New York City Activists and Advocates Discuss ARRA Equity and Transparency With the Experts

By Bettina Damiani, Good Jobs New York

This Tuesday, nearly 70 activists and advocates participated in "Ensuring an Equitable and Transparent Economic Recovery in New York City" organized by the Center for Social Inclusion, Common Cause/New York, Good Jobs New York, Human Rights Project at Urban Justice Center, The Opportunity Agenda and Urban Agenda.

The context and goals for the training were presented by Alan Jenkins of The Opportunity Center who highlighted the need for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to address inequities such as the high unemployment among African-American men in New York. He also emphasized the importance of seeing that civil rights laws are enforced.

The morning panel provided an overview of the Recovery Act in New York and consisted of Michael Weber, the Director of the Office of Economic Recovery in Governor Paterson's office and Carole Post of the New York City Mayor's Office of Operations. Post gave a tutorial on the New York City Stimulus Tracker website, considered one of the better examples of transparency of ARRA funds allocations in the country.

The afternoon consisted of three breakout sessions that provided more in-depth information in the areas of Energy and Green Jobs, Economic and Workforce Development and Transportation. Each group had an expert in the field from a city or state agency who drilled down on the funds allocated in that policy area. After the officials completed their presentation and left the training, the groups charted out action plans to bring more transparency, equity and accountability to the programs allocating ARRA funds. In addition, groups planned for a more coordinated effort to share information and promote a more equitable use of ARRA funds.

To be sure, it will take a collective effort to ensure that the approximately $25 billion in ARRA funds for New York State will be used fairly. This week's training was a very productive first step.