aimed at businesses with 5 or fewer employees.  These grant programs provided critical operating capital and funds to buy Personal Protective Equipment (PPE); however, in virtually every case the programs were overwhelmed with applications.

Last week, Governor Baker announced $19.6 million in CDBG funding for non-entitlement communities (i.e. smaller towns and cities that don’t get their own CDBG) with most of it allocated for grants to micro businesses.  Many CDCs are expected to play a central role in this micro-enterprise grant programs by providing outreach, intake, technical assistance and in some cases direct administration of the programs.  Franklin County CDC, Hilltown CDC, Community Development Partnership on Cape Cod, New Vue Communities and Quaboag Valley CDC are among the CDCs expected to play such roles.

The State Legislature has also begun to respond to our calls for small business support with $10 million included in the recently passed supplemental budget.  The bill is now on the Governor’s desk for his signature.  These funds will be administered by the Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation (MGCC) and serve businesses with up to 50 employees who have been unable to access PPP or other federal programs.

MACDC and its coalition partners are also advocating for Governor Baker’s economic development legislation, which would authorize an additional $15 million in grant funding for micro businesses and $35 million of grant funds for Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and CDCs that make low-cost loans to small businesses (a second element of our policy proposals from March).  This bill is pending in the Legislature and is expected to pass before July 31.  While we are thrilled at the prospect of $50 million in authorization for new bonds to support small businesses, the critical question will be how quickly Governor Baker disperses these funds.  Under Massachusetts law, the Governor has sole authority for allocating such bond authorizations on an annual basis, and this bill has been deemed a five-year bond bill.  Spending these dollars over a five-year period would not provide the boost we need now as business owners fight to survive.

Finally, MACDC and its partners are advocating that Governor Baker use a significant portion of the $26 million in federal round 2 CDBG funding that is also available to deal with the economic crisis. 

In total, we expect state and local governments to deploy well in excess of $30 million for small business grants by the end of 2020.  At the same time, the economic crisis is likely to be much worse that we realized back in March and April.   This recovery process is going to take longer and the impact on small businesses is going to be even more severe, so we will need substantially more funding at the local, state, and federal level in the weeks and months to come.  MACDC and its partners will continue to press our case.

 

 


CDCs Invested $918.1 Million in Local Communities in 2019 - The MACDC GOALs Report

July 21st, 2020 by

 

We’re proud to release the results of our annual GOALs Survey.  Even though 2019 was not too long ago, it feels like the old days! So much has happened over the first six months of 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic crisis.  Both crises have, not surprisingly, negatively impacted communities of color and low-income communities disproportionately.  Also, we have seen our country re-awake to the issue of racial injustice, spurred by worldwide protests against police violence and all the myriad injustices against Black, indigenous, and other people of color that have made our nation less than it can be, than it should be. 

While the story of 2020 has yet to be fully written, we can now tell the story of what our members accomplished in 2019, which demonstrates the prescience of our movement. CDCs place racial equity and justice at the forefront of their work.  MACDC’s Strategic Plan – adopted in 2018 - named racial equity and health equity as two of our core priorities, along with advancing economic opportunity.

All these priorities are reflected in the work highlighted in this report. The Community Economic Development Center in New Bedford provided small business technical assistance to 57 entrepreneurs, focused in the Acushnet Avenue Commercial Corridor, the historic Gateway community to new immigrants.  Lena Park CDC, in partnership with CodeSquad, trained 10 adults from Boston’s urban core to launch new careers as full-stack web developers. Madison Park

Development Corporation partnered with the MA Census Equity Fund to ensure all residents are counted.  Franklin County CDC, as Co-Administrator of the Massachusetts Food Trust, funded 7 healthy food projects across the Commonwealth.

As always, CDCs are also creating and preserving affordable housing: for seniors on the South Shore, families in Western MA, year-round residents on the Cape, and residents at risk of displacement in triple-deckers in East Boston. CDCs are fighting for climate and environmental justice from South Boston, where sea level rise presents an imminent risk, to Lawrence, where Groundwork Lawrence’s Green Team prepared 40 young people for a lifetime of environmental and healthy community leadership.

