City Council - Civil Rights, Racial Equity, and Immigrant Advancement Committee Hearing on Docket #0169

Thank you.

I am chair of the Boston City Council Committee on Civil Rights, Racial Equity, and Immigrant Advancement. Today is March 6, and the exact time is 10.03. This hearing is being recorded. It is also being live streamed at boston.gov, City Council, TV, and broadcast on Xfinity, Channel 8. RCN Channel 82, Files Channel 964. Written comments may be sent to the committee at ccc.civilrights.boston.gov and will be made part of the record and available to all counselors. Public testimony will be taken At the end of this hearing, individuals will be called in the order in which they signed up and will have two minutes to testify.

If you're interested in testifying in person, please add your name to the sign-up sheet near the entrance of the chamber. If you're looking to testify virtually, please email our central staff Megan Kavanagh at megan.kavanagh at boston.gov for the link and your name will be added to the list. Today's hearing is on docket number 0169 for a hearing to develop a report on the state of civil rights in Boston. Today I am joined by my colleague, Councilor Ed Flynn. I also would like to read the letter of absence and acknowledge The letter from Council President Liz Breadon reads as follows. Dear Chair Culpepper, I regret that I am unable to attend

Tomorrow she means today's hearing on document 0169, order for a hearing to develop a report on the state of civil rights in Boston. We're living under a presidential administration that's openly and proudly rolling back civil rights protection in housing, jobs, education, and other areas. In light of this, it is essential that the City of Boston take stock of the current state of Civil Rights in our city. I am strongly supportive of the chair's initiative to develop an official committee report on the State of Civil Rights in Boston. While I regret that I am unable to attend today's hearing, members of my team will be listening to this critically important discussion, and I plan to review the recording. I kindly ask that you read this letter into the record. Thank you, Councilor Liz Breadon.

I also would like to acknowledge the letter of absence from Councilor Henry Santana. Dear Chair Culpepper and colleagues of the Committee on Civil Rights, Racial Equity, and Immigrant Advancement, I regret to inform you that I am I am unable to attend today's hearing on docket number 0169. to develop a report on the state of civil rights in Boston. I would like to express my gratitude to Councilor Culpepper for both sponsoring and holding this hearing. I look forward to reviewing the valuable insights from the discussion and the committee's report and recommended next steps. Good morning. Good morning.

Today marks the first hearing in a series that the Boston City Council's Committee on Civil Rights, Racial Equity and Immigrant Advancement will convene as we work to produce a comprehensive report on the State of Civil Rights in Boston. As someone who has spent most of his life in the city, I often ask the simple question, has Boston changed or is it still changing? The honors answer is both. Boston has made real progress. We can openly talk about the need for fair and affordable housing. This council chamber reflects cultures and communities from across the world. These are meaningful milestones, but milestones are not the same as justice. Because from what I hear from my colleagues and from the residents I represent,

Too many people in Boston still experience opportunity differently depending on who they are, where they live, and what resources they were born into. Today's hearing is about establishing A clear baseline where civil rights stand in Boston right now. Grounded in data, lived experience, and an honest look at the structural conditions shaping opportunities in our city. The vision is simple. Boston must be a city where everyone belongs and everyone has a fair shot. No matter who you are, No matter what you look like, no matter who you love or where you worship, everyone deserves a chance to build the life they imagine for themselves here in Boston.

In the months ahead, this committee will hold additional hearings focused on the experiences of protected classes, including residents facing discrimination based on race, age, gender, Thank you. Thank you. and public agencies, we aim to better understand the barriers people face and identify solutions that move from Boston forward in equity, fairness and equal opportunity. Our goal is to translate this work into a formal report on the state of civil rights in Boston by the end of this year. I want to thank my colleague, our panelists, and members of the public joining us today. With that, let's begin.

Each counselor will get two minutes of opening remarks. Each counselor will get two minutes Flynn. We will then move to hearing testimony from our panelists. Each panelist will get up to 15 minutes for their presentations. I'd like to introduce today's panelists and then we'll go right to you, Councilor. James Jennings, Professor Emeritus, Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning from Tufts University, someone I have known for many, many years to help shape and lead and direct Sophia Hall Esquire, Deputy Litigation Director, from the Lawyers for Civil Rights Priya Lang, Director, BizGrow, Lawyer for Civil Rights

Dr. Cheryl Clark, Executive Director and Senior Vice President from the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers. Councilor Flynn, you have two minutes.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you for bringing this important discussion to the public. And you're exactly the right person to lead it based on your longtime life commitment to Civil rights and justice for all people, whether you served as a housing activist or serving in the community, but you always put civil rights and human rights in the forefront. and looking forward to learning, really learning more from the panelists and the public. And I want to see how I could contribute, but I do want to acknowledge You are incredible leadership, but I also want to acknowledge the incredible leadership of the panelists that are here, too. And I know you highlighted them, James Jennings, Sophia Hall, Priya Lane, and Dr. Dr. Clark.

Looking forward to hearing their important testimony. And Mr. Chair, I'm also looking to hear the testimony of the public as we take more public testimony over the months ahead. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Weber has joined us. Good morning. And Councilor Eugene, good morning. And I will take you in order of your arrival. And so, Councilor, You have two minutes.

Thank you. Councilor Weber was racing to beat me in here. So that's why I wanted to make sure we were literally, I had to step on his toes. So good morning, everyone. Congratulations, Councilor Culpepper, on your first hearing. It is an important moment. I want to thank all the panelists who are here. An incredibly important topic for us to be having a hearing on, the state of civil rights in our city and what we can do to really help close those gaps as someone who During my first term, I had the honor of chairing this committee. I know how important the work of this committee is, and as a lawyer and as someone who cares deeply about making sure that we are closing all chasms and gaps That exist within our city. I'm looking forward to hearing your testimony while I also balance other obligations that I have outside of these chambers. So I just want to thank you, Councilor Culpepper, for Thank you, Chair.

We'll see how quick you are with the gavel. Go over two minutes. I know you stick to your time when I'm chairing. So I thank you for coming in, and this is a wonderful hearing. And I think it's going to be a series of discussions about what we can work on as a city. I'm also an attorney in my experience working on the challenges under Title VII to the police promotional exam. I learned a lot about civil rights in Boston and what we can do to make a difference. I look forward to hearing about You know, issues, solutions, and working with my colleagues here to try to make this city a better place and really live up to its potential. I just want to thank the chair for setting this hearing and for everyone for showing up.

Thank you, Councilor Weber. I'd like to acknowledge Councilor Mohia. You have. Two minutes to make your opening statements. Good morning.

Good morning. Hi, friends. I am no stranger to you all. I love everything that you have brought into this chamber and all the work that you have done to ensure that we are always censoring civil rights as The former, former chair of civil rights. It was one of the first committees that I chaired when I first entered this council. And so understand the importance of this moment particularly. And I think we have An amazing opportunity to not just talk about it, but be about it and actually do the work that this moment is calling for. And I want to thank Councilor Culpepper for the energy that he brings into this chamber. And when it comes to the issues that are impacting Boston, I'm not a lawyer, but I am a community organizer and an activist, and I understand it from a very different profound space.

And that is when those folks who have been neglected and disregarded and oftentimes unseen and unheard People get away with bad behavior because we allow it. And I think when we're looking at the law, if you will, and we're looking at ways to protect Thank you, Councilor.

We will begin with the panelists. Each panelist will get up to 15 minutes for your presentations. And we'll start with Mr. James Jennings.

Well, thank you very much, and good morning to everyone. As you heard, my name is James Jennings. I'm Professor Emeritus of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University. Over the years, I have collaborated with many community organizations, nonprofits, and government in Black and Latino neighborhoods across Massachusetts. My publications focus on a range of urban affair issues including community development, housing, education, and local economic development. My testimony today, which is written, is based on several research reports that I have authored or co-authored over the years, and I won't go over the list because they are listed in the written testimony. My written testimony also includes a few maps that I generated for various reports to illustrate racial and ethnic inequalities spatially by city council districts and neighborhoods. Hopefully, and in response to your order dated, thank you.

dated January 28th, 2026. Data about current racial and ethnic inequalities and disparities can represent one foundational step in understanding the reasons for such and how civil rights policies and enforcement can be protected and expanded to rectify these conditions. Before sharing some of the data in these reports, let me urge this body to continue resisting the weakening or making invisible the struggles, victories, and continuing need for the expansion of civil rights. The Civil Rights Movement was always about social justice and expanding economic fairness, equity, and opportunity for everyone. Many local issues propelled and became part of this movement across the country. Housing conditions, Access to Equitable Transportation, Public Education,

Access to basic food, economic and business opportunities, public health challenges, environmental justice, language access to basic government services, all were integral parts of are civil rights movement. A key part of civil rights as stipulated in Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, the Fair Housing Act, and subsequent Supreme Court decisions since, makes evident that the approach to civil rights must be intersectoral and focused not just on discrimination, but disparate impact as well. This was reiterated in a report published by the Massachusetts Area Planning Council in 2017, Fair Housing and Equity Assessment for Metropolitan Boston, quote,

Deployment of private and public resources must be informed by the civil rights consequences of planning and funding decisions." and as explained in our very own Boston's Official Assessment of Fair Housing and Civil Rights, it's explained thoroughly that this pertains to all facets of that impact opportunities for residents. Housing, health and the environment, transportation, public safety, economic development, Physical debilities and elderly concerns. Tons of HUD regulations, furthermore, emphasize the importance of community input in the making and implementation of public policies in these areas impacting civil rights. Sadly, the legitimacy and history of the civil rights movement is now being challenged by the current national administration, left unchallenged

This will hurt the quality of life in Boston for everyone. Federal government proposals in the area of housing, for instance, will make the affordable housing crisis worse and increase housing discrimination, displacement, Homelessness and also lower access to quality public health. These federal actions include attempts to weaken Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing, and its disparate impacts requirements, the proposed rescinding of Affirmatively Fair Housing marketing regulations, the call for time proposed, the call for time requirements Work requirements, I should say, and limits for Section 8 voucher holders. These and other punitive actions will lower the quality of life for many immediately bearing the brunt of such, but quickly after others as well.

Aside from these ideological attacks, however, Boston has yet to turn the corner in terms of racial and ethnic inequalities, suggesting that there's still an urgent need not only to protect but also expand civil rights. This is not just based on my research, but that of many, many others over the years. There are a range of life indicators showing the existence of racialized and specialized inequalities in Boston. And here I'm only going to describe a few that I selected. Racial inequalities are reflected in median household income, as we know. According to the American Community Survey census data for the 2024 period, whites were indicated at $135,000 approximately. This compares to $81,000 for Asians, but only $60,000 for blacks and $57,000 for Latinos.

Confirming racial gaps is the story with home ownership. Based on public use micro data sample data for 2024, whites registered a rate of 44%. This compares to 28.2% for blacks and a home ownership rate of 22% for Latinos and Latinas. Housing costs as a percentage of household income in the past 12 months for renters. For white households, approximately 19% use 50% or more of their income for housing. The rate for Asians was 24%. For Latinos, 25%. and for black households the figure was 30%. Overcrowding in housing is a problem for many families in Boston and it has a racial face.

While the American Community Survey reported that whites indicate a 1.8% level of overcrowding in rental housing, the rates for blacks was 5.1%, for Latinos 5.3%, and for Asians, 6.3%. Per capita income is another variable which shows continuing racial and ethnic inequality. While whites are indicated at $88,000 approximately, The figure for blacks is $36,000. For Asians, $58,000. And for Latinos, $33,000. In another example, the unemployment rate for black males Just to look at this one demographic group, 16 to 64 years of age in the civilian labor force hovers between 12 and 14 percent. according to census surveys.

And this is, by the way, this is a rate that has not really changed considerably over a number of earlier census surveys, between 12 and 14% in Boston. The last American Community Survey census reported that it is 4.7% for white males in the same age category and for Latino males it stays at 10%. One of the maps in the written testimony shows furthermore the concentrations of black male employment in certain parts of the city. Poverty is a continuing challenge for the entire city. Poverty rates, however, also show wide racial and ethnic disparities. Census data indicates that 10.2% of all whites had incomes under the official poverty level for the 2024 census period. The level for Asians was 23.3%. For blacks, 19.4%. and Latinos, 25%.

In other words, approximately one fourth of all Asians who live in Boston, one fourth of all Latino, Latinas who live in Boston and one fifth of all blacks who live in Boston live within incomes under the official nationally established poverty thresholds. And by the way, the racial and ethnic inequalities we see in Boston today are taking place, generally speaking, in those same areas that were targeted for disinvestment and plans for increase in the 1930s and 1940s. And one of the maps indicates this in my written testimony. Continuing racial and ethnic inequalities in housing, employment, public transportation, and public health parallel places in Boston that were declared hazardous by the Homeowners Loan Corporation in 1935. resulting in decades of disinvestment.

In conclusion, of course, Boston has realized much important social and economic progress for everyone, but it must still seek to ensure fully that racial and place inequalities are overcome It must take stock where inequality shows its many faces and respond with community-grounded ideas and policies to address these continuing inequalities. And again, thank you for giving me an opportunity to share some of these thoughts.

Attorney Hall, you have 15 minutes.

I'm loud, so I don't want to get too close. Good morning, everyone. Chair, Vice Chair, other Councillors, I appreciate your time, the invitation to be present today and to discuss this important issue. For those of you that I am not closer to, I will reiterate that my name is Sophia Hall. I am the deputy litigation director at Lawyers for Civil Rights. For anyone that is not familiar, we are a 50-year-old civil rights organization based in Boston. We provide free I'm going to focus today on civic engagement. One thing that I think is important to note about my background as I begin these comments is that I have been with LCR for 10 years and during that time one component of my work that I am particularly proud of that is relevant to the discussion today is that I have spearhead and led an effort called Election Protection.

For those of you that are not familiar, Election Protection is a national campaign that has existed since Approximately 2015. And what it does is it acts to ensure that all registered voters can cast a meaningful ballot. What does it mean in practice? In practice it means I operate a hotline and I operate field programs throughout communities in Massachusetts and also now in New Hampshire where there are higher levels of communities of color, Non-English language speakers or individuals who have historically been disadvantaged from the voting process for some reason. And we run campaigns and we train volunteers to ensure that people know their rights. and that people know their rights to help troubleshoot them in real time on election day so that people can cast a meaningful ballot rather than having to wait till the next cycle of voting, rather than trying to have to address the issue down the road often without any sort of recourse to be able to cast a ballot.

So a lot of my comments today as we relate to civic engagement does relate to that work over the last 10 years anecdotally and factually what we have seen and the work that has come out of that. So as I mentioned, I was asked to talk today about civic engagement as just one of the lens which we can evaluate the current state of civil rights in Boston. Now, despite the fact that I've spoken already about voting and that we will continue to talk about voting, I think it's really important to parse this common notion that civic engagement is voting, that they are synonymous. Voting is one action by which an individual can engage in their community. It is certainly one action of civic engagement, but that's not civic engagement in itself. Every time somebody goes to a rally or engages in advocacy or activism or volunteers or goes to their church or shows up today to give testimony at a city hall meeting, All of those are acts of civic engagement.

And so at its core, civic engagement is the willingness and the desire to participate To see society, particularly government action, as part of your community and day-to-day living, one in which you want to engage, whether that is to lead and to make change, whether that is to give feedback, to educate those who are leading but it's participation at its core. So when we talk about civil rights and we talk about the disparities that my brother Professor Jennings has already started to highlight for us and that I think many of us know factually that exist in all of these aspects of life, Graduation rates, home ownership, health equity, employment, and so on. When you talk about those disparities, what's integral in that discussion is

What are we as a community and what are you as government doing to encourage or discourage the willingness and desire to participate? Because that's what civic engagement is, the willingness and desire to participate. So. We look to voting quite often because voting can give us some concrete data and statistics about the participation of individuals in community life. But I think when we talk about what this report looks like down the road, What solutions we have to create and then implement, we have to know that it's more than just addressing the issues and the gaps in voting participation. And so I say all that to say that If one doesn't feel part of their community, then one does not participate in civic engagement.

There are so many factors that come to bear for why one may or may not participate We have lots of statistics at the local level that tell us what participation looks like. It also tells us about the disparities in communities, and we can often opine about the racial disparities and the income disparities that go into those gaps. One of the things that I'll say before we get into numbers is that as you think about civic engagement globally, voting as an act of civic engagement and the reasons why one might or might not participate. I think it's also important to note that most people that I serve, and as a lawyer I consider myself a servant, right?

Most people that engage in voting or that participate at any local level of government, so give testimony, write to their local councillors, They do that because for them, the participation is localized and meaningful personally. It's not often about who sits in the White House. It is often about their sidewalks, Their trash removal, the safety of their parks, whether or not they have crosswalks, whether or not they are fighting rats at their trash cans. And I know that as a civil rights lawyer because when we engage in voting rights litigation throughout Massachusetts, to try to eradicate the barriers that stop people from voting, those are the conversations that I have with not just the plaintiffs, but the community members that support the desire to have litigation to change the way voting structures work.

So I say that also to say that if you can think about civic engagement and voting as part of that as critically intimate and localized, and Personal, I think it gives us the beginning of a lens for how to think about solutions. and how to think about how important an analysis of the current status of civil rights in Boston is from a directly community-facing lens, from a very personal one-on-one lens and a very localized lens. I think what I would encourage this council to do is to have that as a focal point as we move forward in the coming months. even when talking about something like voting. So I told you that we would talk a little bit of numbers, so let's do that. So even when we talk about voter turnout, it's just one metric.

What we know from data and statistics is that the lowest voter turnout tends to be around the most localized elections. So the 2025 Boston preliminary municipal election had a turnout of approximately 71, excuse me, 21.8%. And the 2021 Boston preliminary municipal election had a turnout of approximately 24.8%. And so that data tells us not only that that's the lowest level in terms of participation, again, a metric of civic but also that when you look at the communities, that turnout is far lower in Roxbury and Dorchester than it is in West Roxbury, Roslindale, and Jamaica Plain. And none of us can stop to question the fact that there are clear disparities between those communities and those neighborhoods. We'd be remiss to ignore that.

It's impossible to talk about these disparities without talking about the data that my colleagues are giving you today about home ownership, about graduation rates, about housing stability, about health equity, because all of those are barriers to civic engagement. One can't participate if they don't have a couple of key abilities and factors that exist. One is the ability to participate. That means to be in sound health. That means to be stably housed and secure and safe. That means to have the financial support that they need to be able to take care of themselves and their families. Without those needs met, no one can then turn to whether or not they want to participate. And we have severe disparities that exist and have continued to exist in Boston that prohibit people from being able to get to even that initial question. The next component of this is that people can't participate in things they don't understand.

The burden falls to this council, to this government, to educate people about what they need to know to actively participate. That does not always happen in Boston. And I'll say this candidly, it is often left to nonprofit organizations like LCR to fill that gap, to educate people about what they need to know to participate. That is a problem. That has to be evaluated when we determine what solutions should be. Since 2015, we've had radical shifts in our voting rights structure in Massachusetts, positive ones. We still have a ways to go, but we have had the development of early voting, the development of vote by mail, the development of drop boxes, the data collection and the attention to jail-based voting, the further implementation of automatic voter registration,

All of those things have happened since 2015, and I know about them because I'm a lawyer, so I helped fight to get them in place. But normal people don't know what that means for when they have to show up on election day and vote, or what that means when registration deadlines shift and precincts shift, and when they come to a neighborhood where perhaps they know where their polling location is, although it may shift from election to election, They don't always have the language and the physical accessibility needs that they are going to need to be effective in voting. I know that you guys know this, but the law is pretty limited about what it requires of us to give in terms of language access. The Voting Rights Act indicates what communities are required to give language access and for what languages, but that's tied to a census and that's not the reality of a world that is radically shifting.

Thank you.

So what does that mean? All of these factors create vacuums for civic engagement and participation. Here, what I would encourage as we continue these conversations moving forward is to recognize that a big burden of eliminating disparities in civic engagement really falls to the government. It falls to the government to meet people where they are It falls to the government to educate and support the public so that they can participate in a meaningful way. It falls to the government to support its people such that the disparities are being eradicated so that they can even turn to the question of whether or not they should participate. And I also want to say, because I think I'd be remiss if I wasn't saying this on the record, is that this is not the first time we have had this discussion. We have talked about disparities in this community year after year.

I was around in 2017 when the then mayor, Marty Walsh, introduced the resilience study, and we were looking at disparities then, the cause of them, we were creating trainings for municipal employees, We were trying to close those gaps. We've had these conversations before, but we've not always had the follow-through with the solutions that we need. And so I, again, want to note that Civic engagement not only requires that education and that awareness, but it's also going to require accountability on your part. If you communicate to the public that you want to help them, you have to follow through and actually help them. And in today's world where Again, I think Dr. Jennings said it quite well. So many want to de-center or de-focus civil rights. We have to keep it at the forefront. You have to keep it at the forefront.

and you have to make the community believe that it will remain a focus and a priority for this council. So thank you for your time and I look forward to the rest of the discussion.

You have 15 minutes.

Hello, everyone. Good morning. Councilor, Vice Chair, thank you for inviting me. My name is Priya Lane, and I'm the BISGRA director at Lawyers for Civil Rights. Sophia talked about our organization and the work we've done for the past 50 plus years, so I won't repeat that. But I have led this particular project, our small business project, for more than 10 years. Prior to that, I was a litigator at Lowry Street Civil Rights doing education and housing litigation mostly. And we have provided free legal assistance, business support, and technical assistance to low-income entrepreneurs, people of color, immigrants, and women. Ensuring they encounter fewer obstacles and more opportunities. We work with small businesses across the Commonwealth serving over 2,000 entrepreneurs a year. We do that through

Direct Legal Services, Direct Technical Assistance, anything they might need to help them Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You know, the first cupcake shop in Dorchester, right? All of our communities of color deserve all of the amazing services that we have downtown, and we help center that. Growing wealth in historically disadvantaged communities is and has been a critical civil rights issue.

We get asked all the time at LCR, what's the small business work have to do with civil rights? Building equity and wealth in disadvantaged communities while simultaneously doing the amazing work that Sophia and my other distinguished colleagues on the panel do. is crucial. Not only do we need to right all the wrongs and the historical wrongs that have been happening, but we need to build wealth at the same time so we have a real path forward. The small business owners we support have big dreams but limited resources. We know the opportunity gap exists. This is not a surprise to us. From family-owned restaurants to green economy startups, They need this extra legal support to achieve self-sufficiency, create sustainable jobs, and contribute to the vibrancy of our Commonwealth.

We know that you know colloquially and through statistics that a entrepreneur of color is less likely to have both the Thank you. Thank you. To create these small businesses that opportunity gap would increase even wider. So let's talk about how small businesses are feeling and these entrepreneurs are feeling right now. We know that small business owners are living in a constant state of uncertainty. From immigration concerns to tariffs to ever-changing regulations, it is an extremely difficult time to build, grow, and sustain your small business. Every day we talk to an entrepreneur who has had to close or severely cut their business model and their small business because of tariffs.

The whole model is maybe about sourcing something from somewhere in the world. They can't even get it off the port because it's so expensive, right? Or the company has shut down because they were supplying this material to the US and they lost all their business and so they've pivoted in wherever they are. We don't make everything in this country, and so these businesses can't source locally, and so have completely had to pivot, scale back, or close their business. This means they've had to Thank you. Thank you. Tap into our welfare system to feed and sustain their own families This uncertainty also grows to people who might be thinking of starting a small business Why would you do it now when life feels so unsure?

For example, also recent changes in the federal government at the SBA levels has really changed our small businesses' abilities. to grow. Recent changes to SBA's 504 loans, which is the loans you would take if you were buying a big machine, for example, for your business. Qualifications have changed not only to require US citizenship versus before permanent residency would be applicable. Now small business owners are asked to contribute 25% to 30% for the loans. versus a previous standard of 10%. This makes these loans completely inaccessible because many of these entrepreneurs of color who already have less capital to start their business don't have it or they need it. They need that working capital to grow. Right, so this is completely cutting off their access. Our immigrant clients also live in constant fear over the safety of their families.

