With the death of George Floyd at the hands of police, cries to address racism have grown louder across the country. In answer, the city of Akron declared racism a public health crisis.
A resolution passed this week included the immediate creation of a task force to develop a five-year “Equity and Social Justice Strategic Plan.”
The task force will be charged with identifying ways to enact positive change for minorities across a spectrum of social services, according to Council President Margo Sommerville, including health care, education, employment, housing and criminal justice.
“We want the task force to come up with some real plans of what we can do to move the needle on some of these areas,” she said. “And not only ask them to come up with a plan but also we want them to come up with a budget. If there are certain dollars required to accomplish this mission we want them to present us a budget.”
The task force will keep city council apprised of its progress over the upcoming year and submit a final plan next June.
