The challenges and circumstances for Black people are varied and complex. Rochester’s Black community embraces and works to implement its collective interest in order to establish and maintain a comprehensive systematic framework (Black Agenda) that will be adopted to drive, influence, and endorse policies and practices in the ares of education, health and wellness, and economic development.
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School Leadership
Together we will work to sustainably reform primary and secondary educational systems and leadership.
School Curriculum
Together we will work to change the curricula and instructional methods to be more accurate and culturally-responsive.
Youth, Parent & Family Engagement
Together we will work to encourage and support the engagement of parents, guardians, students and community members to improve educational outcomes of our children.
Teacher Recruitment
Target resources to recruit & hire Black teachers to build diversity within teacher ranks (currently, approximately 75% of all teachers are white women).
Teacher Retention
Enact policies to mitigate the effects of LIFO (Last-In-First-Out), so that teachers of color are retained (Black & Latino teachers are often the first to be let go when there is a budget deficit).
Teacher Relationship
Train ALL teachers by building their skills and capability to better support Black children (enduring cultural biases have long residual effects on Black children; implicit bias, anti-racist & culturally responsive training improves outcomes of Black students AND has no negative impact on white students).
Teacher Residency
Create economic and professional incentives for Black teachers to live in the city/community (along with economic disincentives for teachers who choose to live in the suburbs, effectively subsidizing suburban living with local tax dollars).
Health Disparities
Through the development and execution of inclusive and equitable health policies we will eliminate all health disparities.
Mental Health
Together we will provide the necessary support to understand and remediate the effects of trauma and Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome and cultivate social-emotionally responsive parents, guardians, and advocates with the skills to improve stress management behaviors in our community.
Physical Health & Fitness
Together we will provide culturally responsive approaches to improve the physical health of our people and address the primary health concerns for our community (diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C and obesity).
Community Ownership and Investment
Together we will own, operate and control our own neighborhood resources, including housing, local stores, fuel and energy stations, real estate, laundromats and other shared resources in the Black community.
Black Community Trust
Together we will work to ensure Black entities have better support from the Black community and equitable representation in regional initiatives.
Financial Literacy & Wealth Building
Together we will establish self-directed financial institutions and investment communities to encourage financial freedom and trigger inter-generational wealth development.
Business Development
Together we will leverage all economic resources in our community, to encourage and support entrepreneurship.
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