Every day we talk to immigrant entrepreneurs, wondering if they will be forced to leave their businesses and adopted country behind. Why grow your business when you're not sure if it's going to exist? They hire from our community, they employ, I was talking to one entrepreneur yesterday who has three, her family has three businesses on the street in East Boston. and all three of those businesses, they're not sure if they're going to leave or not. So all three of those businesses would close. These businesses are cornerstones of our communities and they are not doing well. And so what do we do to help them? As we know from the infamous color of wealth study, the household income of black and brown people in the city is significantly lower than their white counterparts. We all know that.

We reference it all the time. We must work. to further even the playing field for these entrepreneurs. The City of Boston has implemented many programs in the past five years to help minority businesses. We can see that through more transparency on the dashboard online, and I do think we have made some progress since the disparity study that we did during former Mayor Walsh's administration. But it is not enough. These small businesses are struggling and coming from a significantly Thank you so much for having me and I look forward to talking more about our amazing businesses.

Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Lane. Dr. Clark, you have 15 minutes.

Thank you so much for the invitation. Culpepper, and thank you so much to the chamber for having me here. Let me know if you can hear me. It seems like I'm a bit far from the mic. So I am Dr. Cheryl Clark. I am a physician, and I did take care of patients during alpha phase of the COVID pandemic and many of these issues that we're discussing today. I'm also the social epidemiologist by training and the executive director and senior vice president of our institute. for Health Equity Research Evaluation and Policy at the Mass League, and bring an understanding around how social environments get into the body to address and affect health and illness. For today's testimony, I want to focus on a couple of things.

Many of you are certainly aware that the city, the Boston Public Health Commission, days ago just released an outstanding report that describes many of the inequities that are experienced in the city of Boston. But I also think that it's important to have a national perspective and to understand some of the definitions and historical context that shape where we are, both in Boston as well as across the country. To understand the science that is underlying why we see differences in populations that we see, and then some recommendations for how you embed a civil rights and a human rights approach to attain optimal health for everyone. So I'll talk about those three points in turn. I want to start first by making sure that we're all talking about the same thing when we are speaking about civil rights connected to health.

And I have taken this text from the Department of Health and Human Services. It is on the website of our federal Department of Health and Human Services as of the 15th of April. And so this text is here, that civil rights are personal rights that are guaranteed and protected by the US Constitution Federal laws enacted by Congress such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. And civil rights include protection from unlawful discrimination And they apply to all persons in the United States who have a right to receive health care and human services in a nondiscriminatory manner. Councilor Culpepper already listed the groups that are protected. And I think it's important to also note the entities that have to extend these services.

So both state, local social and health services agencies, hospitals, clinics, nursing homes. insurers who participate in marketplaces and receive premium tax credits, as well as other entities that receive federal funding from Health and Human Services. But why? What was the reason or what were some of the reasons that required us to have civil rights laws and to put this into, to encode it in law? And I wanted to point out that actually this month Almost to the day, so it was actually March 26th, 60 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. was captured saying, and I have the clipping here, at a meeting of what was called the Medical Committee Committee. for Human Rights, that of all the forms of inequality and justice in healthcare is the most shocking and inhuman. And why did he say that at this meeting?

I want you to hold on to the name Medical Committee for Human Rights because I'll come back to that at the end of my testimony today. In many ways, there were at least three issues that Martin Luther King Jr. at that time was addressing. One is this legacy of enslavement. And also what I will talk about is de jure segregation and de facto segregation. These terms are important for us to keep in our lexicon to help us understand Why civil rights are connected to health. Part of what we are seeing today, and there are many forms of inequity and forms of unequal treatment, I'm going to focus today on this particular story because it's important to understand that what we see in terms of the ways that population health differs is really rooted in the ways that Our fundamental relationships in the U.S. were established.

One of those fundamental relationships is enslavement and what happened post-Reconstruction. So what you see here is in the District of Columbia, though these so-called slavery codes or black codes existed throughout the country. After the formal sort of passage of laws to liberate people who had been enslaved, Black laws were then passed to try to recapture that relationship so that people were not allowed to marry. They were not allowed to own their own work. Those black codes then transitioned into de-jurisegregation, where both violence and laws were put in place to restrict access, particularly for African Americans and others. to public spaces including being able to be treated in healthcare settings.

These laws and this process wound up entrenching inequities so that currently We have what's called de facto segregation. So that the power and the restriction of resources, and you can see this across the country, you don't actually have to do anything now. You don't have to have a sign that says you can't enter. You don't have to have a specific process. All you have to do is let market forces take their course. And the wealth gaps that we've heard about today The housing instability, all those things will move forward to cause inequities in health unless we actively pass new laws and regulations to change those underlying dynamics. And so what's the impact here? There are three pieces of this that I'd like you to see. One are the data on life expectancy gaps.

And what you'll see, and I think what's most important here is looking at the trends. Part of what I wanted you to see were just the national trends from 1900 to 2018. The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston was able to track this. The linear trends are really available for people who have been identified as black or white. And you'll see these enormous life expectancy gaps. A life expectancy of 47 years, for example, for men and women who identify as being white, or 35 years for those who identify as being black. and how so many benefits in society have happened in terms of sanitation, other public health issues that wound up raising life expectancy for everyone. But you can see the persistence of these gaps.

You can see that during 1918 where you see these big drops in life expectancy related to the flu pandemic at that time. If you look at the figure on the right, you'll also see a little bit of a dip here. See if I can show you that here. But we still don't ever come back to where You see a complete playing field for all racial and ethnic groups. I want to show you really briefly, and you'll have this in the testimony as it's submitted, that part of what we are experiencing, really differences in chronic diseases. So you'll see that cancer, diabetes, these so-called cardiometabolic conditions, as well as for African-Americans, you'll see homicide being prominent. And you see this for all groups.

So these inequities, they affect people who have directly experienced this legacy of discrimination, but it affects everybody. And I think that's an important part It affects us at some of our most important points. We understand that maternal and infant mortality are some of the primary markers of the health of society. And you see these enormous differences in terms of who dies when they are trying to give birth, numbers being extremely high, for example, for black and non-Hispanic populations. And you also see these heartbreaking differences in infant mortality where African-American and American Indian and Alaska Native groups have extremely high rates.

In addition to our life expectancy, our chronic diseases, healthcare access is also one of the legacies of this inequity. And you see the differences in terms of who has insurance coverage over the past 12 months? And also, who has access to employer-sponsored insurance? So do you have a job or employment that allows you to have that access and that winds up being Very different. And in Boston in particular, if you can actually get in to see a primary care physician is an important metric. and we see large proportions of folks who are not able to get into a doctor's office or get access to physically seeing someone because the office is not accepting new patients and we see that. These are data from the Center for Health Information and Analysis. So we see that there are these patterns.

It's important to understand that every presentation that we've had today is connected. because our health status is fundamentally shaped by our social context. So I wanted us to have this diagram from the World Health Organization and that research because it helps us to understand that our governance, Our participation, the ways that we make social choices and that we enshrine in law and practice at a large, and many more. And it's those things that then contribute to our living conditions, what we call in healthcare our health-related social needs. Do we have food? How are we able to get out and take a jog? How are we stressed?

And those things then influence our access to health systems as well as our well-being. And I want you to bear with me because I also think that if you're going to interpret the data from the city of Boston and the report that's come out, It's also important to understand this biology of inequality. So it gets into the body. And there are two points I'd like you to take away from this chart. One is you'll read in the Boston Public Health Commission's report this term, Cardio Metabolic Health. And what that means is that our underlying ways that we sort of process our food, the ways that our bodies respond to infection, chronic disease, It affects the heart. It affects our weight. and many more.

Thank you very much. The ways that our blood might clot, the ways that we might fight infections. What you see and what the, I will point you to an article from Circulation Research, the American Heart Association's journal, that talks about the preponderance of information that economic stability The ways that our neighborhoods are structured and contribute to stress or not, the educational quality, our access, all then contribute to stressors to our own personal experience that set off these pathways and that do a second thing.

In addition to the cardiometabolic health, it also influences just our very DNA, the ways that we age, that's encoded into our body's DNA, and that also affects The ways that we turn off and on different responses. So even our genetic background is influenced by these social issues. So, stick with me around that biology of inequality, but it's important to understand that this is why, when we don't take a civil and human rights approach, it affects populations differently, but it affects everyone. So it's important to make sure that we take an approach that resolves these issues for everyone. So I will turn then to some recommendations. I'm going to draw from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. And there are really three points that I think that are relevant to our discussion today that

have a national and a federal sort of a focus but that are relevant to us in Boston. So one is generating accurate and timely data on inequities. And live long and well, I think, is a good and important step toward this. If we fully understand what the report reads and if we act on those findings. And certainly in my institute, we are working closely with community health centers to also generate these data. We also need to ensure adequate resources to enforce existing laws and to build systems of accountability that explicitly focus on eliminating health care inequities and advancing health equity. Part of what that means is that we need to make sure that some of the local regulations and the power that this council has to work closely with our healthcare institutions

to make sure that we are tracking how well access to care is provided geographically by protected classes to take the levers that we have and to make sure that those are effective. and then certainly the final recommendation is to equip health systems and to expand some of the sustainable interventions. And I'd like to propose that one of the most important interventions is primary care, primary care access, and I would also describe Community Health Centers as part of that. You remember that I said that the Medical Committee of Human Rights was one of the important parts of civil rights legislation related to health. There's another, maybe more colloquial way of putting it. That committee and some of the founding folks that you'll see on the screen were the doctors to the Civil Rights Movement. So during Freedom Summer in 1964, when more than 100 folks from northern cities came down to Mississippi to fight segregation.

Many of them got injured, certainly many were killed, but no one or very few were willing to treat them. And so who you'll see on the screen are folks like Dr. Robert Smith, also called the doctor to the movement. Dr. Aaron Shirley, James Anderson, Helen Barnes, Elsie Dorsey, and many of us may know the names Jack Geiger, John Hatch, and Count Gibson over at Tufts, who were willing to both treat people but also to put things in place to advocate for creating a system of healthcare that would serve folks and that system is called the Community Health Center Movement, meant to solve everyone's access issues and in a particular way. So with these civil rights origins and understanding, the community health center movement was set up to both address what we call those upstream or structural drivers, economics,

So community health centers currently serve their populations and invest $85 billion in the communities across the country where they operate. Yes, sir. They are employers. They are healthcare providers, so 32 million people across the country, despite their ability to pay. And they also address these social needs. For example, If we are thinking about education and economic mobility, how amazing it is to have Codman Squares, Codman Academy, to provide that education. As we are now seeing commercial pharmacies stand down in our neighborhoods, Whittier Street Health Center in Boston. has its pharmacy that's important to serve. Demick Community Health Center in Roxbury has strong relationships to help partner young people and elder people to think about their heart health. And certainly during COVID,

Community Health Centers were critical in terms of providing vaccinations across the country. I will also submit to testimony that our institute works very closely with community health centers on the science to make sure that we continue to innovate. So our final key points. These inequities have historical and contextual roots. Our social context influences our bodies, our stressors, and our access to care. and that there are legal and regulatory remedies and primary care is an important lever for that. Thank you very much. I appreciate the opportunity to testify today.

And I know you have a hard time Flynn. Good to see you, Councilor Durkan. She's joined us this morning. We will come to you in just one minute. Dr. Clark, let me ask you something. All of your research emphasized the importance of community health clinics and just talked about them. How do community-based healthcare systems help close this equity gap?

There are at least three important contributors, and this is both important in Boston and important across the country. In primary care, we're facing an acute shortage where you can't actually get in to see a clinician. I'm actually willing to share a personal anecdote because those who saw me in front of the building as I was coming in today Thank you for joining us. And my primary care doctor, who I've had for many decades, is booking out to July. And so we had to figure out when they were going to be able to get me in to be seen. And I actually work at the place, so that's a little bit awkward. So one important thing that community health centers provide is access. Though there are waiting periods, certainly, you're able to get in.

And you can do it without having to have a specific kind of insurance The second thing that I would mention is that It is important to have a one-stop shopping so you can get your dental care, you can pick up your prescriptions all in one place, and that's very important when there are transportation and other issues that are at play. And then finally, I do think that it's important that community health centers are located where people get their care. And it means that the health center is aware of what's happening in the community Thank you. Thank you.

