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This initiative prohibits bias-based profiling by officers, which includes using certain personal factors such as race, color, ethnicity, national origin, immigration or citizenship status, socioeconomic status, or other defined characteristics as a basis of suspicion for unlawful activities. The initiative explains the prohibited practice by juxtaposing it with the permitted use of information about the circumstance, relevant to the locality and time frame, that links a person of a certain race, color, ethnicity, etc., to illegal activity. The initiative also authorizes citizens and organizations to file claims of disparate impact or intentional discrimination or against a variety of individuals and agencies.
This is the executive summary of Minneapolis 2040 regional development plan. Critically, this plan rezoned the entire city of Minneapolis eliminating single-family zoning. They did this to address the affordable-housing crisis and confront a history of racist housing practices.
In an attempt to promote model hiring policies in the private sector, several cities have also required employers that receive local government contracts to adopt the same hiring policies used by the city to remove barriers to employment for people with criminal records. For example, Boston, Cambridge and Worcester, Mass., as well as Hartford and New Haven, Conn., now extend their city "ban the box" policies and other local hiring reforms to their vendors.
This initiative prohibits law officers from engaging in biased based profiling on the grounds of actual or perceived race, national origin, color, creed, age, alienage or citizenship status, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or housing status. The initiative establishes avenues for persons injured by biased based profiling to bring a civil case or administrative procedure for injunctive or declaratory relief.
A city thrives when its residents thrive. Yet many families, even though they are employed fulltime, continue to struggle to meet their families' basic needs. Local elected officials across the country have discovered a way to strengthen working families while bringing more federal dollars into the local economy: by connecting eligible workers to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).
Michigan students are increasingly diverse but their teachers are not. Access to high-quality education and care is also limited to children of color. They are more likely to change schools and have absences, and hence may cause cumulative educational inequities. Policy recommendations are listed in the report.
Bringing a grocery store into an underserved neighborhood not only makes fresh produce and other healthy food more accessible, it can provide livingwage jobs, raise the value of surrounding property, and anchor and attract additional businesses to the neighborhood. A wide range of public, private, and nonprofit organizations work to support projects - like grocery store development - that help build a healthy economy. This guide is designed to help advocates and public health agencies coordinate and leverage tools available through local government and other organizations to bring healthy food options into low-income communities. Economic development refers to a range of activities that help build and sustain a healthy economy.
Local governments can promote healthy eating and active living in their communities by supporting local farmers' markets. Local farmers' markets provide fresh produce to community residents, support small farmers, serve as community gathering places, and revitalize community centers and downtown areas.
Suffering from years of disinvestment and persistently high rates of poverty, this case study shows how Memphis city officials joined forces with the private and nonprofit sectors to have a collective impact on some of the city's most pressing social issues.
Farmers markets are experiencing a resurgence, increasingly recognized as important hubs for local food systems in the United States. In the last 15 years, the number of farmers markets in the United States has increased from 1,755 to 5,274; however, low-income communities have not fully participated in this upward trend. This is especially problematic in light of health disparities faced by impoverished communities and communities of color, which is in part aggravated by a lack of access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Farmers markets can play an important role in improving such access. Lowresource communities not only provide unique opportunities for direct marketing producers, but also substantial economic, social, and at times cultural barriers to the successful operation of farmers markets. One such barrier has been the transfer of food stamps (now known as SNAP or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) from a paper coupon to a debit card format. Between 1994, before this change started to take place, and 2008, the value of SNAP benefi ts redeemed at farmers markets dropped by 71% in constant 1994 dollars. All told, SNAP transactions at farmers markets accounted for a mere 0.008% of total SNAP transactions nationwide in 2009. By way of comparison, USDA estimates that American consumers spend roughly 0.2% of their food dollars at farmers markets.