This report highlights these activities and tallies the collective impacts of CDCs in 2019.  Tables on our website show the complete GOALs Survey results.

While these CDC activities are diverse, their underlying principles are similar: economic empowerment, housing stability, health equity, civic engagement, and racial equity.  This work has built community resilience and infrastructure that is being called upon as we face new and unprecedented challenges. And while our 2020 results won’t be available until next year, we are already seeing evidence that CDCs are taking their work to yet higher levels in 2020.  The work of community development continues.

Read the MACDC GOALs Report


Affordable Rental Housing Remains Out of Reach for Many Americans, New Report Shows

July 16th, 2020 by Don Bianchi

“Right now, our efforts to ensure that everyone has a safe, healthy home to weather the coronavirus storm are hampered by the fact that we already had a housing crisis in this country before this virus ever hit our shores”  U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown pointedly notes in the Preface to “Out of Reach: The High Cost of Housing 2020.”

Since 1989, the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) has issued Out of Reach, to call attention to the gulf between actual wages and what people need to earn to afford their rents. The report affirms that even before the massive economic downturn caused by the coronavirus, housing costs outpaced what many workers could afford; more than 7.7 million extremely low-income renters were spending more than half of their limited incomes on housing costs.

According to the Report, in Massachusetts, the average or Fair Market Rent (FMR)[1] for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,847. For a household to be able to afford this level of rent and utilities, without paying more than 30% of income on housing, the household must earn a “Housing Wage” of $35.52 per hour (annual pay of $73,890). The average hourly renter wage in Massachusetts is estimated at $21.74, meaning that two incomes are required to afford the rent.  For single parent households, or other households where only one person is employed, the household income is typically not sufficient. For those making the minimum wage of $12.75, the situation is dire, as 111 work hours per week would be required to afford the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment.

In the Boston Metropolitan Area, the required Housing Wage is even higher, at $44.44 per hour.  But some communities outside of Boston face a steeper affordability challenge, as incomes are lower.  In the Brockton area, although average rents of $1,528 for a two-bedroom apartment are lower than the state average, the average renter wage is only $11.69 per hour.  At this income, even a household with two full-time employees earning the average renter wage could not come close to affording the average rent.

Of course, as noted in the Report, “the economic downturn spurred by the virus further increases the risk of housing instability for millions of low-wage renters at a time when stable housing is vital.” The unemployment rate for African Americans and Latinx Americans remains several percentage points higher than the overall rate. Low-income households are facing disproportionate hardships; the Federal Reserve’s May report on the economic well-being of U.S. households found that 39% of people working in February with household incomes below $40,000 reported job losses in March.

The Report describes the significant investment in federal rental housing programs needed to ensure that everyone has a decent and affordable home. It notes that the federal eviction moratoriums for renters in federally supported rental properties, and other state and local moratoriums, offer important protections for renters during this crisis, and should be extended. The Report adds that, since the moratoriums do not relieve renters of their obligations, significant federal assistance is needed, including the following:

  • Emergency Rental Assistance: $100 billion in emergency assistance is included in the HEROES Act, passed by the U.S. House and awaiting Senate action;
  • National Housing Stabilization Fund: Creation of an emergency assistance fund to prevent evictions and provide housing stability for families facing a sudden and temporary shock to their finances is included in the “Eviction Crisis Act,” introduced on a bipartisan basis by Senators Bennet and Portman;
  • Rental Assistance: Fully fund the Housing Choice Voucher Program, which allows households to pay 30% of their incomes for rent, as well as increased funding for Project-Based Rental Assistance. Senators Hirono, Gillibrand, and Booker have introduced legislation to fully fund Housing Choice Vouchers;
  • Increase Supply of Affordable Housing: Expanding the supply of affordable rental housing with significant increases in capital investments is necessary. For example, multiple bills have been introduced to provide additional funding for the National Housing Trust, currently capitalized at less than $1 billion per year; and
  • Capital Investments in Public Housing: NHLIC estimates that public housing authorities face a backlog of capital repair needs of $70 billion.

At its current funding levels, federal housing assistance is available to only one in four eligible low-income households (Fischer & Sard, 2017).  A sustained commitment to the investments described above are needed to make affordable rental housing, in Massachusetts and in the nation, in reach for everyone.

