HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — In September of 2020, Hillsborough County Commissioners declared racism a public health crisis.
Then, in 2021, the board had a consulting firm research equity within the county. At their meeting Wednesday, the findings from that equity report were presented to the board.
Ultimately, the report found that historical practices, such as redlining, have contributed to inequities today. Minority communities are more likely to feel the strain of housing costs, food insecurity, and lack of health care and transportation.
More specifically, the report found Black residents are primarily represented in East Tampa. The regions of East and West Tampa were redlined and labeled as hazardous in 1936.
That still has an impact on those communities today, where you're more likely to see low income, zero-vehicle households and low educational achievement.
Part of the report read, "Maps found across a multiplicity of reports illustrate that predominantly Caucasian areas typically do not struggle with the same issues as areas that are predominantly home to BIPOC populations."
"As a result of institutional racism and discrimination that are still today impacting our communities in a negative way socially, economically, quality of life," said Commissioner Mariella Smith, who called this report an important first step at Wednesday's meeting.
The report outlined some recommendations to address the issues, including this statement in its conclusion: "It will require extraordinary measures of courage, honesty, and self-reflection than any American community has exhibited to date."
Some recommendations include:
- Create an office of equity and access
- Invest in mass transit
- Tackle the concerns surrounding the workforce and wages
Commissioner Gwen Myers filed a motion to hold a workshop to specifically address the solutions, noting she wants this report to translate into action.
"Cause we can talk about it but if we're not putting any money there to address these issues, the report sits as I've pulled two other reports from 1989 and '90 that address some of the same issues that we're talking about today," said Myers, the lone Black woman on the board.
The board of county commissioners agreed to hold a workshop within 90 days to lay out specific goals and funding solutions to address the inequity issues in the report.