Challenge
Black Communities Need More Neighborhood Businesses
Economic resiliency and wealth in Black communities need to come from exchanges of goods and services outside of traditional financial structures, including cooperatives, micro lending, and neighborhood-focused money lending, credit unions and community benefits agreements.
Ideally, money comes from and circulates through the community, creating a self-sustained and closed-loop financial system that prioritizes local markets.
ACTIONS AND TARGETS USING LEED-ND METRICS
Everyone within a sustainable square mile should have access to a job.
A funding framework should ensure equitable distribution of available funds for projects to encourage sustainable practices to reduce the cost of living.
New housing requirements should include incentives for renters, landlords and owners to invest in new development to build wealth and ownership.
Tools to mitigate displacement should include measures to preserve existing housing, reduce cost of housing production, and leverage market rates.
At least 20% of community members should be employed within the community.
Multilingual education programs should be created to inform residents about how to enroll in health insurance, home/rental insurance, early childhood education, adult and continuing education, and low-income assistance programs.
There should be support for programs that lower the price of providing basic needs for low-income households.
There should be support for local hiring for development projects, living wages based on the MIT living wage calculator, and community workers’ benefits agreements.
Blacks in Green: