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Good morning Equity Action Team,
We appreciate all who were able to join us last Friday for the meeting! With the quick turnaround from last month's canceled meeting, and all the other stuff going on right now it was a smaller crew, but no less of the love and fellowship you all always bring.
See below for the presentation slides, an update on Project Connect, and a few other updates! |
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April Equity Action Team Meeting
The April Equity Action Team meeting will be held Saturday, April 17th, from 10:00 AM-1:30 PM.
As a note, I heard from many of you that there were issues previously with accessing the Zoom link. When you receive a message that "only authorized users are allowed" all you need to do is log into a Zoom or Google account and it should let you in. I know this presents a barrier, but we're trying to balance access while also holding the space for you all to feel safe and secure.
If you would like to add this meeting to your calendar, you can do so with these links:
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Update on EAT Communications and Equity Office Consultation Request
We have a couple of exciting updates to the EAT Dashboard to share with you.
First is the way you sign up to receive the different newsletter offerings from us. Right now, there's just the EAT updates and the Immigrant Affairs updates. However, we have a few more newsletter ideas in mind for the future, and so we developed a new way for people to sign up for the listserv.
You can now sign up to also receive the Immigrant Affairs updates, as well as to hear about availability in the Undoing Racism workshop, through the "EAT Sign-up" link on the EAT Dashboard. If you're reading this, it means you are on the EAT updates list. If you would like to continue to receive the Immigrant Affairs updates, we need you to either re-complete that form, and check the "Immigrant Affairs Updates" option, or just reply to this email and let us know, and we'll be sure you keep receiving those.
Second, in your work if you've ever felt like there was an equity concern, but either couldn't get traction with your colleagues, or just wandered what you could do about it, we now have a way for you and other City and community folks to request an equity consultation or workshop! You can put the request in via this form.
Currently, this is just a pilot. It's possible we get so many requests, on top of all the other ongoing work we're a part of, that it will be a couple weeks or more before we're able to respond to them all. However, we're working to better organize our work so we can better hold it collectively, and as part of that we also need to start formally capturing all the work we do. By completing this form, rather than or even just in addition to directly emailing one of us, you'll be helping us do that.
If you have any questions, feel free to reply to this email!
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Welcoming Cities Report Update
At the meeting Friday, Dr. Ruth Wasem and her team joined to give an update on their research analyzing Austin's Welcoming Cities metrics against peer cities, such as Denver, CO and Lincoln, NE (402 shout out!). They're working through the phase 2 of the research now, in which they work to understand the neighborhoods where Austin's immigrant and refugee communities live. Be sure to keep an eye out for Rocío's Immigrant Affairs updates to stay connected as that and the rest of the work is built out.
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Project Connect Update: Work Begins on Equity Tool
Thirty community members have started working to create an Equity Tool for Project Connect. The Equity Tool will guide the use of anti-displacement funding to benefit people most at risk of displacement from transit investments. When completed, the tool will help community members and decision-makers do two things:
1) Look at how transit investments may impact people at risk of displacement
2) Direct nearly $300 million to programs and projects that help vulnerable people living close to transit lines
Transit investments can provide benefits to communities, but these improvements can also raise property values and spark new development. Both of these changes can increase property taxes and rents. Low-income families, renters, and other vulnerable groups who can’t afford higher housing costs may be forced to move. To avoid this, voters approved $300 million for displacement prevention alongside funds for Project Connect in the November 2020 election. The Equity Tool will inform how those funds should be spent.
The Equity Tool is being developed by the “Catalyst group” made up of community members who are most affected by displacement pressures. Catalyst group members were selected out of 117 applicants, with the goal of centering people who will be impacted by Project Connect. Over the next three months, the group will co-create and test the tool with City staff.
Learn more at: https://cityofaustin.gitbook.io/project-connect-equity-tool/
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