One more question, then we'll move to Councilor Durkan to give you a two-minute opening statement. How should we understand these health disparities? I know you quoted Dr. Martin Luther King. I will also quote the World Health Organization.

Why should we provide treatments in some ways without ending the things that are making us sick? So part of what we have to make sure that we do is have healthy environments. We have to make sure that if you need to see a physician, that you can see one. And we have to make sure that we resolve the issues that we talked about today, that people feel that they can Be heard so that they participate in their civic life. That we use the levers that we can use to address economic inequities. So all of these issues are interconnected. and I think people understand that intuitively. They understand intuitively that if we don't have safe places to live, if we don't have adequate food, if quite frankly our government

is passing or not passing protections that allow us to get the health care that we need that you can't be healthy. Civil rights are a foundational part of human rights that are required to have a healthy society and to have healthy people.

I know you talked somewhat about what the council could do, but at some point, could you prepare recommendations and give us your recommendations With regard to what we can do as a city councilor.

Happy to. And I think one of the most important recommendations is to have a community-centered approach to understanding some of the specific issues. I would actually applaud the Boston Public Health Commission over the decades for having a very robust process of community listening sessions. Kind of getting out there, hearing from people, understanding what some of the pain points are. So having a community engaged process for surfacing some of the issues and the recommendations is one of the most important things that the council can do.

Thank you. Councilor Durkan, you have two minutes.

Thank you so much, Councilor Culpepper, or Chair Culpepper, I should say. It's wonderful to be here for the hearing facilitated by your opening speech, maiden speech at the council. As the City Councilor for the Longwood Medical Area and most of the hospitals in Boston, racial equity in healthcare is deeply important to me. and I have proposed a couple things on the council. Some met with some. I did a hearing order on the sweet and beverage tax, which I know hit differently for different people. I've been a real advocate for GLP-1 medications and equitable access. I've also supported One Jocelyn Place, which was a Dana Farber and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center St. Louis, St. Louis, St. Louis, St. Louis, St.

is by acknowledging that racism and oppression directly drives health outcomes in Boston and we have to work to make sure that at every level, even when we're permitting a hospital, we're talking about those disparities and we're talking about care so I've lost you know a couple people since I became got on the council to cancer close folks in my life and knowing that cancer There are different outcomes for different people and different levels of care for different people. It drives the work I do every day. I want to thank my colleagues for helping me pass an Article 97 amendment to help facilitate the hospital, which I know has gone to the State House. And we're working really hard. and many more.

We have our limitations but I also know that as a city council we are also thought leaders and people that are driving I have been really out there on opposing the GIC's decision to take 200,000 people out of the running for being on GLP-1 medications. That has a disparate impact on communities of color. who may not be able to pay and access those medications. Obesity causes cancer and cancer causes death. So we absolutely have to address this. And so excited to be part of this conversation and I'm thrilled that we have Chair Culpepper on the council to talk about these issues. I look forward to working with him on some of the issues that I've been working on and thrilled to have this esteemed panel with us today.

Thank you, Councilor Durkan. Councilor Pham, you have five minutes.

Thank you, Chair Culpepper. Again, thank you for the important work and leadership. I had the opportunity to listen to all four panelists I had an opportunity to really learn about what you were proposing and talking about your experiences as well. In the interest of time, let me try to focus on Let me start with Attorney Hall, if that's okay. So Attorney Hall, I know you mentioned From 2021, 2025, in terms of voting and access to voting, preliminary in Boston, say the percentage of people eligible People to vote was 20%, 21%, 22%, including in communities of color.

But how do we reach people in communities of color that are not voting knowing that many of these issues that We're talking about in terms of health care or education or voting access is more critical and important to them than just about anyone else. Maybe it's about a primary care waiting for six months for primary care. But how do we get many people that are disengaged to be refocused on how important it is for civic engagement voting to ensure that their voices are heard on all of these issues that we're talking about.

Finn is an excellent question and perhaps the City Council who works so hard may not like the answer but unfortunately I believe that you know it behooves you to bring a A holistic approach to how you serve your constituents. The reality is you've got to fix it all. That you cannot cherry pick one piece of life One of the really important sort of data points that we're discussing up here on the panel to address and assume that you will have positive outcomes. It is a tall order. By no means I'm trying to hide that, but that is what is going to have to happen in order for people to be able to engage. And candidly, at a basic level, nobody wants to be told what to do.

Nobody wants to live in society where they don't have a say in the decisions that affect them on a day-to-day basis. which implies that there must be some really significant reasons why they don't speak up or why they don't engage and I think that's what we're talking about here today and I'm glad that we have panelists from all different walks of life and all different levels of expertise because Again, it supports the argument that we do have to do it all, and they deserve for us to do it all.

Thank you, Attorney Hall. Thank you for the answer. I think I have a minute and a half left. Let me ask Dr. Clark, and I'll listen to everybody closely. During the testimony, it was very informative. Dr. Clark, one thing that struck me when I was listening to your testimony is obviously you're a medical doctor and you know the medical community as well as anybody, but even yourself in terms of Trying to access an appointment with your primary care could be four, five months, six months. But that call you received might, for you, but for a lot of other people, that might have been the most important call someone has received all year. If you miss that call,

or you're in an elevator and you're not able to access the call and you just didn't connect and you connect months down the road, that might be life and death for somebody. and Primary Care is a critical step to dealing with health discrepancies. What could the City Council do, I guess my question is, in terms of primary care access for Boston residents, but specifically for people of color, mostly impacted by many of these decisions.

Thank you so much for the question and I'm going to answer it in a slightly narrow way because I do think that the listening session and kind of really unearthing some of the active issues that are on people's minds is the best way of getting. The information but one narrow thing that I think has been really important that the city has been committed to is investing in both broadband technology and the ability for people to and the training to access online. So the second part of the story when I was on the telephone is that I'm not going to wind up waiting till July. We're going to actually have a telehealth appointment. We're going to talk on the phone in a couple of weeks. And I'm going to have an appointment with an advanced practice provider and that's gonna fill in the bridge. But I'm hoping things are gonna be fine so I'm not looking for trouble, sir. But you could imagine that that is gonna help me because what if I did have to wait until July?

I have access to Wi-Fi. The telehealth appointment is not going to be a problem for me. That might not be the case for everyone. So one thing the council could consider is how are we doing more to Make sure that folks have access to the technologies to be able to have telehealth and how do we also get more energy around What it looks like to communicate with your primary care doctor in that way. So I would make that narrow recommendation.

Thank you, doctor. Great recommendation. And I want to just acknowledge Council Mejia, you really have been a Champion on digital equity issues across the city. So let's continue to work on that. It's an important issue. But thank you, Doctor. Mr. Chair, thank you for giving me the time. Thank you, Councillor.

Councillor Webber. Your five minutes.

Thank you. I guess just Dr. Clark already. I'm done already. Thanks. No. I see how we play this game, Chair.

I learned from you yesterday.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Okay, so Dr. Clark, in terms of... Just trying to figure out concrete goals and what we can do. Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center, we teamed up with them. and a group of Harvard Chan School of Public Health grad students to try to figure out what we could look at. We looked at maternal health outcomes and low birth weights and they kind of came up with some recommendations around stipends or you know running a pilot where we provide food and I know the city has worked on this last couple years but I don't know if In your research, do you think this is worth Pursuing, or should we turn our attention somewhere else?

The idea, I think, would just, if you're pregnant, we'll make sure you have enough food and we'll give you a monthly stipend for Food or something to that effect. I'm not sure how it would work, but that's kind of what we're looking at in my office. I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Absolutely, Councillor. So I should say one is that Southern Jamaica Plain has been a model in terms of community health centers and really addressing these social conditions. Back in 2015-2016, when the accountable care organizations were forced sort of getting Medicaid put in place, Southern Jamaica Plain, and Brookside, the other health center at that institution. both collaborated to put together these kind of closed loops where you would screen people for their concerns and then you would connect them to care. And so what we wound up seeing is that and these weren't pregnant people in particular, but we did wound up having people have fewer no-shows to their appointments. There's also a behavioral economics research that shows that even small dollars nudge people into positive behaviors.

Yes, there is an evidence base for the recommendations that you suggested. It is worth doing. It's also worth understanding how it can work at scale. And so happy to

and many more. Our office is also looking at a commercial vacancy tax in the outlying neighborhoods to try to get those spaces that landlords are holding onto for years. They're waiting for Starbucks or Citizens Bank to come in or something. We want to get those spaces. Yeah, thank you, Councilor.

We've done some research on vacancy tax. I'm not claiming to be a tax expert. I'm not a tax attorney, but we have to do something to Get those spaces filled for a lot of reasons and we have so many small businesses in this city that want space. It seems like a really obvious fix and the landlords holding on to them and waiting to get huge amounts of rent is unsustainable for our city and unsustainable for the small businesses we want in those space and so If a commercial vacancy tax can help that, we would be all for it.

OK, thanks. Thanks. Chief Odulu and his office to start with a database and a map, an interactive map of sort of the city and where the vacant spaces are. They're going to, I think, roll that out in the spring, and so we should L.C.R. I think Did the lawsuit over diversity in contracting, wasn't there, is that okay? Maybe that's you, sorry. I was going more to litigation, but I don't know what we've seen on that. The data in the complaint was like less than 2% of city contracts were going to minority-owned businesses or something to that effect.

Yes, yeah, it was stark.

Yeah, and so have we seen progress since that lawsuit?

Yeah, so this administration has seemingly made some progress. It looks like more transparency and it looks like the numbers are getting better, but they are still not where they should be. and many more. Minority owned businesses are still not getting an equitable share of contracts from the city. Lawyers for civil rights would love to see another disparity study to really see Thank you. Thank you. It is impossible to really know and colloquially We're still hearing a lot of problems. It doesn't feel right yet.

And so it would be great to see the data.

Okay, I have five minutes. Look at the timer. No, I'm like you. I have my own timer right here. I have one point and then just one quick question. So I would just, in terms of like the budget and we talk about what we can do as a city, and a lot of nonprofits, I think, come to us. We're the local, we're the first level. A lot of our budget goes to salaries When you look at the budgets for the state and the federal government, those are, I think, the ones that can really move the needle in terms of resources for these things. And I will say, we had a hearing yesterday, we heard from Housing Chief Dillon, We've passed a transfer transfer fee bill at the state level will double the amount of money we have for affordable housing so advocacy You're coming to us and working with us to go up the ladder, essentially.

I think some of these issues, we can run pilots and we can do things, but in the end we have to pay the teachers and the public works people And so sometimes I tell people that, you know, let's work together on finding those pools of money. The other, just for Dr. Jennings, Professor Jennings and Dr. Jennings, I was an Equal Justice Works fellow. My first job out of law school, I represented migrant cotton gin workers in the Mississippi Delta for a couple years. I went to a discussion with an NAACP attorney. I can't remember her name, but she said, The fight is never over. You think you've won and you've overcome something, but you have to keep fighting that fight. Is there any areas where you think we're sort of We've solved that problem. We dealt with that in the 60s or something that is and maybe this is all the things everyone's been talking about.

I think things are dialectical. We go forward, we have to continue to struggle towards social justice and I think we've heard many statements and observations around this theme over the years, over the decades, actually, if we look at the reconstruction period and the post-reconstruction period and so forth. But I want to say, however, that In Boston, we do have an assessment of fair housing, which was adopted by the city council, signed by the mayor, of two, three years ago, it has 14 goals covering all of these areas. 14 goals and maybe I think 125 objectives on public health, on small businesses, on housing, on youth, on discrimination against people, on sexual orientation, so forth and so forth.

and I would urge the city council to look at that very, your document, to look at the assessment of fair housing and to consider what particular goals or objectives might be relevant to the discussions we're having today. And in addition, as you know and we know, I think it was in June that the City Council unanimously endorsed an endorsement, I should say, of Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing. And that, I think, is a very, very important tool that should be used to its fullest. But again, the assessment of fair housing covers a lot of these discussions and I would hope that we continue looking at that assessment as an official Boston Thank you. Thank you very much.

Justice, in my opinion, social justice, economic democracy, is always going to be threatening to some interests in this country, and so the struggle continues, as they say. But we've made some important progress at the same time.

Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Member. Dr. Clark, I know you have to leave. Councilor Mejia has five minutes if there are any specific questions.

No, I know what it's like when you got to go.

I'll just let them know that Councilor Mejia has questions for me. I'm willing to stay. Okay.

All right. So thank you. So let me just start off with questions directly to you. So I am a community health center baby, if you will. I grew up in the community, at Dorchester Community Health Center. My daughter is getting her care there. And one of the things that I've struggled with is having the same Primary Care Doctor. My daughter has been lucky. She's had the same primary care since her birth, 16 years, which is not usual. But as an adult, I haven't had that stability and can you just talk to us a little bit about kind of like the inconsistency particularly in community health centers and the impact that that has on the quality of health care that adults receive when they don't have consistent Care.

I'm able, I think, to speak on the first point. And it would be helpful if I were speaking from a quantitative perspective, sort of having the data. But I think it's fair to say that Issues around primary care burnout, issues around investment in support services for primary care are not specific to health centers. It's sort of all primary care around the city. It's a general issue. And the turnover and churn that comes from clinicians leaving health systems, going to other places, needing to retire, not being replaced, It's a systemic issue. It certainly affects community health centers, but it affects all of primary care. And those are some of the roots. We have to make sure that people can can get the support that they need to care for patients so they can feel well enough to stay on the job.

So those are some things that I think we wind up experiencing as patients as well as as practitioners. And it does affect our health. Right, both as practitioners and patients. Thank you, Dr. Clark.

Councilor, Dr. Clark, thank you so much. I would ask you, as I did earlier, to give us One action the council could take, not today, in your time, one action the council could take within the next year that would meaningfully advance civil rights and health care. That's one thing. And the other thing is, what would it take Boston to become a national model The Civil Rights and Health Clear. Knowing Dr. Ojukutu is doing some great work. So it's those two things I would ask you to think about and then respond back as you can. Thank you, Dr. Clark.

Can we start my clock? You just cut into my time.

I've got it right here. I have it right here.

I want to know for the record.

Okay.

I work really hard to be in this chamber. Everybody knows I have to work harder than everybody else.

No, you don't. No, we all have to work hard. I have to work harder to stay here. Thank you.

You know, the climate I'm in. All right, let's dive in. I'm going to focus most of my time on civic engagement because I believe that there's a trend happening here in the city of Boston in particular when it comes to voice. And I really resonated, Attorney Hall, when you talked about the Dr. Jennings, have pointed to the disparities and the impacts of the quality of our health care, the quality of our economic justice. All of those things are interconnected. And I'm so glad that you are talking about it from a holistic standpoint.

So let's talk a little bit about how that translates to the city of Boston in particular in this moment in time. So let's talk the elected school committee. That's an opportunity to give The White Stadium Conversation Hundreds, hundreds of people have amplified their voice in stark opposition of it, but yet it is moving forward. We have the central bus lane. There's been so much discussion about the impact that it will have on small businesses, some of the churches, and yet we're moving through it with no breaks, right? Literally.

And so I'm just curious if you could talk to us about how those very specific examples of lack of response from government impacts It's nice to see you, Councilor Mejia.

I appreciate the examples you've used to center the conversation, right? because disengagement in civic education and civic participation I think is really a complex issue. And when you talk about, let's say, You know, our generation of people who are just tired of being tired, right? But there's also a younger generation of people who we have to recognize who are voters, In Massachusetts, you register to vote at 16, can come and start voting at 18, right? There is a population of people who come from a very different political, Thank you. Thank you. When you participate, it has no impact.

But it is also a general ideological shift in the way that people see democracy today. I don't want to go too far afield, but I think it's really important to note that like, The idea of democracy is under attack in this country. And it is further supported when you look to other countries who proclaim to have democratic models but you see No bodily integrity rights, no security, no safety. We can't talk about democracy and participation without recognizing that the actions of the federal government have a really significant impact in how people view government. There's a lack of trust. And that's not new, right? I mean, our communities, and when I say our,

Historically disadvantaged communities of color, immigrant communities have always suffered from a history of mistrust, much that is well-founded. But we have a new level of mistrust that is based upon the trickle-down effect of this federal government right now, but also It's not just the failure to engage and respond on some of the issues like the bus lanes, like White Stadium, like the school committee. But it's also the speed at which we present and then dismiss important issues on a day-to-day basis as a community, as a society. We are so overwhelmed with the everyday problems that we face that sometimes all you get is an hour and a half hearing to talk about them and then a decision has to be made.

And that's candidly not an effective way to be able to really engage and implement community input. And so I think there's a lot of things. I think that we don't have the level of prioritization that people need. I think those are great examples, but I'm going to go back to tell you that I really think civic engagement is most bolstered and supported when people feel like you care about There's sidewalks, there's trash, there's rats in their parks. I think the little things matter just as much as the big things for folks. And I think all of that leads to disengagement. So I applaud... Culpepper is taking the first step to do an up-to-date report with real data and statistics. We can't move forward until we have some metrics to use. But I will say again, we've been here before and we've done this before. Keep in mind that when you ask community to come to the table and tell you At some point they get tired of telling you the same things.

That's right. And I will just say two more things before my time is up because I have one more question too. Is that participatory budget is also an area that I feel Community has been literally crying and dying literally about, and that continues to go. It's trickle-down crumbs that we get. But there is a pattern here and a trend that I also have been seeing. Here locally is that when you speak truth to power, I'm a progressive. Actually, I'm one of the leftists of the progressives here. I go hard for people, and particularly unapologetically about black and brown people. and many more.

So antagonizing and that there's a perception, right, that then becomes the narrative when what we're doing is just being the checks and balances and holding ourselves accountable to the constituents that we serve. but the dynamic is playing out in a very interesting way because I've been hearing from parents in the Boston public schools, I've been hearing from community residents that the city, doesn't want to hear from people anymore because it slows down progress. That creating space for a real meaningful community engagement is not effective. And I just would love to hear from a civil rights lens, what does that say to you about what we're experiencing here

While we're talking about nationally, I think locally there's been some grumblings about black people in particular and folks of color in terms of how we feel seen and affirmed. I need somebody to talk to me about that, please.

I'm glad that you raised those specific issues because to a certain extent, We have put civil rights into a silo, and that's actually illegal. Again, if I go back to the assessment of fair housing, civil rights, Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act, the Fair Housing Act, and Supreme Court decisions since, a number of Supreme Court decisions since have have emphatically stated that civil rights has to be approached holistically, otherwise it means nothing. So the issues that you mentioned, I think what is lacking in some of these discussions and debates is asking, what are the civil rights implications? of any issue, any issue, any, we could have debates about anything, but what are the civil rights implications? And civil rights, again, is not just about voting, as important as it is, and you mentioned this, it's also about Enhancing Economic Opportunities for Everyone.

And the other thing that we sometimes forget when we look at HUD regulations over the years around community engagement. Every time the city, our city, and I'm actually a Cambridge resident, by the way, Most of my focus has been in Boston. I let my wife handle Cambridge. But when we look at community development group proposals, the consolidated plans that are required Every five years, I think. I mean, emphatically again, it calls for community engagement. It calls for sincere and qualitative community engagement. And I think that's something that we have to continually push. Some people are going to say, well, it's these people that are troublemakers or whatever. And they've always said that. They have always said that. And so if you look at the history of the civil rights movement

There's always been people in the community, even in the black community, says, oh, they're just troublemakers or whatever. But we can't let the struggle for justice and Economic Democracy to be sidelined by that. But again, let's use the tools that we have. However one falls on the stadium, however one falls on Public Transportation. What are the civil rights impact? How will people be helped and how will people be hurt? And if someone has a problem with that kind of discussion, I would say, Too bad, we still have to move forward.

That's right, that's right. No, I appreciate that. This is why I'm all about utilizing my political capital. I know that where I show up, I give power to, right? And so that's why I showed up to this particular hearing today. because I think so much of what we're experiencing here locally, because there's a lot happening nationally, but to Attorney Hall's point, people just want the basics met, and sometimes even the basics The politics gets in the way of delivering those basic needs to folks. And so there are different districts that have so much more community engagement and voter turnout. and obviously those folks are always gonna be set. But then folks are making decisions that impact Dorchester, Roxbury, Mattapan and they don't see the weight of those votes. And I'll end with Brick. the Boston Regional Intelligence Center, and the gang database here in the city of Boston, right?

There's tools that we endorse, and there are grants that we, every year, you know, they come through this chamber and we pass them knowing the harm that they cause black people and yet we're good troublemakers, right? We're considered troublemakers because we're pushing and I think at some point We're going to need communities to start pushing back because there's just so much that counselors who really deeply are living these realities every day can do unless people rise up, which is why I'm so glad that you focused on civic engagement because every day I feel like we are disenfranchising the constituents that we serve with utilizing the master's tools to do just that and procedural things that we do here in the chamber that minimizes the voices of electors of color in particular. So I'll just speak for myself and how I felt here.

I'm not gonna go on a rant, this is not my therapy session, but I will just end with, it's like, we're talking about civil rights, and we have so much work to do here in the city of Boston to get it right, and that's gonna include all 13 of us to understand the assignment and the assignment is to liberate and to fight for black and brown people and doing so unapologetically when it's time to take those votes.

Thank you, Councilor Mejia. You also showed up because you're vice chair for this committee. Yes, you are. You are. You are vice chair. I don't show up even when I'm a vice chair. I show up to the hearings that I believe.

Resonate with the people that I serve.

Well, I'm glad to see you this morning. I'm glad you showed up, and I'm glad you're vice chair.

I'd like to share the space with you.

Thank you, Culpepper. Thank you. Councilor Durkan, you have five minutes.

Thank you so much, Chair. A lot of my questions were regarding health care, but I think with Councillor Mejia's testimony, I think that took Definitely a turn where I want to talk about public engagement and how we engage the public. I went to a squares and streets meeting. This was when Arthur Jemison was still the director of the BPDA, now planning department. and Jose Masso got up at that meeting and he asked people, you know, who's a homeowner? Who's a person of color? Who's a business owner? and he he said like I am doing this measure and I actually got a video of it I found it incredibly inspiring because I want to show you who's in the room but I also want to show you who's not in the room

And I think part of what we're talking about here with getting people involved in the electoral process, which was a huge passion of mine prior to I was the chair of my ward committee, but prior to getting involved, which before I got elected to the city council. And trying to get more people involved can feel hard because you'll be at these public spaces and you'll say like, oh, I'd love to register you to vote. You can feel that energy when someone just says, that's really not for me and I don't get much out of that. I don't get much out of voting. I don't get much out of the process. And so expecting folks to... Go to a meeting specifically regarding a zoning initiative when folks aren't even voting. It's like there's layers to engagement and it's hard to get someone to go to level 100 before they've gotten to level 20.

And so I, Know that I missed some of the testimony regarding how we get people out there and how we get people engaged. I'm just curious if public process the way it is currently designed is I find myself going to a lot of meetings And then when I see people testify that are not a familiar face, I don't always see the city take that person as seriously as the person that they recognize. And I have a huge problem with that. Just because we don't know someone doesn't mean they don't have something to say. And I know in my office we have a charge The first email you send us, it's our job to impress you and make you keep coming back.

So if I've never heard your name before, I'm going to take longer with your email. I'm going to maybe personally call you back. Because I don't want anyone to be disillusioned by this body, by this building, and by this city. And so I'm just curious, how can we take that approach in all sex, and how can we Thank you for the question.

And I mean, I think there's a lot there and I think you correctly are communicating how layered and complex this process is and that there is an entire In the time span of what resonates as important or what is a priority for various constituents, right? So in that situation, somebody may be directly affected by that zoning outcome. That may be something that's going to be built in the place of their church or their home or their child's school. And it may be something that is a priority to them in which maybe voting and communicating with their local city councilor is not. And so there are different levels to how we can engage But I think the issue of equity is not necessarily one even of voter turnout. It's about first trying to identify and eliminate the gaps to access opportunity.