 


[1] Fair Market Rent:

Source: NLIHC calculation of weighted-average HUD fair market rent. Affordable rents based on income and benefits data from

BLS QCEW, 2018 adjusted to 2020 dollars


Racism and Public Health – A New Announcement, A Growing Understanding

July 10th, 2020 by Elana Brochin

On June 12th, Mayor Walsh declared racism a public health crisis in Boston and announced that he would reallocate $12 million of the Police Department’s overtime budget to fund programs to reduce racial disparities, including $3 million on public health initiatives. This $3 million was reallocated to the Boston Public Health Commission in the Mayor’s final budget, which passed on June 26th.

Declaring racism as a public health crisis is a bold statement. It echoes growing awareness in the public health community that racism itself is a major social determinant of health. At the same time, I wonder what exactly this declaration can do to accelerate change since others in the city and the state have previously established the connection between racism and public health.

The Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) is an independent public health agency which is governed by a board appointed by the Mayor of Boston. According to their website, “BPHC has been committed to racial justice & health equity in Boston since 2000.” In 2019 BPHC made ‘Racial Justice and Health Equity’ its priority in its strategic plan.

Massachusetts has additionally recognized racism as a public health issue in several ways. In 2017 as part of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s (DPH) revisions to their Determination of Need regulations, DPH created a Statewide fund of which the intersection of racism and public health as a defining characteristic. MACDC served on the fund’s advisory task force that recommended this focus on racial equity. Applicants to the fund were required to articulate how their project works to dismantle “policies, systems, and social/physical environments that are historically based in structural and institutional racism and other forms of oppression.” According to the Department of Public Health, “these forms of oppression need to be understood and disrupted to eliminate health inequities.”

Building on the Department of Public Health’s Determination of Need updates, the Massachusetts Attorney General clearly identified racism as a public health issue in her updated Community Benefits Guidelines for hospital in 2018 (MACDC also served on this Advisory Task Force!). Citing the BPHC (again – which has a board appointed by the Mayor of Boston), the Attorney General declared that racism both has an independent impact and also impacts other social determinants of health. The Guidelines recommend that “hospitals and HMOs should consider this framework and continue to recognize and address the role that racism and institutional bias play in impacting health outcomes in their communities.”

So, what is new about the Mayor’s announcement? First of all, an announcement from the top City official is an important statement – even if it’s one that reiterates something that’s been said before. It’s also important the Mayor’s term “Public Health Emergency” connotes appropriate seriousness and urgency. This is particularly noteworthy in the midst of another public health crisis – the COVID-19 pandemic. By using terminology that evokes this international crisis, the Mayor is signaling the importance of acknowledging the profound impact of racism on population and individual health. Lastly, it is important that this is a statement that is coming from a non-public health entity nor from explicit public health guidance. Mayor Walsh’s announcement makes clear that it is not just the people who think day-in and day-out about population health who are making the connection between racism and health. I hope that the Mayor’s declaration will influence people at all levels of government, across all industries and sectors, and across demographics to recognize this connection. Additionally, all levels of government, as well as hospitals and other healthcare institutions should follow Mayor Walsh’s lead and invest money in racial equity work. In addition to being the right thing to do, investing in racial equity work will lead to improved health outcomes and a reduction in health disparities.

 


MACDC Responds to COVID-19

June 16th, 2020 by

Our world has dramatically changed over the past few months. All of us, even if we’re just staying at home, are addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. And all of us are striving to adjust to the “new normal”.

For MACDC, this means we haven’t changed our mission or vision, but we have responded to the crisis by increasing the work we do to help ensure that our members have the resources to respond to the needs in each city and town in which they work.

We wanted to highlight our activities since mid-March.As the pandemic continues, we will continue to update and modify our activities in response to the needs of our members and the communities they serve.

CLICK HERE to see our full report (PDF)


On Reopening CDC Offices

June 10th, 2020 by Elana Brochin and John Fitterer

Factors to consider in Reopening CDC Offices

On May 18th, Governor Baker released his much-anticipated Reopening Massachusetts plan. Governor Baker’s plan divided businesses into four phases indicating when they could expect to re-open, often in limited capacities. Phase II began on June 8.

