From Mayor Linda Gorton
Hello everyone,
It has been just six months since we received the final report from the Mayor’s Commission for Racial Justice. After a summer full of meetings, the report was compiled by the 70 hard-working members of the Mayor’s Commission for Racial Justice and Equality, chaired by Roszalyn Akins and Dr. Gerald L. Smith. The 68-page report includes 54 recommendations that touch all corners of the community.
Since I received the report Oct. 23, 2020, we have been working to implement its recommendations. It has been very important to me to make progress, and I’m proud to report that we have implemented many recommendations. I have attached a Progress Report.
Another way to measure our progress is by tracking the funds we have spent in Fiscal Year 21 to implement the recommendations, plus the funds I have included in my budget proposal for Fiscal Year 22. Altogether, I estimate this funding at $4.9 million … so far. The specific details are available at the end of the Progress Report.
Lisa Higgins-Hord, University of Kentucky Assistant Vice President for Community Engagement, has spent many hours helping our City Hall team with the implementation. Thanks to Lisa, UK and Dr. Capilouto for its unfailing support of this initiative.
To complete the implementation, I have included a new senior aide position in the Mayor’s Office in my budget proposal for Fiscal Year 22. This person will be devoted exclusively to completing the implementation.
When I received the report from the Commission back in October, I was determined to put it into action. Despite the pandemic and all of the challenges of the past year, Lexington has made considerable progress in rooting out systemic racism in our community. We still have work to do, but we’re off to a solid start.