And that comes with education, consistency, accountability, and transparency. It comes with you doing what you've just described, the time you take with that first email, no matter who the constituent is, no matter what the issue is, it takes that being It may not be that every single person you engage with follows up comes out for a vote, comes out for a city council hearing, but you have given them the same time, attention, education, and opportunity. Every single time across the board. That is what government should do for the public. And that should be the emphasis and the attention for how we move forward. Secondary to that shall hopefully be outcome in an increase in participation, but we can't expect people to care,

or to regularly participate if we as government and we as advocates don't do our job to show up for everybody the same way every time. And so I think we have to look at those gaps in process. And one of the things, I've said this before, I know Councilor Mejia will not be surprised by this, I love having these discussions but you're having them in the middle of the day in the middle of City Hall that people can't get to and can't pay for parking and yes we now have virtual access to it but the reality is You're right. Does this process necessarily meet people where they are? For lots of people, it probably doesn't. And so what is possible in terms of a shift in process across the board? And that's a question for each of you.

And if I may add, I think, to this, this is just an addition, A piece that we sometimes overlook is community organizing. I just finished a paper looking at community land trusts across the country, the successful community land trusts including our own DSNI, Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative. And the key there was community organizing. So at the same time that we want government to We also have to look at how we can prop up resources for community organizing because it's community organizing that connects people to a product, a civic product. And once people are connected to that sort of product, questions come up about, well, how can we enhance this product? What is the role of government? What is the role of voting? We're going to have to organize People to make something happen.

And this will be very quick, but years ago I helped to pull together actually what was the first Puerto Rican charter school in Camden, New Jersey. and where the school was located, there was like a yard that was, I mean, dirty. It had glass, it had needles, it had everything. and a group of primarily Puerto Rican black and some white parents decided to clean up that yard. And in that process of cleaning up that yard for their children, they immediately got connected with becoming voters, who's registered and who's not registered. And I say that because in my mind, that shows the connection between a concrete product at a community level, neighborhood level, and then asking the bigger questions about how are the things that you're very importantly raising, how are they connected to me making life better for my children at this little old yard.

Thank you so much and I just had one more comment and question. I think there's a lot of different intersectionalities in our city. One of them is union organizing. which often depends on the union represents a lot of different types of people and obviously we want ACWA to be at the front of all those conversations but As a leader in the city, I've seen how How certain people can be counted out of any conversation, even one about labor. And so I'm just curious. I actually went to a talk from Deborah Archer, which wrote a book on transportation inequities

I'm just curious, as we move forward, we really are having this conversation about transportation equity at the city council. and I know what does a girl from District 8 have you know what do I how can how should I be commenting on this Blue Hill Ave situation but as the chair of planning development and transportation I really I think that we should have a conversation about that question of who's in the room for public meetings because I know at least for a number of the conversations that have happened, over 50% of the people and so on. I'm just curious how we have this conversation in a

I've read a lot about how the stressors of long commute times and how inequitable that can be for communities of color. It's hard. I try to center different types of voices despite representing a district that is often known as like the Roots to Roxbury district. We have a lot of people that have a lot of resources and But the reality is there's no way to be a leader in the city and not care about the entire city and care about people who ride on buses and care about people who have long commute times and so I Half of me is like I have no business commenting, but I think it's really important that we have a conversation about who rides on buses and how we can get them to

How we can get them to work faster and how we can get people, and obviously that's the busiest bus route in New England, so how do we have a conversation about, you know, I think transportation equity is not simple and there is a lot we can talk about in terms of process and how it can be made better. But I know it's important that we all engage in that conversation and that we have those conversations.

Was that a question to the panel or was that just a comment? And if they don't, I can add to it. Attorney Lane, Councilor Durkan mentioned the center bus lane. That's become a major issue. Councilor Mejia also mentioned it. With regard to businesses along Blue Hill Avenue, it's going to have some kind of impact on those businesses. And I don't know if you've thought about this because it's really starting to blow up now. What impact? Do you think that tenant bus lane is going to have on the businesses between Mattapan and Grove Hall?

So this is a really recent Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Attorney Hall mentioned earlier, it's another example of something that's really needs a holistic solution, right? This is only a problem because no one can get to those businesses if they don't take a car. They don't really have as much foot traffic. They don't have that same access to public transportation other than the bus system, which a lot of the city tries to avoid. A lot of those businesses are really relying on a certain population that is maybe not going to go. We talk to small businesses all the time in Mattapan.

in Dorchester, in Roxbury, who, when looking for new leases, don't want to look more than a block away from where they are, even if it would save them a lot of money, because they're like, I'm going to lose my customer base if I move at all. My customers are people who know where I am and can walk to me. Otherwise, I will just lose all my business. And that's a huge problem because We have really high rents in the city and these businesses are failing because they are terrified to move and they're taken advantage of by usury landlords. and so it's this it's just like this example we need a holistic solution right if we had better public transportation if we had

If we had better rent prices, if we had better support for small businesses who are looking to change their storefront, all of these things would be eased. And so I believe the small businesses when they say that this is going to be a huge impact on them and they don't want it, right? But I believe the solution is larger than not having a bus lane.

Culpepper, I apologize, but my colleague and I will have a hard stop at noon to have to walk out. Oh, you do?

Yes. Okay. Real quick, with regard to the capital, and Legal Support Networks. How do these barriers that you talked about disproportionately impact minority... For the access to capital? Yes.

Access to capital is the biggest issue that any small business will tell you when asked what they're struggling with first. We have an abundance of resources for small businesses in the state. We're really lucky. We have really vast TA, technical support ecosystems for small businesses. I'm not tooting my own horn. We have a lot of legal support here through LCR, right? We're lucky. But all of those things cannot exist without the money. And so small businesses are immigrant and businesses owned by people of color are less likely to have good or any credit. If you're an immigrant to this country, you might not have any credit. You're not going to be able to get loans.

If you can't get a loan and you don't have a friend who will do a robust friends and family round of fundraising for you, like maybe your white counterpart, you're not able to get off the ground, or your business will stay barely thriving for the whole life of the business, right? The whole point of this is we want to create businesses that we can leave to generations are generations and we can not have to worry anymore about money. If we're barely eking by the whole time our business is alive, we haven't quite succeeded. And so, access to capital continues to be just like that holistic, you know, without the money we can't do anything and the federal government is making it harder to access that capital. Banks are making it harder to access that capital. And so that continues to be, I think, the largest barrier.

Thank you. And turning home real quick. What structural factors contribute to unequal political participation across communities? What structural factors? Structure.

Depending on how you define structure, right, I would argue that our laws and policies that have shifted over the last 10 years significantly including even information regarding registration deadlines, the location of precincts, the location of polling centers, Information regarding early voting that shifts whether it's a primary or a general election, all of these shifting mechanisms, those in themselves are aimed to modernize our electoral system, but when they're not communicated down to people, all they cause are confusion. So a big structural impediment, I would argue, is simply communication and education. Now we can get into, of course, the fact that in a recent election, Some black and brown polling locations ran out of ballots, had incredibly long lines in comparison to polling locations in predominantly white neighborhoods.

didn't have language access to assist people and were not able to communicate to voters that you can bring a person of your choice to come in and help you translate a ballot to cast a meaningful ballot. Those are concrete examples that we've seen in the most recent election for structural barriers, but all of them really stem from a lack of education and communication from the government down to people.

Thank you. And Attorney Lane and... Counselor, we really appreciate and value your input, but this is what I'd ask, just since I deal with Dr. Clark, What action, one action that the City Council could take within the next year that would meaningfully advance civil rights with regard to the small businesses or with regard to civic engagement? At least one. You don't have to limit it to one.

I can give you two.

But in writing, and I know you have to go, but please submit that to us. We'll include that in our report.

I can quickly give you two right now.

Go on.

It'd be great if the city council could push the city of Boston to do another disparity study. Let's see where we're at. Let's see where the small businesses in this city are. And let's not... If there are civil rights issues going on, let's get ahead of it. Let's be transparent. and also, you know, some of the work that the city's doing, space grants are great. There was a convening yesterday where I heard that a whole bunch of female entrepreneurs were in there talking about their new and many more. We are going to be talking about space grants and talking about the amazing storefronts they were going to open. More stuff like that. Thank you. Thank you.

Now you know I have more than two, so I'm going to send you an email. Thank you. I'll come up with more too.

Thank you. Thank you so much, and I know you have to leave. You had a hard stop at 12. Final comment from either of you?

Well, I'll say this and I said it earlier, right? And I don't shy away from this. You got to put your money where your mouth is. We cannot continue to have these discussions. We cannot continue to go back to our constituents, to our community partners, to our members and tell them, Come tell people how you feel. Come tell people what you want. Only for them to not see anything done. We can't create another task force. We can't create another city agency. We can't create another report that does not have hard, concrete outcomes. that are time significantly barred and that has some enforcement mechanism around it. I really feel like we as advocates can't keep putting our words out to community about what we're going to do. until we actually see it done. And as I mentioned to you, in terms of racial equity, we've had these conversations before. We've had them time and time again. We have some reports. We even have some departments right here at the city of Boston. But we don't see a lot of action. And so this time around, let's do it differently. When we get this report, we're going to give you some recommendations, but let's see them happen.

Thank you. Thank you. Dr. Jennings, I'm not sure if you have a little more time. I've got a few questions for you.

Sure, sure.

So we have you for a little longer though, right?

Yes, yes. So I would respectfully again say let's look at the tools that we already have. I agree that there have been a lot of studies and a lot of recommendations, but a lot of this was covered in our own official Legally bound assessment of fair housing. And we don't know where HUD is going these days in terms of what might happen or not happen. My sense is that we're going to have some important victories down the road. And so the assessment of fair housing, as I stated earlier, 14 goals covering all these transportation, education, with specific objectives in terms of monitoring the progress. As a matter of fact, I am a member of The Community Advisory Committee Monitoring Committee that sits with public agencies periodically, quarterly,

To see, and this comes from Mayor Zhu's executive order in appointing this monitoring committee, but sits with public agencies, to review the fair housing goals that are stipulated in the assessment of fair housing. I would begin with that so we don't reinvent the wheel and and again my understanding is that that assessment of fair housing has some statutory oomph to it if we want to add that oomph to it.

I want to pick up on that bustling since it's been talked about this morning. And you talked about the tools, and you talked about the 14 goals from that assessment. What tools would you use when it comes to dealing with the Center Lane bus lane on Blue Hill Avenue?

The first thing I would say, and I wish I had the assessment of fair housing in front of me, Making reference to the transportation goals, but I don't, and I don't know them by heart. But the first thing I would say is that public transportation has always been a critical part of the civil rights movement. We could go back to Rosa Parks, of course, and the Montgomery bus boycott. But actually before Rosa Parks in the 1930s and 40s, some people may not realize that throughout the South there were bus boycotts. Let me just say this. Are you suggesting that

In order to deal with the bus lane, that there be bus boycotts?

No, no, I'm just giving you an example, an instance, a historical instance where the instances where public transportation has always been an important part of the civil rights movement.

I'm trying to get you to talk about tools that can be used by the community to deal with the center bus lane.

Okay, so that will be up to the community. You know, that's where community organizing comes in. So I don't want to get into that detail because... That depends on...

But I want you to.

I don't know. So I don't know that us boycotts are going to be on the table, and they could be on the table, but I can't say that at this point. But what I can say is that... We could look at this issue and other issues using equity lens as has been suggested by some of your fellow council people. We could ask what are the civil rights implications? In other words, What's gonna be the impact on businesses, on small businesses in the area? What's gonna be the impact on children being able to get to school? What's gonna be the impact on public safety? I mean, all of these are issues that we should be asking if we don't keep civil rights in a silo. Civil rights is very intersectoral.

As you know, I was the main writer for the Roxbury Master Plan. And one of the things that we pushed was, as people talk about building this and building that, Who is going to get the contracts? And how are young people in our community going to be trained to be able to be the carpenters and the electricians to build what the city at that time was saying Basically, we're gonna make Roxbury more beautiful. Yeah, but one, more beautiful for whom? Who are going to get those? So these are the questions that I would suggest. And there are other questions as well in terms of access to transportation.

I've got another question for you, Dr. Jennings. How do past policies such as redlining, urban renewal, exclusionary zoning continue to influence access in terms of opportunities in Boston?

So again, as I mentioned in my presentation, in 1935, when we had these redlining maps that also then led to urban renewal, We know that there's a history of black communities and Latino communities completely being wiped out or threatened to be wiped out by the policies that you mentioned. Even today. Well, because there's always after effects. I mean, it's not like these policies, okay, this happened in 1935, 1940, urban renewal, 1950s, 1960s, and it stops there. No, all these policies have after effects. They impact institutions. They impact how people perceive space. They impact organizing in terms of what people think is possible or not possible. So yes, we're seeing the impacts We just came, 10 years ago, we came through a foreclosure crisis.