Reopening Massachusetts allowed offices outside of Boston to reopen at 25% capacity beginning on May 25th and offices within Boston to reopen at 25% capacity as of June 1st. Offices’ ability to reopen is predicated on their adopting necessary precautions, such as screening, social distancing, and requiring personal protective equipment, such as masks. Further, Reopening Massachusetts encourages offices to allow employees to continue to work from home when feasible. Just because a business has the legal green light to reopen doesn’t necessarily mean that the inherent risks and necessary precautions are worth the advantages of “going back to business as usual.”

As the state has begun to move toward reopening, MACDC has convened CDCs to engage in a discussion about how they are going to approach this process.  While all CDCs face some of the same challenges, there are also significant differences – CDCs range in size from two or three employees to two or three hundred employees; some CDCs have plentiful free parking and others have employees who rely on public transportation; some CDCs offer programs that are difficult to sustain remotely such as child care and youth programming; and, of course CDCs, have different physical offices and different abilities to physically distance staff.  As with so much in community development, one-size won’t fit all. 

That said, there are many reasons that CDCs, and other offices, are exercising caution before reopening physical spaces:

  • Even if an organization has done everything it can to ensure social distancing while in the office, employees still need to get to the office. While some workers have access to private cars or can commute by foot or bicycle, many rely on crowded buses and trains;
  • Until daycare and other activities for children resume, parents and guardians may not be able to leave their homes during the day without adequate childcare;
  • Benefits to a limited reopening may be minimal: with staggered schedules and necessary social distancing, colleagues may not have significantly more opportunities to collaborate than they would working from home. Potential for in-person collaboration will be further limited because of necessary restrictions on outside visitors.

Beyond concern for employees, it is important to consider the role that reopening offices will have on community spread of COVID-19. In addition to essential businesses, which could remain open even before Governor Baker’s reopening plan was in effect, many retail businesses cannot thrive and succeed without reopening. It is incumbent upon organizations that have found productive and sufficient ways to operate with employees working remotely to continue to do so, in order to prevent and slow community spread.  These are among the reasons that MACDC employees are going to continue working largely at home until the beginning of September and all MACDC meetings and events will be done remotely at least through Labor Day.

Despite all of the reasons to be cautious in reopening, we know that some CDC activities cannot be done remotely. Construction, construction oversight, repairs, childcare, resident services and other functions cannot be done from home – or at least cannot be done fully from home.

 We also know that for some CDCs and other organizations, bringing employees back to the office is important from a racial equity perspective. The jobs that can most easily be done at home are often the positions that have a larger percentage of white employees and vice versa. Therefore, for some CDCs, equity means bringing all employees back to the office, regardless of their job description.

It is important that every CDC carefully weigh all of the factors in determining when and how to reopen its offices.

Operating in the “new normal”

In mid-March 2020, the way we worked changed significantly. Home laptops suddenly started logging remotely into servers for most of a workday. Office voicemail was updated with away messages and notices that it’s being checked regularly. Video conferencing didn’t become an extension of an in-person meeting, but it became the primary way we collaborated.

It’s likely that even as our offices reopen partially, we won’t go back to operating our organizations as we did in February.  Until there are effective treatments and maybe a vaccine, the COVID-19 pandemic will require many of us to continue to work remotely, at least partially, for some time.  To ensure we are successfully achieving our organization’s mission and vision, we must evolve our business practices and embrace the current IT model of cloud-based computing.

To be sure, many organizations have already made significant strides toward, if not fully adopted, new operation processes that allow for less interruption.  Laptops, cloud PBX phone systems, online file storage and databases allow for incredible flexibility in our ability to work collaboratively while we are physically distant from each other.  Many organizations are using Salesforce or another CRM to help them support and streamline their day-to-day work functions.  Other organizations moved away from office-based servers and embraced cloud file storage years ago.

The initial capital investment in new computers can be daunting, but funds can be raised for these costs.  Grants and solicitations should be made expressly for this purpose.  Migrating to online accounting systems and learning more about cloud PBX phone systems, secure email protocols to replace faxing of private information should all be addressed.  It is also critical to adopt new transmission and storage protocols to ensure control of client, resident, and employee confidential information. These investments will pay dividends long after the pandemic is over.

