A “Black stimulus package” is in talks in Philadelphia, a plan that would spend half a billion dollars on capital investments in poor neighborhoods, and millions invested into job training, rent subsidies and basic income support.

Programs like these could provide boosts to business districts and neighborhoods that were already struggling before recent months — the coronavirus has only exacerbated these issues.

The measure is sponsored by Councilwoman Maria Quiñones-Sánchez, and the 13-year Philadelphia City Council veteran took to Twitter to address her “white allies,” calling-out performative acts which will not result in real change. 

She says the only way to adequately address issues of institutional racism is to “actually be about it,” instead of merely talk, saying that council has an obligation to pass a “moral budget” to support residents whose economic struggles have been in the spotlight in recent months, by the pandemic and Police Brutality protests.
 

“Philadelphia deserves a Black Stimulus, beginning with this $500 million plan for building black businesses and wealth, affordable housing, quality education, and family-sustaining jobs in every neighborhood,” Quiñones-Sánchez wrote in a Twitter thread.

“A Black Stimulus will deliver more than temporary relief programs for residents who have suffered decades of deeply rooted racial, economic, and public health inequalities; instead, it will offer long term solutions that will allow communities of color to truly thrive.”

Quiñones-Sanchez is calling for a “New Normal” because after the devastation, it is virtually impossible to quickly return to daily life, especially for those already disenfranchised. 

In an op-ed she wrote that the half-a billion dollars would be used, “to rebuild neighborhood homes and businesses, and a Philadelphia Poverty Action Fund that leverages private investment, national best practice and independent outcomes measurement to support people, not programs, through basic income, rent subsidy, workforce training and access to untapped benefits.”

“The city has an opportunity for a smart restart and to reimagine our city and our neighborhoods. African American, Latino and other racial minority groups should not further disenfranchised in our recovery,” the bill states.

She argued that Mayor Jim Kenney should reconsider the city budget to include a recovery effort

 

“Today, I ask the business community to join me in the fight for real, long-term investments in Black and Brown communities. I am encouraged that local companies are reckoning, publicly, with failures to confront inequality and to incorporate real diversity and inclusion in every workplace,” Quiñones-Sánchez wrote.

She says that during the next three years, she will lead the fight to make these investments permanent. Whether it is approved or not, Quiñones-Sánches is actively fighting against performative action, pushing real measures to address systemic inequality.