That was part of redlining and predatory lending. And that foreclosure crisis resulted in Millions and millions and millions of dollars of wealth, black wealth, Latino wealth, going down the drain. And because that black and Latino wealth is not there at the local community, well then we have Lesser economic resources today. So all this is connected. And any public policy, in my opinion, or policy strategy that says, well, that was the past, is completely ahistorical and so most illogical in my mind.

Thank you, Mr. Jennings. My colleague, Councilor Rowell, has joined us on this serious, serious conversation. Councilor Worrell, I'll give you two minutes to make your opening statement. You have five minutes to do your questioning. We need to move after that into the public testimony. All right. Because I want to give them a chance.

Yeah, I'll keep it quick just because I am late and sorry that I'm late. A funeral to attend and then also visited our young students over at Benka for Democracy Day where I was able to share the work of this body with them. I wanted to, but I was listening in when I had the opportunity to listen in and I did hear the conversation around, it sounded like around engagement, like civic engagement on encouraging residents to be more civically active. I think what I hear from residents, because I do do a lot of outreach in the neighborhood, I think it's important for us as public servants I know that we like to see ourselves as elected officials, and I feel like that kind of sets us level, right?

But we are actually public servants, so it's like our job To serve the public, which means to go and figure out what do they want and what do they need and what are their expectations from the government. Whether they are participating in it or not, right? It's not good enough to just hold a meeting or a hearing or a town hall. We have a life expectancy that less than 30 years less from Grove Hall to Symphony Hall, yet we do not have a direct connection from Grove Hall to Longwood Hospital. and this is the life disparity that has existed over decades. However, we do talk about a center-run and bus lane. Why have we never talked about a bus

That goes from Blue Hill Ave to Longwood. Why would that not be the first thing that we tackle If it's really about saving the people time, saving the people money, right, if that was If that's what is behind pushing this bustling, I feel like we missed so many steps. Right, and then we tell people what they need, yet we're not talking to the disparities on like their basic needs. And can you speak to that, like how we miss like, The basic needs of individuals, right? But yet we're coming in and saying, oh, no, this is what you need. Yet we're ignoring the studies, right? We're ignoring the data. And yet we're not building out that infrastructure

I think every community has to be respected in the same way.

And every community should be asked, well, how do you, you know, What are the lessons learned? What are the things you want to share with us that we should be considering as we put these public policies together? I totally reject the narrative that proposes that we know what's best for these residents. That narrative should be completely We know what's best and this is going to be good for you. Again, going back to the Roxbury Master Plan, you don't know how many times the city officials at that time would tell the community, I was with the Trotter Institute at that time, would say to the community, don't worry, we're gonna make Roxbury very, very beautiful for you. Very beautiful, period. and it was incumbent upon the community to ask some questions. Where are the T's that have to be crossed?

Where are the I's that have to be? So again, I agree that government has some responsibility, major responsibility to get this information out. By itself, that's not going to push the envelope. We have to figure out how to organize people, You know, we have to talk at our churches, at our synagogues, and very importantly, we have to reach out to newer groups in the city of Boston. I did a study for the Fairmont Carter line, around community participation, and my team and I asked and we went all up and down the corridor, different communities and we asked people and young people about community organizing and one of the issues that came up is that

You know, there's some new folks in town, but they don't know me and they don't know you and that sort of thing, so we have to figure out how to continually outreach to new people who are coming in and don't know the histories, the struggles that we've been through in Boston to move Boston forward. When I first came to Boston, I could still say, I'm one of those people who couldn't go to South Boston. Now I can't afford to go to South Boston. So, I mean, a lot has changed, but we have to get back to community organizing. There are groups in the community that we have to support. And I know, for example, that you've been working with Marvin Martin around special protection zones. Now, and I'll let Marvin speak for himself, Action for Equity, but when That initiative first came off the ground.

Fair housing was not part of the discussion. He and I and people like Bob Terrell met with him and said, you have to put a fair housing lens on this. You have to put an equity lens. And that's why you got a more powerful proposal around special protection zones. But that's an organization that we have to figure out how to support. So it's hard work, of course, but we have to insist that we be at the table and that we help Propose, we help design, we evaluate, we provide the feedback around evaluations, and it's At different levels, but it comes down to how we're going to organize ourselves to ensure that anything that moves forward answers these Six or seven basic questions or whatever the case might be.

Right.

And concrete questions.

Right. Yeah. And I completely agree with you on that. Having the community build out the proposals, bringing it to us to kind of vet them out. And that way, I do believe that will increase civic engagement and participation. It's not the other way, because we're It's repeating old bad habits that haven't increased voter turnout yet, right? And I think what people are looking for, at least from what I hear in my community, is They want to be engaged, they want to work, but they don't think their voices will be truly heard. When we continue to create proposals that are not centering what they're saying, we reaffirm that government is not listening. So I do think that organized,

Power is the way to go about it, and organizing people is definitely the way to go about it. Not only new people, but I have a men's group, or I'm part of a men's group, or a couple men's group. But there's a new men's group in Cardman Square called The Collective. And it's not only just new people, but it's old people that also need to have that history of, What ordinary people have been able to accomplish here in the city of Boston. So I think like that history is important history. Mel King, Chain of Change documents it. The book by Mike Vrabel, I think it's called The New Boston, that also documents it. But that has to be part of our literature. of all Bostonians to kind of be inspired to step up and play a real role.

And along that line, if I may, we also have to insist that people who've been part of these struggles are part of the discussions today. Because I know that a lot of good, powerful plans have been put in place for Mattapan. and there are people whose names I won't mention here because there are a lot of names to be mentioned, But there should be outreach to some of these. They may be elderly, but there should be outreach to these people to say, well, again, what did you learn? What mistakes did we make? What mistakes do we need to avoid? And that piece, I I agree with you wholeheartedly is sometimes missing in our very own community organizing. Yes, youth are important, but our elderly It's a tremendous resource.

Yeah, they could have the whole proposal and they'd be like, hey, build off of this. Save us a whole lot of time. I'd rather start on level three than level zero. Start with some plan. opposed to no plan. Big fan of your work, Professor. Thank you for being here. I don't know how many more minutes I have. Okay. Thank you. It felt like three minutes, but you're reverent, so.

It was really a little more than that. But do you have one more question?

No, no, no. You know what? I kind of do, right? And maybe this is a question you can't answer or just want to put this out here is, When you're building out an environment, especially one as sensitive to change as our communities like Dorchester and Mattapan, when you build that out, And I kind of ask you from the AFFH side of things. How do you think that in order to create the stability and try to limit displacement as much as possible, where do you think we should... How would you build that out in phases? Phase one, should that be housing?

Phase two, should that be jobs and amenities? And then phase three, So I would say two things, and these are just quick responses.

Everything you mentioned is intersectoral. So we talk about housing and building housing, What impact in how we build housing is going to have on small businesses in the neighborhood? If we talk about transportation and how we design transportation, How is that going to impact public safety? How is that going to impact public health? All these, so all, so it's, it would not be, it would not be too, too, Sloppy, let me say, more complex to think about those things together. And we have examples. We have master plans around the country, including the original Roxbury master plan. that approach these things in a very intersectoral way. And so,

So these issues, you know, planning that says we're going to do planning here today and there tomorrow, I would reject that approach. Planning has to be comprehensive. How is this here? and what we do here connected integrally to what might happen here. And so we need a narrative of planning that is very comprehensive and very intersectoral. And that's where the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing comes in. But the other thing that should be done, and I don't have the capacity or the flow of resources to do this, but the other thing that should be done is scenario planning. Okay, if we do this this way, What does the scenario look like 5, 10, 15 years from now, 20 years from now? If we do it this other way, what does the scenario look like in terms of some of these issues? 5, 10, 15 years ago. And that's really how powerful real estate interests operate.

They don't go look at an area and say, well, what can we do? And how will it look tomorrow? 15, 20, 25, 30 year plans into the future this is what we want this place to look like 20 years from now and so we could do some scenario planning that if you do If you do transportation this way, it's going to mean this, this, this, and that, unless we do it differently. And a lot of times, when you, I think, and I'm a, you know I'm a firm believer in this as I was mentioning to Tariq earlier a lot of times when you engage community in a sincere way you're going to get a lot of creativity a lot of innovation because they're on the front lines they know If you do it this way, how's that going to affect me or my children or my community or whatever? So we need their voices. So that's also a critical piece. We have to figure out what kind of forums, what kind of...

You know, town halls, what kind of little meetings? How can we get, again, our religious institutions involved? And especially hit some elderly people. How can we begin raising Community Consciousness of people so they know what questions to ask and are ready to figure out what kind of actions they may need to take in whatever form, which I'm not going to advocate.

Look. Sorry, one more, one more, and I'll end right here. I'll end right here.

You know, you're way past your five minutes, right?

Real quick. I saw someone yesterday do this in the working session. I know you did. I'll do it real quick. And this is more, you don't have to comment on this, I just want to just say this, is that there really needs to be more resources For Affirmatively Further and Fairer Housing to live up to the intention. So we definitely need to get more money, more Buy-in from whether it's the planning department to make sure that we're living up to to those goals in affirmingly furthering fair housing. And that does take a lot of resources. And I do hear you on the faith-based institutions. They played a major role in the civil rights movement of the 60s. I think we do need to reengage them now.

Yes.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Worrell. Thank you, Professor Jennings. I want to move to public testimony. My vice chair has... Comment or question?

No, I was going to say I want to move to public testimony and then I can ask my last round of questions.

With what time is left?

Yes.

Great.

I want to hear from the people.

I want to move to public testimony. When your name is called, please come to one of the two podiums, state your name, neighborhood, and your organization affiliation. Brandon, speaking to the microphone, please keep your comments to two minutes. This is Brandon Ransom. Thank you.

Hey, I didn't even have to say my name. Well, I'm Brandon Ransom. Good to see everybody. Good morning, Chair Culpepper and Vice Chair Mejia, as well as Councilor Worrell and members of the committee. Good to see you, Dr. Jennings. I currently serve as the interim president of the Young Professionals Network of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts, co-chair of the NAACP Boston Branch Health Committee, and CEO of Include Innovation, Inc. including Include Heart, a social enterprise focused on addressing health disparities and advancing community wellness. So first, I want to thank Chair Culpepper Thank Chair Culpepper, as well as the entire Committee on Civil Rights, Racial Equity, and Immigrant Advancement for convening this important hearing and for your leadership in advancing equity in Boston. The proposal to develop a state of civil rights report for the City of Boston is both timely and necessary.

At a moment when many communities around the country are grappling with uncertainty about the future of civil rights protections, it is crucial that cities like Boston take a proactive role in documenting, measuring, and responding to inequities that persist in our institutions and our neighborhoods. Across the United States, we are witnessing a gradual erosion of civil rights protections at the federal level. Policies that once expanded opportunity and protected vulnerable communities are increasingly being rolled back, challenged and weakened. In this environment, local leadership becomes even more important. So this reality is reflected in the 49th Annual State of Black America Report by the National Urban League. which highlights the growing threats to civil rights progress and the urgent need for renewed action. The report reminds us that while national policy may fluctuate, local governments have the power and the responsibility to innovate and protect the rights and well-being of their residents.

Boston has an opportunity to lead in that innovation. So one of the most powerful ways that we can advance civil rights in this city is by treating health as both a civil right and a human right. Access to good health, quality food, safe housing, Clean environments and culturally competent healthcare is not simply a public health issue, they are civil rights issues. So in Boston, we know that black men experience some of the worst health outcomes in the city. I must be at two minutes. Oh, I got 30 seconds. Look at me. Okay. Worst health outcomes in the city, including significantly shorter life expectancy compared to other groups. This mortality gap is unacceptable in a city with Boston's resources. Knowledge, Institutions, and Healthcare Infrastructure. If we are serious about civil rights, we must also be serious about eliminating the mortality gap for black men and ensuring that every resident has the opportunity to live long and well. This is why continued investment in innovative initiatives like the Office of Black Male Advancement are so important.