All of this may seem overwhelming, but many organizations are already well on their way to accomplishing their IT and operations goals. And it’s not something to do on your own. Many CDCs already contract for outside IT consulting.  Call them first to put together a plan that can be adopted in phases.  Providing options for distance work that can address an organization’s needs is vital for long-term productivity.  Efficient utilization of this technology can ensure that the organization’s focus is maintained as neighborhoods and towns reopen, while facilitating remote work to limit community spread of Covid-19.

Those interested in learning more about how CDCS are navigating the reopening process should contact Elana Brochin, MACDC’s Program Director of Health Equity, (elanab@macdc.org) or John Fitterer, MACDC’s Director of Operations (johnf@macdc.org).


A Statement from MACDC

June 2nd, 2020 by

 

MACDC stands with those protesting the murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and countless other African Americans in our Country. 

We see these events as manifestations of centuries of white supremacy culture and institutionalized racism upon which this country was founded and which clearly persist to this day. We share the anger, frustration and sadness that these events provoke and the determination to help find a positive path forward.

We recognize that the structural racism, and the individual-level bias and bigotry, that we see in our criminal justice system is not unique. We see it in our public health and health care systems as the COVID-19 pandemic inflicts disproportionate harm on communities of color. We see it in our economic system as people of color once again bear a disproportionate share of the pain in our current economic crisis. We see it in our educational, housing, transportation and environmental systems. And, of course, all of this is directly connected to the inequities in our elections and political structures where voter suppression and unequal representation reinforce the status quo.

In recent years, MACDC has updated its mission statement to reflect a commitment to racial equity. We’ve adopted racial equity as an explicit organizational value and made it a priority in our strategic plan. We have mandated anti-racism training for our staff. We have held forums and launched programs to reverse inequities in our own organization and field. We have campaigned for policies that would reduce racial wealth and income inequality. Yet, all of this feels inadequate to the challenge. We ask ourselves - what more can we do? How do we need to change – individually and organizationally? What’s our role? We look for answers, or even steps toward possible answers. Can this moment and this pandemic be the impetus for something new?

The truth is that we don’t know. 

What we do know is that all of us and each of us must commit to doing the hard work before us. So amidst our grief and anger, we take strength from being in community with all of you and in solidarity with the broader movement for justice sweeping our Country. And we will take heed of the words of our friend and teacher Mel King:

“Love is the question and the answer.”

 


DHCD Announces Special COVID-19 Response CDBG NOFA For Non-Entitlement Communities

May 21st, 2020 by Joe Kriesberg

The Department of Housing and Community Development announced on Friday, May 15, 2020 that they would be using newly available CDBG money from the CARES Act to support housing relief, micro enterprise grants and social services.  The funding notice calls for $10 million to be used for rental relief in non-entitlement communities (largely rural and suburban communities) and to be delivered through the existing RAFT program network. This advances one of the core policy recommendations for which MACDC has been advocating since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis.

The notice also invites municipalities to submit collaborative proposals – potentially in partnership with CDCs – to offer micro enterprise grants to businesses impacted by COVID-19.  This is also aligned with one of the top policy priorities for which we have been advocating. We’re also pleased that municipalities can apply for funding to provide vitally-needed social services, including food assistance, to people impacted by the Covid-19 crisis. The inability of families and individuals to access healthy food has been noted by several CDCs, who are involved in efforts to respond to this burgeoning need.

We thank Governor Baker, Secretary Kennealy and Undersecretary Maddox for listening to our recommendations and responding with concrete action that will help families, business owners and communities across the state. (Note – cities in Massachusetts already received a direct allocation of CDBG earlier this year).

DHCD has also received an additional $26 million in CDBG money in Round Two of the CARES Act program and will be releasing that money in the coming weeks. This second round of funding will be available statewide, including our cities.


“Figure out How to Do Something Productive”

May 19th, 2020 by Elana Brochin

One of the many reasons that I appreciate working at MACDC is that our work is, by definition, responsive to current events in our communities as well as in the larger world. While many people are struggling to transfer their “normal” work to a virtual platform, at MACDC, we are looking to re-evaluate our priorities in the context of the current situation.

