Investing in Black Futures
Coming Together
Black New Yorkers are coming together to invest in Black futures, create true public safety, and build healthy, vibrant neighborhoods for everyone.
Below you will find our roadmap for healing, safety, and building power in Black communities as well as other communities of color and with low-income, working-class people who have long been ignored by public policy.
Addressing the real issues
The legacy of structural racism is alive and well in NYC. Many Black young adults living in areas economically and socially abandoned by design don’t expect to live to see age 25 or 30. The current mayoral administration’s “Blueprint to End Gun Violence” fails because it refuses to address the structural violence and anti-Black racism that is at the root of gun violence. We know that gun violence is a problem that is causing great harm in our communities and we also know that the problem cannot be solved without addressing the myriad ways in which our communities have been sidelined, neglected, and scapegoated.
Discovering Positive Solutions
We require real solutions and public policy that builds us up rather than tears us down. Our combination of lived experience and decades of data show us that the current so-called justice system is broken by design, and pouring more of our money into police and law enforcement interventions will not make our neighborhoods safer.
The next generation of New Yorkers shouldn’t have to guess if they’ll actually receive mental health services when they call for an emergency response, whether they’ll be sufficiently employed to meet their families’ needs, or where they will sleep safely at night.
We cannot rest until children born in Black and Brown, low-income neighborhoods like Brownsville have the same life expectancy as children born in mostly white and affluent neighborhoods like the Upper East Side.
Holding our leaders accountable
Our elected leaders can and must:
Prevent the spread of gun violence by investing in programs that prevent and intervene in violence.
Meet community needs with adequate resources.
Invest in the future of communities most under-resourced and most directly impacted by structural violence.