That office represents a recognition that structural inequities require intentional solutions. You know I wrote it down, so I'm going to just keep on rolling. So innovation requires data and listening. The State of Civil Rights Report can help us to build the infrastructure to systematically gather information, track disparities, and hold ourselves accountable. But the most important data will come from our neighbors, our community organizations, and the people living these experiences every day. So when we listen to our communities, organize around the issues that matter, and align policy with lived experience, we create the conditions for meaningful change. Boston has always been a city of firsts. The first to fight for abolition, to the struggle for school desegregation. Our history reminds us that progress requires courage, leadership, and a commitment to justice. So the committee's work to establish a state of civil rights framework is an important step to continuing that legacy.

So Chair Culpepper, thank you again. For your leadership in bringing this conversation forward, I appreciate the opportunity to testify today, and I look forward to working alongside you and the members of this committee to help Boston continue to build a city where civil rights Thank you for your time and your service. Thank you, Brandon.

Brother Naeem. You have two minutes.

Yes, sir. Peace and bless everyone. I first want to say thank you. Oh, sorry, sister. Can you hear me? Okay. Brother Naeem, so I am filled with the young professionals that they're leaving St. Massachusetts, Mahomet Mosque number 11, and Reclaim Roxbury. Chair Culpepper, Assistant Mejia, and Councilor Worrell, we thank you for all that you do. I just wanted to say something that Assistant Mejia brought up. You know about you know this this the City Council in the 13 body and I think that's very that's that's that's something that stuck out to me because um you know the language You know, and I watch the virtues when you guys have me in the language and the actions don't always add up. And I think that's a big concern, particularly the black and brown community.

And the stuff that we're seeing, you know, because I tell people, I don't worry about what's going on in the federal. I got this stuff going on right here. And I can vouch for the three that are here that are present. You guys, your word has been born. We've seen that. Is that collectively? Would everyone know? Because not everyone's on the same page. And I think that's one of the biggest things that... I can say within my community, people see that. Everyone could talk the talk, but it was not walking the walking. And I'm going to say, because this is something on my heart, really. Madam Mayor Michelle Wu, she has to be very careful on the decisions she make in the black community. You know, because right now we're seeing certain things appear and we're seeing what White's statement and, you know, Sister Mejia said it. You know, where the people were there like saying, hey, this is, you know, this is, and then it just disregard.

That shows a very disrespect to the people you serve when you're in that seat, whether it's the mayor, whether it's the city council, because that means our voice doesn't, it doesn't mean nothing. So transparency and accountability and sticking to your word, because we got you in here. Whether it's the mayor, we the people trusting you to be in here and we expect you to hold your word when you take that oath. And that's a big thing, so I can say I thank you three for making your word bond. because I'm in the community, so I know who's there and who's not because we depend on you guys to really uphold our voices when it comes to things. So that's really all I have to say. Thank you.

Kristen Ransom.

Hi, good morning, everyone. My name is Kristen Ransom, and I serve as Chief Operating Officer of Include Web Design. We're a Boston-based digital agency and social enterprise that works with minority-owned businesses, nonprofits, and mission-driven organizations to strengthen their digital presence and grow sustainably. One area where Boston can lead is recognizing that social enterprise and digital equity are now central to modern civil rights. Social enterprises are businesses that exist not only to generate revenue, but to solve community problems. They create jobs, build skills, develop leadership, and reinvest resources back into the neighborhoods that they serve. Many of the organizations we work with are deeply committed to improving their communities, yet they often operate with limited resources and limited access to digital infrastructure. In today's economy, digital access is no longer optional.

It is foundational to economic opportunity, civic engagement, education, and health care. Civil rights in the 21st century must include digital rights. As emerging technologies like artificial intelligence reshape our businesses, operate how services are delivered, We must ensure that communities of color, immigrant communities, and small community-based organizations are not left behind. Digital equity means more than internet access. I'm going to say that again. Digital equity means more than internet access. It means ensuring that people have the tools, The training and the support needed to fully participate in the digital economy including access to broadband, digital skills training, modern technology platforms, and emerging technologies like AI. If we are serious about addressing the racial wealth gap, we must also be serious about ensuring equitable access to technology and the opportunities it creates.

Supporting social enterprises and minority-owned digital businesses helps strengthen community leadership, create local jobs, and expand economic mobility. Policies that expand access to procurement, technical assistance, digital capacity building, and pathways to capital can create a powerful ripple effect across our communities. Boston has a long history in the struggle for justice and equality. Today, we have the opportunity to continue that legacy by ensuring that economic opportunity technological innovation and the digital future are accessible to all. So thank you so much for your leadership and the opportunity to share my perspective.

Harris Hardaway. Harris. Is he downstairs? Okay. Councilor Mejia, you have... We're done?

Okay. Do we have any online testimony? No. No? Okay. All right, Dr. Jennings, you're ready to go. You ain't going nowhere. I'm not done with you. No, I want to be respectful, and I don't want to hold you hostage any longer. But I want to just kind of underscore something that My council colleague, Worrell, mentioned around the intentionality of the work that government really needs to do to help people understand that we are really listening to them. And so he mentioned the whole idea that there is not a direct bus, you know, we're talking about transportation justice. There's not a direct line. We're talking about our quality of health. from Mattapan to the Longwood area.

And so right now there's all this discussion around the $80 million that the federal government just poured into our hood. But I will be remiss if I didn't say or what I hear out in these streets is that there is a concerted effort to displace black and brown people, okay? With this idea of the white stadium, There's the golf course, there's the zoo. Now there is a direct pathway now for folks who enjoy all of those amenities that will exist in a black and Brown community that many of us will not be able to afford to live in if we displace the small businesses that are in that corridor. Those are folks who employ black and brown people. I'm not trying to be a conspiracy theorist, but I grew up here in the city of Boston. I have seen how big ideas displace people.

And so can you just kind of talk about it from a historical perspective? and many more.

Thank you. Well, historical, historical. There was a book written by Harold X. Connolly in 1967, 1968 called A Ghetto Grows in Brooklyn. And the scholar documented, the historian documenting how public transportation was used to completely move, in this case, black communities from where they were to other places. And there's a whole genre of literature. Again, this is why I keep coming back to transportation. It's so critical. There's a whole genre of literature that illustrates the point that you've made. And it's black and brown communities, mostly, you know? In some cases, Asian communities as well, but it's mostly black, brown communities in urban America.

We have the book by Carolyn Crockett, who documents sort of in reverse that if that highway had gone through there would be no black community around that area or brown community you know so so that we don't even have to get into conspiracies we don't have to get into conspiracies what we have to ask in my opinion What will be the impact of any physical structure like that on people of color and communities of color? And that question is a key one. and it can't be, oh, don't worry, this will be good for you. Don't worry, we're going to make this more beautiful. No, we need to ask very hard questions about and assess use criteria to what will be the impact, the economic, social, racial impact of any kind of proposal. That's not about conspiracy, that's about making sure we have

The questions that need to be put on the table, put on the table, and so we have an opportunity to respond to those questions, and if the response is not adequate, that's where then the next stage of, okay, how do we deal with this? So you're not, I mean, when you look at where transportation has been put, in place, highways, where highways have been put in place, urban renewal, incorporating a lot of transportation projects. The history is clear. Black communities have been disseminated, removed, brown communities in other parts of the country the same way. So we want to avoid that situation, but we can't avoid it by anyone saying, Don't worry, we got you covered.

We have to avoid that situation by having the criteria, and this is where a committee like this could play a really critical role, but what criteria Do we need to ask about any of these projects as they are proposed and share that information with community? The other thing that should happen, and I know this is happening to a certain extent, And one of the recommendations I was going to make to earlier is that Residents be involved to the hearings with specific questions. Residents be involved with specific questions. Not a town hall meeting, which are very important for democracy, but specific questions. How will this affect what you're doing? How do you think it will affect your children? and have residents talk about this kind of proposal.

Yeah, thank you for that.

I want to wrap up, Councillor.

Okay.

Oh, you want me to wrap up or are you going to use my time?

No, I'm going to wrap up. You use your time. Oh, I'm done? I'm giving you... Oh, okay. Go on. But I did have one comment. Go on, Councilor.

Okay, let me finish my time. And then you can go. You can't keep jumping on my time here. Okay, so thank you for that. And I want to just... underscore, right, because we're talking about civil rights here. I've seen Northeastern occupy spaces and places and You know, the African art museum that's in Jamaica Plain. Well, we already know all the politics, right? And so we as a city need to do a better job at understanding how we are erasing History, how we are erasing art, how we are undermining black communities every single day here in Boston. And I'm not going to keep on about the White Stadium situation, but it is very dangerous

For us to continue to say that we're doing this, the bus lane, everything that's happening in the name of our people, when our people are Thank you. Thank you. It would be great to hear from thought leaders like yourself once we have this study, which I'm hoping will come about, what we need to do to ensure that when black people in particular are against something that black people feel heard. And if this is really a civil rights issue, can black people then organize and sue the city for violating their rights?

Can they? The Assessment of Fair Housing, again, I'm not a lawyer, but I helped write it, and I looked at a lot of information, and I looked at a lot of Supreme Court cases and judicial cases, and we also talked to a lot of people across the city has some kind of statutory oomph to it. And so I think in terms of progress for Boston, we're in a very strong position to say, how does this impact Fair Housing. How does this impact the civil rights of people? And that's not an academic discourse. And that does open the door, I would think, to legal challenges that can be documented. So again, and that's why I say the work of this committee is so important to push civil rights away from a silo into a more intersectoral, as it, consistent with its history, I mean,

Access to digital resources is a civil rights issue, because if I don't have You know, access to what everyone else has access to, then, you know, it's affecting my opportunities. And we've been clear in this country, although it's resisted fiercely of course, We've been clear in this country that opportunity has to be for everyone, and people have to define for themselves what they see in their best interests. Thank you. Okay.

Thank you, Professor Jennings, and thank you, Vice Chairman Mejia. What a great session with great experts. Your scenario planning is critical. We've worked together for a long time. I know you mentioned the AFF of H, the Affirmative Relief Further and Fairer Housing. The first plan the city submitted to us at HUD while I was regional council, we sent it back because we said this doesn't meet the mark. Then they came back with a much better Much thorough, much more thought through plan. And when you think about where we are now, and you think about the bus lane, and you mentioned Carolyn Crockett and the Superhighway, That would have come through Roxbury. There would be no Roxbury Community College and that super highway came through there. I think about this bus lane.

This bus lane is The contemporary superhighway that will come through the community. And the interesting thing about it is they're tying street repairs, street canopies, and landscaping Thank you. Thank you. Prea Lane talk about the businesses that have said that bus lane will destroy the businesses. When you look at the bus lane that's on Seaver and Columbus and you look at what that has done to The Eccleston Square area. And then I was on a meeting several nights ago with Michael Kozel. They talked about the safety of that bus lane and they talked about the accidents

and the folks, the seniors that had been hit by cars walking across the street to the bus lane. And so when you talk about Dr. Jennings, the scenario planning, and you look at the impact on our community that they have. And we understand that $80 million is coming to the community. I just sent a letter to the MBTA chair yesterday, Manager Ng. And I asked him to take some of that Senate bus lane money and transfer it to the free buses because the free buses will end in June. and we're trying to find money to pay for the free buses and here comes 80 million dollars that we didn't ask for that the community has said no but Because of...

The way the structure, again, of the system is set up, we've got to fight to make sure that those number one, free buses continue. We see that Our families saved $20. $20. And if you look at the poverty level of our community and that $20 puts bread on folks' table, it helps them put gas in the car. Thank you. Thank you. drops $80 million to put a center bus lane that in my opinion will begin to destroy the fabric of our community as it is. I thank you and all of the panels. Thank you, Vice Chair. Thank you, Councilor Worrell.

Thank you for the public comments, Brandon and Kristen. This is just the first in a series of civil rights hearings. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Look forward to having you back, Professor Jennings. Thank you to all of the councilors that participated. And I want to shout out to my staff. Thank you to Tarik. Thank you to Bradford, my legislative director, my chief of staff. Where's Bailey? Thank you to Bailey. She's around here taking pictures somewhere. And Keisha is running the office. Thank you to all of you. And look forward to the next hearing. This hearing on Docket 0169 is now adjourned.