On March 11th, our President and CEO, Joe Kriesberg shared a story with and issued a challenge to the MACDC staff:

In 1986, Joe was a junior staff person working for Ralph Nader at the Critical Mass Energy Project in Washington, DC focused on nuclear power issues when the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded.  Joe asked his boss what he should do? How should his work priorities change? His boss responded, “you work on safe energy issues; a nuclear plant just blew up; figure out how to do something productive.”  As Joe tells it, that was the end of the guidance. Joe reached out to Ralph Nader to schedule TV appearances for him and brief/prepare him for those appearances.  It was Joe’s first opportunity to work directly with Ralph and see him in action. It was an amazing learning experience for him that left him with stories and lessons that he calls upon to this day.

Through sharing this story, Joe made clear to me and other MACDC staff that the world has changed and that the status quo no longer applies. Joe emphasized that it is each of our responsibilities to figure out how best to leverage our particular role, skills, and knowledge to support our mission, our members, and the larger community during this time.

Joe’s challenge was both exciting and unsettling – and it has been particularly interesting for me as the “public health person” on staff at MACDC. In the midst of a global pandemic, everything is related to health. Accordingly, my days these last few months have involved keeping my ear to the ground on many different conversations, including:

  • A weekly gathering of large affordable housing managers in Boston, in which they discuss concerns surfacing at their properties;
  • An offshoot of the group of housing managers who have recently convened to discuss issues particular to mental health issues in our communities;
  • A weekly call in which folks surface issues specific to elderly populations;
  • Concerns specific to immigrant populations that have surfaced among our members;
  • Ways in which our members are involved in food distribution in their communities.

These conversations have enabled me to better understand issues that many of our CDCs are encountering and to understand what resources are available to address these issues. And they are pushing me and MACDC into networks, issues and challenges that are new for us.

The current situation has also highlighted importance of partnerships in the public health space, in particular MACDC’s partnership with the Massachusetts Public Health Association (MPHA). MPHA has been one of MACDC’s key partners for many years and in the last year since we’ve had a full-time staff person dedicated to health equity work (that’s me!), our partnership has deepened. When MPHA announced that it was convening an Emergency Task Force on Coronavirus and Equity this past March, it was a no-brainer that we would be actively involved.

The Task Force met for the first time on March 17th. For many of us, this was our first week of working from home and convening over Zoom, so this virtual meeting which drew staff from over 50 organizations, was particularly noteworthy. At this first meeting, the group efficiently broke into groups according to issue area. Each group then identified two or three policy priorities for which they wanted to see action by the state in the next week. When participants re-convened as a whole, participants voted on the identified priorities, narrowing the list down to four priorities, which included:

  1. Enacting a Moratorium on Evictions and Foreclosures
  2. Passing Emergency Paid Sick Time
  3. Providing Safe Quarantine for People Experiencing Homelessness
  4. Ensuring Immigrants Have Safe Access to Testing and Treatment

Following the initial meeting, organizations interested in becoming members of the Task Force were asked to affirm their support for the mission of the Task Force to drive equitable policy change to combat the ways in which racism, poverty, and xenophobia are furthering marginalization in the face of COVID-19.

As of mid-May, the Task Force is comprised of close to 80 members, has added three new priorities, and has actively advocated for and tracked progress on the original four priorities. The Task Force saw early successes with the state’s moratorium on evictions and foreclosures which was enacted, and the emergency paid sick time legislation that was filed – both at the end of April. I am part of the Task Force’s Strategy Team which meets weekly to guide the work of the Task Force and plan full Task Force meetings.

Through the Task Force on Coronavirus and Equity, MACDC is pushing the state to act quickly on crucial policy issues that are outside of our traditional wheelhouse. The Task Force’s priorities are, however, in clear alignment with our mission and affect the communities in which our members work. Sitting on the Task Force on Coronavirus and Equity, together with participation in a broad range of conversations on COVID-related challenges, is my response to Joe’s invitation. During this devastating time, I am leveraging my role to strengthen MACDC’s relationships with partner organizations and the broader public health community, to effectively respond to issues affecting communities throughout Massachusetts.

 

 

 


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