2022 Black Well-being Final w links for Web 11.29.22 - Flipbook - Page 46
BLACK WELL-BEING REPORT 2022
BLACK FUTURE CO-OP FUND
Neighborhood accessibility, conditions, and trust
How close people live to a stable job, parks, clinics, schools, transportation, and healthy food all contribute to public safety.128 Where we live
and what’s accessible to us greatly influences our likelihood of successfully utilizing those resources. If getting to school, work, or a doctor’s
appointment means walking several miles and long bus rides, everything becomes more stressful and our quality of life is impacted. The
impacts are that much greater for those of us with disabilities. When people have familiar, vibrant, well-maintained places in which they feel
good about spending time together, social cohesion happens. When social cohesion happens, community members can build and
maintain trust.
“I want every neighborhood to be like the most affluent neighborhood you live near that has very low policing. Everyone has jobs. Every child
has an education. Everyone has health care. You don’t see folks going to jail from those communities because they’ve been invested in the
ways that we know make a difference.” 129— Rep. Kirsten Harris-Talley (37th L.D.)
Regional Displacment Risk Map
The impact of “regional growth”
When cities and counties don’t work with the
existing local community to ensure resources
are in place where they are needed most,
displacement happens. When they do, public
safety is possible.130 It is an ever present reality
for so many Black families in our state. It is a
disruption to the very resource we need the
most, each other.
The Puget Sound Regional Council reports
that over 400,000 people in the Puget Sound
region are at risk for displacement. In the
neighborhoods marked for development, places
like light rail stations and identified regional
growth centers, people of color are a higher
percentage of the population and at greater risk
for displacement.131
“Due to a chain of
discriminatory choices made by
government agencies, people
of color earn less income, have
less wealth, and are more likely
to be renters.132 Lower incomes
and wealth make even slight
increases in housing costs
difficult to afford. Additionally,
rents are more susceptible to
price increases than mortgages,
only further increasing the
likelihood of displacement.”133
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Source: Puget Sound Regional Council
Access to economic
opportunity
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Research shows that every $10,000 increase in spending per person living in
poverty was associated with 0.87 fewer homicides per 100,000 population or
approximately a 16% decrease in the average homicide rate.134
Caring for people produces caring people. Increasing economic opportunity
through policies like universal basic income,135 baby bonds,136 investment in youth
programming,137 and workforce development go a long way to increase public
safety. Such policies would provide a basis for people to feel secure, safe, and
happy, not fearful. Knowing we have what we need encourages us to dream and
physically manifest the abundance within us.
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